Treated by some fans of the Boston Celtics as something far worse than a consolation prize coming back to the team in their trade of star forward Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers, it would have been easy for Paul George to take his reception by those fans to heart. But the Fresno State alum recently let it be known that he actually gets where those fans are coming from, even if he believes he will win them over with his play.
"I'm for sure motivated," said George in an interviewwith 98.5 The Sports Hub's Joe Murray. "Disrespected? No. Again what (Jaylen Brown) meant here is it wasn't like it was a regular piece that was moved. JB is huge here; you think of guys that have worn this jersey, the very, very many numbers that are retired up
there, JB could very well be one of those numbers that get retired."
"Again, there's an emotional attachment to JB and this city," added George. "I wasn't disrespected by it, quite frankly."
"It is motivating that I do think that I can turn the clock a little bit from me now being able to play a season healthy, be more of myself than the injured version of myself," admitted the veteran forward. "So, I think more than anything, that's what I'm here to prove – that, when healthy, I can be back to being a premier player in this league."
Of course, 'when healthy' is the key phrase to pay attention to. But in the smallest of sample sizes in Boston's recent preseason blowout of his former team, we'd have to say he's backing up those claims well.
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: It might surprise you, but Paul George gets your ire over the Celtics Jaylen Brown trade
