Life comes at you fast, doesn’t it? A few months ago the Celtics headed into the playoffs as one of the favorites to come out of the East with a real chance at winning the NBA title. A first round exit later, and the team appears ready to move on from Jaylen Brown.
How did we get here?
Like it or not (and I don’t think I like it) it appears that the Celtics are actively trying to trade Jaylen Brown. Which begs the question: Why?
We may not get an answer till all is said and done (and even then we might not know the full truth for years, if ever). If the above reports are true (and who knows, maybe they are all just smoke, but there sure is a lot of it), then something changed at some point.
Some quick thoughts and speculations:
Does Jaylen Brown want a new team?
We’ve heard the speculation about this for months (if not years). Brown got a taste for being the number one option and he absolutely loved every minute of it (and thrived in that role). Yet Jayson Tatum exists and should be fully healthy and returned to his place as the number one man in Boston this Fall. Maybe Jaylen just doesn’t want to play the role of 2nd best (or 1A or whatever) anymore.
He got his title in Boston. He got multiple huge contracts in Boston. Maybe he feels like he’s done all he can do here and wants his next challenge elsewhere.
Perhaps when he met with Brad Stevens last month, he let them know that he would welcome a new home but wouldn’t make a public demand. Or perhaps everything was copacetic until the Giannis trade fell through, and now Jaylen has decided he wants out.
Does the team want to trade Jaylen? (and why?)
The first part of that question seems to be pretty evident. The second part is harder.
Perhaps the team looked at our competition and decided that we can’t win with our current makeup. Brad has already said publicly that he wants to change our play style and needed to get Joe players that fit that play style. Either they don’t think Jaylen fits the style they want, or they think he’s the best asset they have to make those changes.
Perhaps it has more to do with finances. It actually makes a lot of sense that the team took a look at the 2nd apron rules and decided that there’s no good way to build out a team around 2 supermax contracts. So one of them has to go. The caveat here is that they were apparently willing to take on Giannis and extend him at his max. But perhaps he was the one all-in exception to the rule (and only if the price wasn’t too high).
Maybe it is just some combination of all of the above.
What’s next?
So what now? I guess we are going to get a steady diet of trade rumors, speculation, and breathless opinions from talking heads (and silly bloggers like myself).
This is unchartered territory for Brad Stevens. He has generally been pretty tight lipped and stealthy with his moves, but he couldn’t contain the noise around the Giannis situation. If they are trying to maximize their return for Jaylen, maybe it makes sense to get the word out that they are shopping him, to start a bidding war.
We’ve tried to figure out reasonable trade packages for Jaylen that make sense to us. Frankly, nothing I’ve seen or come up with myself leaves me really excited for the near future. It is hard finding another star that matches Jaylen’s level that would be available and a good fit for the Celtics. So that leads you to trading a dollar for 3 quarters and a few other cents that may or may not add up to a dollar. How does that make us more of a contender both now and in the future than just keeping Jaylen Brown? I don’t know.
I still have a lot of faith in Brad Stevens to figure this all out. I never saw the Derrick White trade happening. I couldn’t have predicted the Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis deals. Hopefully he has something even more surprising and productive in mind for the next step. I’m officially on the very edge of my seat.
As usual, stay tuned to CelticsBlog for updates and of course feel free to join in the discussion in the comments below.
