It will be a busy offseason for new Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, who could find relationships he had as the head coach drastically altered due to the duties of his new front office job.
Some of the players he once rallied every night in the name of the Celtics franchise will have their last conversation with Stevens about how he traded the remaining years on their contracts across the country.
Such is the life of a front office member. He knew the duties when he signed on the dotted line to get a promotion from Cs owner Wyc Grousbeck.
Two players that could be having those awkward conversations are Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. Regarding the latter, Smart’s trade value is being determined as we speak, with a mere late first-rounder seeming to be the going rate for the former Defensive Player of the Year.
Brown’s value seems to drastically differ depending on who you ask. Daily Knicks believes he could be had without the inclusion of Julius Randle, R.J. Barrett, or Mitchell Robinson. Rip City Project also believes the creme of the crop of the roster isn’t needed to land Brown either.
In their proposal to land both Brown and Smart, the main returning piece would not be Damian Lillard, but instead the Batman to his Robin, CJ McCollum.
Trying to make the case that a future draft pick and Anfernee Simons would be the necessary sweeteners to entice the step down in talent from Brown to McCollum, RCP’s Andy Quanch undervalues what the 2021 All-Star has meant to Stevens personally.
As HH continues to believe, the only upgrade from Brown that would sit well with the fanbase would be to land either Lillard or Karl-Anthony Towns.
Otherwise, deals like this one would have to be passed up on. Stevens may have replaced Brown in the starting lineup with Marcus Smart back in 2018-19, but the influence of then-floor general Kyrie Irving was the predominant factor. Since then, Brown has been the 1A option on offense, and the Boston Celtics have once again gotten to the doorstep of the NBA Finals with him and Jayson Tatum assuming the most responsibility.
It’d be hard to downgrade to a player with a more expensive contract and lower ceiling as the primary return.