The Jaylen Brown/Celtics Drama Is Worse Than It Looks

Uh, couple of things on Boston.

Uh, it, it was reported multiple places during the week.

The Celtics were all in on Giannis.

Clearly they were not because all in means you go all in, and they weren't willing to do that.

Uh, they're willing to part with Jalen Brown.

They're willing to part with a couple of first-round picks, but they weren't willing to go deep into their cache of young players.

They weren't willing to go with swaps and future picks and all the things they could have done.

I don't you?

Well, that's the question.

That's the question.

Like, should they have gone all in and committed Hugo Gonzalez, committed, uh, Baylor Shireman, committed, you know, a couple of pick swaps to this in order to get Janston Numpo.

I mean, look, it's not, I think the the misinterpretation, some people hear that and they're like, really?

You lost out on Giannis because of Hugo Gonzalez?

Like, come on, man, what are you doing?

It's not necessarily just that, it's also about, it's hard to replace that depth.

It's not necessarily this player is untouchable.

When Jalen Brown isn't, but it's, it's hard to replace that depth if you give everything away, including pick swaps and more draft assets.

So, I, I think when you, we just had this conversation, if you've got your team to get this big star player, you're not gonna end up winning.

And in Boston, this is, this is the team with, tell me what we're at.

We're at 17 championships.

Is that right, Chris?

Uh, 1818.

Sorry, sorry, Celtics fans, don't, don't come after me.

I know this is the most important number in the entire fandom.

18 championships, that is the bar.

And so I, I, I wouldn't have gone all in in the way that you're talking about.

And not because I think Hugo Gonzalez is the greatest player on earth.

I just think that the overall position it would have left the team in is what we were just talking about.

But I do wonder now what they are going to do.

I don't personally, and you're around the Celtics 100 times more than I am.

I don't know if I buy.

The relationship with Jalen Brown is now too tainted.

First of all, will they or won't they trade Jalen Brown has been a topic for the last 5 years, so he's used to it.

I know the twitch and the this and he's mad and whatever, but Boston for a long time when Danny Ainge was was running things, it was Danny Ainge would trade his.

Right?

That was that you give Danny Ainge enough, he would trade his mother.

And the bottom line was, hey, everybody is dealable here if we think the team is going to be better.

And that is the ethos.

And if that is the ethos around the team, nobody can be, well, I should not be tradable.

I should not be that in that category.

And I think if you are smart enough as a front office, and I don't know if Brad Stevens has that Danny Ainge sort of reputation inside the team.

I think you can be like, yeah, grow up, don't be a baby.

This is the business.

We're paying you $300 million plus dollars.

Come play with Jayson Tatum, who you like, we'll make other, you know, arrangements around the edges.

I don't buy that the relationship is soured too much.

You have to deal him and deal him for less than you than you could otherwise get for him.

Do you?

Um, well, let me start with, I don't think that the Celtics should have gone all in for Giannis.

I don't think they should have gutted the team because this is not 2022.

Um, Giannis is right now damaged goods.

He has had, as we mentioned , multiple years of these kind of soft tissue injuries, calf injuries that are enormous red flags for a player of his size and the way that he plays, and he's also not a player.

That has shown that he's evolving as he's getting older.

He's just the same guy.

He's still dominant, but it's not like he's developing a three-point shot.

The three-point shot never happened.

It's, it's, it's actually gone the other direction.

He's taken less of them over the years, so I would not have gone all in and dumped all my young players.

And look, it's not, it was never just like.

If you put Hugo into the deal, we'll get, we'll get it done.

It was always more than that, like, because they would have kept coming back for more.

Hugo, uh, they would have asked certainly for, by the way.

They, they would have asked, and they would have asked for swaps, all those things.

They would have asked for a Miami type of deal, and Boston wasn't willing to do that.

I don't think they should have done that because they're in a very different position than the Miami Heat.

The Miami Heat were spinning its wheels in the play-in last year, last couple of years.

Uh, this team, even though the first round of the playoffs was disappointing, they were a 56 win team.

They're less than 3 years removed from winning a championship.

So they're in a different position than the Miami Heat.

Um, is the relation, this is the second part of it, like, is the relationship.

Uh, irrevocably damaged.

I do think it's more damage than you think.

I, I think all the, all the, look, you're right, it's, you know, every year it's like death taxes at a Jalen Brown trade rumor in Boston.

Um, you know, it was Kawhi Leonard in 2018.

It was Anthony Davis in 2019 and 20,020.

It was Kevin Durant in 2022.

Uh, but this to me feels different, you know, in the early years, Jalen Brown was just like this young kid that had proven nothing.

In 2022, he had proven something, and I reported at the time that he was pretty pissed off at, at those trade talks.

He was, you know, I, I don't wanna overcharacterize his emotions, but he was upset that after helping lead the team to the finals and coming two wins away from winning a championship, he's being dangled for a player that's older than him that hadn't accomplished, you know.

What he had as recently as he did in , uh, in Kevin Durant.

This is like that on steroids, right?

Like this is Jalen Brown coming off an all NBA season, coming off a year where he finished 6th in MVP voting, coming off a year where he did lead this team to 56 wins.

I mean, 56 wins for the Celtics this year, we keep, we focus on the ending, but 56 wins was remarkable.

What they did this year was incredible.

I think after all that, to again, not only hear his name in trade room.

But to see his name out there as one of the finalists, as seeing it firmly in print that this was close to happening, I think that caused some pretty significant damage to this relationship.

And look, Brad Stevens, I was up late last night watching his press conference after the draft.

There were multiple times Brad Stevens could have put the kibosh on, you know , Jalen Brown isn't going anywhere.

Could have, could have put some, could have put some punctuation on it.

He did everything he possibly could.

To not be definitive on that.

He said Jalen Brown is incredibly valuable, but I can't predict the future.

He said Jalen Brown is part of who we are, but he said you never know what can happen.

Like he was purposefully vague with Jalen Brown.

So that tells me this was not just about acquiring Giannis or just about a Giannistokopo trade, which it was about in 2022.

In 2022, it was about acquiring Kevin Durant.

This time around, they missed out on Giannis.

There's a decent chance they turn around in the next, in the next few days and weeks and do a deal for somebody else.

So I, I do think the damage is, is much more significant now than it was years ago.

Look, look, I get it.

When people have emotions and feelings or feel hurt, some of the logic goes out the window and, and that's with everybody.

That, that's not just with Jalen, and, and I understand that.

But he is, if not the, one of the smartest players in the league.

And this is a situation where Where the Celtics weren't saying Giannis is better than Jalen Brown.

They were saying Giannis fits the needs we have on this team better than Jalen Brown does.

You're, you're having elite player and elite player because Giannis, yes, you know, he obviously has more of a track record, you know, he, Jalen being 6th in MVP voting is no comparison comparison to Giannis on that score, but The need for Giannis, the need for somebody who can pair with Jayson Tatum in that way, who can be that big.

I, I just think that Jalen understands even if maybe the hurt takes over, and maybe that's the more important thing, that they were training, it, it wasn't them saying, oh, Jalen Brown, you're not good enough, because That idea of like, well, what else do you want me to do for you?

I, I don't think it was a case of, well, you didn't do enough.

I, I just don't think that was what Boston was thinking here.

I think they were thinking, clearly that playoff series exposed, it was more than just Jayson Tatum, you know, was hurt by the end of it.

Clearly they need to change some big things about their team, which by the way, they knew they were gonna have to do.

They didn't expect to be in this situation to begin with, so they knew this was going to be a retool.

I, I just I don't know, man.

I, I, I think that it would be a mistake for the Celtics to make a deal for someone who I put 5th on my MVP ballot for less than he's worth because of bad feelings.

I, I, I just think you gotta be, you gotta work those out, get in a room, you know.

I don't know if Boston has a sports psychologist.

Get in a room with Brad and the sports psychologist and Jalen and talk it out, man.

Address it head on.

But I, I just, they could still deal him.

I absolutely believe they could and they might want to or have to again, to fill a need on their team.

But I, I just don't think, quote, bad feelings should be the reason they give away what I, who I think is one of the most valuable assets in the NBA right now.

Yeah, I mean, we've seen bad feelings cause trades before.

I, I know, I know we have, but this is, you know, look, I don't wanna generalize, but like sometimes men need to talk it out, you know, I, I understand that it's happened.

It happens all the time.

I just don't think it's the smartest play.

I, I just think that, you know, you can have conversations and they might be hard conversations and they might take a few months , but I, I, I don't think it's worth giving away, who again I think Jalen Brown is valuable assets in the league over bad feelings, and I don't say giving away in terms of, oh, they're gonna give him away for nothing, but anything less than he's worth.

Yeah, they're not gonna do a deal that gets them quarters on the dollar.

They're not gonna offload him.

I know that for a fact.

Like they're not.

That's the next question.

What do you want from who?

The, the deal, the player that I think they covet, the player that now I think they'd love to get their hands on is Evan Mobley.

Um, Evan Mobley is kind of Giannis Light, right?

He's not the dynamic offensive player Giannis is, but he's a, he's a defensive former Defensive Player of the Year who still has room to grow, especially with his perimeter game.

That's a player I think they would love to get their hands on.

They're probably not alone.

Kevan Mobley is a tremendous talent.

Uh, doing a deal with Cleveland is very complicated for a lot of reasons.

Not the least of which is the Cavs currently are a 2nd apron team and that comes with a whole host of different problems that you have to deal with if you're The Cavaliers, not the least of which is, you know, hey, you've, you can't do deals that don't match dollar for dollar.

You can't take back salary when you're a second apron team, among many other issues there, but it is the offseason.

There's a lot of machinations you can do to get under that apron and eventually do a deal.

There's a lot that can happen there.

I think that's, to me, that is the team to watch moving forward.

Um, if there's a pathway to do a deal for Evan Mobley and if the Cavs are interested, and I wonder like if the Like the Cavs They got to the conference finals.

They took a step forward, but they're not there.

Like they're not a championship team.

Does Jalen Brown get them closer to that?

I don't know.

It makes them a little more dynamic, I think, and it gives them a player that's more proven when it comes to postseason play, and it gives them a guy that Donovan Mitchell is very comfortable with.

Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brown are very close.

Um, I don't know the relationship with Jalen and James Harden, but you're talking about veteran guys that are ready to win right now.

And if The Cavs.

You've got a little bit of backup there because Jarrett Allen's still around.

You're not giving away all your front court depth.

There's been plenty of talk already about is there a need to break those two up over the years.

Regardless, can you play double big at this level?

Maybe in the era of, of Wemby, you, you can and you probably should.

Um, but, but that's, to me, that's the team that I would keep my eye on.

In the days and weeks ahead because I don't see another deal that makes any sense for Jalen Brown.

Like, I wouldn't turn and talk to Houston, but Alpern Sanguon, I don't think that's an upgrade.

I don't think taking on a below the rim center is, is what you're looking for.

I don't think you take like an Atlanta Hawks poo poo platter of like, you know, Dyson Daniels and Zach Risa.

And a and a Konwu, no matter how hard Tim Bon Temps tries to sell you on it.

Like I, I wouldn't, I don't think those deals make a lot of sense.

It's not a lot of deals, not a lot of teams that, that I would look at and say they can offer you something real in exchange for Cleveland Brown, uh, Cleveland Brown in pay for Jalen Brown.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, if they wanted to.

They could do that.

And if the math worked, if I'm Boston, I would do that because I think Evan Mobley, if they're looking to get big, right, which they clearly are, and I, I talked to executives last night and the day before about what Boston was looking for in the aftermath of the failed Giannis talks and they repeatedly said We're look, they're looking at a big, high-level big.

So all the talk about New Orleans and Trey Murphy, don't look at that.

That's not real in terms of Jalen Brown.

They don't need more wings.

They're not gonna trade Jalen Brown for another wing.

They're looking to get big with a high-level guy, and the only high-level guy to me that makes any sense is Evan Mobley if he's available in Cleveland.

I mean, look, first of all, if they weren't looking for a big or, or to get stronger at that position, it would be malpractice.

Obviously, that is what they need.

I, I am.

I don't know.

I mean, first of all, that, that reinforces what I was just saying.

It's not about Jalen Brown.

Man, wasn't this enough for you?

That that's not what this is about, and that's a little bit why I keep saying get in a damn room and have a conversation, because his, his sort of feeling of, of, man, I don't, you don't respect me.

That's not what this is about.

It's just not.

It's about we have a positional problem here we have to solve, and you're one of our best players, and we might need to use you to go solve it.

I, I get it.

I don't know if Evan Mobley is sort of good enough.

Obviously there have been questions about him in Cleveland.

I have not spent a lot of time with Evan Mobley.

People who have have questions about his motor, about sort of his ability to develop the way that you're talking about, I can't speak to that.

That that's not just something that that I've spent enough time around him to know.

I'd be a little nervous about doing a deal that close in the conference with another contender.

I, I think that's a little dicey.

We've seen that blow up in people's faces and, and the Boston faithful, they know how to, to, uh, they're not going to take that lightly, right?

If if if Jalen Brown.

Plays the Cavs in a 1st round series and blows them away or in a 2nd round series and blows that way.

You, you think Boston talk radio is gonna have something to say about that?

So I'd have to really, I'd have to be really sure.

Um, and I don't know enough about Evan Mobley to be really sure, and this again comes back to there might not be enough out there.

And so therefore, you might have to fill your center, fill your big needs other ways in other places, and keep Jalen Brown, who is a knockout punch next to Jalen Jayson Tatum, and work it, work it out.

I, I just work it out if you need to, because I would not give Jalen Brown away unless I was really sure I was getting his value back, and I think Giannis, you're getting that value back even if Jalen's at this point in his career, the better player, less injury risk, all that stuff, you need that level of a big that you have in Giannis.

I'm not sure I'd get, I'd give trade Jalen Brown.

I, I can't think of a lot of people I would trade him for.

If, if Jalen Brown though is watching that Brad Stevens press conference on Tuesday night he's not loving his chances of sticking around.

Like there were multiple chances.

Look, the Giannis stuff is done.

Like that.

That would have been a prime opportunity for Brad Stevens to be like, you know what, it's over.

It's a wrap.

Like, you know, we're not gonna talk about this, but, you know, you know, we are always looking to upgrade our team, whatever, blah blah blah.

Jaylen Brown will be there next year.

He didn't do that.

Like that, that certainly is a pretty clear signal for me that they're out because they still have a need.

Right, but they're, they're a way.

Look, we keep talking about Jalen Brown being the way to fill a need .

He's a way to fill that need, but they've got other things they could do there.

They've got plenty of movable contracts on that roster.

They've got trade exceptions.

They've got a whole bunch of different things, but he's not doing that is what I'm saying.

Like he's not saying Jalen Brown is our guy.

Jalen Brown is gonna be back with us.

He's doing everything possible not to give a soundbite.

Like, and I was watching that in the NBC studios last night, and there was no soundbite to be had there.

The only soundbite that was actually kind of interesting.

It was like somebody asked him like the perfect leading question, which is, do you think that Jalen and Jason can still win a championship?

And he said, yes, full stop.

Like that was a definitive answer to a question.

Other than that, it was kind of a word salad of avoiding any kind of quote.

That, that was really all he was trying to do there.

But this comes down to, you know, again, I would be, I would be a very ruthless GM just as I would be a ruthless Giannis.

I would have the Danny Ainge reputation if I would trade my mother if the deal was right.

And I would tell every guy who came in there, it's not about you.

We will, we will trade you if, if the team, if it makes the team better, and we will pay you if, if, if you perform and you make the team better, and they certainly have paid Jalen Brown.

Well, now, now they may have faced the, the opportunity to pay him again, right, because he's extension eligible right now and he's probably gonna ask them for that 2-year extension if he sticks around, give you the 2-year extension, but I don't think you can give him that if you're Boston because then he becomes basically untradeable.

Like you tack on $140 million to that deal, make it a 5-year deal that'll take him into his mid-thirties.

That makes it exponentially more difficult to trade.

But I would say this, like you bring up the Guys like Danny Ainge traded his mother.

I agree with all that, but you don't hear any Jayson Tatum rumors out there.

You've only heard Jalen Brown rumors over the last 5 years .

So I, I just think, I don't think it's this one set of trade talks.

I think this is an accumulation of the stuff that's gone on over the years.

He's coming off the all NBA season.

He's a top 5-ish player, or at least he was last season.

And now we're doing this all over again.

I, I think we've, I do think, and I could be wrong, I do think we've reached the point of no return.

I don't disagree with you when you say everybody should get together.

Let's figure this out.

We're still an elite team with Jalen Brown on it and maybe like, like, let's go get Miles Turner.

Not that that's the solution, but like that would be a big that's potentially available for Boston to take a run at.

But I just, I just think we're past that.

I think everything I've heard in the days and weeks about What's going on here and listening to that Brad Stevens press conference, this doesn't sound like it's over.

It certainly sounds like he's gonna continue to shop Jalen Brown and look for an offer that makes sense for them.

Yeah, no, I don't disagree with you.

I, I don't think it's over by any stretch.

And Jalen Brown, of course, I'm not saying he doesn't have the right to feel exactly how he feels.

It's not my place to say that, and he knows a lot more about what's going on between him and the team than I ever would or you ever would even.

Like I, I just I , I just feel like if they cannot get the value that he deserves to really make this team significantly better, I, I'm not, I just don't think there's no path back, and I guess maybe that's optimistic of me, but in my opinion, it's not, we're not in a situation where there is quote no path back, and we'll see, maybe I'm wrong.

I haven't been in those rooms.

It'll be interesting the next couple of weeks and maybe even as early as Monday when we reconvene, there could be something that, that changes here.

I think it's a fast developing story between Jalen Brown and the Celtics.