‘Prominent rival coach’ calls out Boston Celtics fans
By Sam LaFrance
Boston Celtics fans have been in shambles ever since they watched their team go crashing out of the playoffs at the hands of the Miami Heat. Half the fanbase all of a sudden has cold feet on giving Jaylen Brown a super-max contract extension, after clamoring for him to make All-NBA a month ago, so the team could do just that — pay him.
The changes that fans have been calling for left one “prominent rival coach” that spoke with Heavy Sports’ Steve Bulpett absolutely flabbergasted.
“As soon as a team gets knocked out of the playoffs — or doesn’t even make the playoffs — you start hearing about all the changes they need to make,” the coach told Bulpett. “Right now, there’s a whole lot of GMs and people with my job that would LOVE to see Boston make a bunch of changes. I mean, are there fans up there actually saying they should break up Brown and Tatum? Are you s***ting me? Sure, you always hope you can tweak things here or there to try to get better, but right now just about every team in the league would trade its roster for Boston’s straight up.”
Bulpett’s source pretty much hits it on the nose, the fanbase has looked pretty dumb during the ongoing fortnight-long temper tantrum it’s been throwing, ever since Caleb Martin sent the boys in green home in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference.
Boston Celtics reportedly fielding calls on ‘multitude of guards’
While Brad Stevens and the front office seem pretty set on keeping Tatum and Brown together, reports have trickled out over the past week that there may be movement coming on the guard front.
On Friday, Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes shared that the team is “fielding calls on a multitude of guards.”
“Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics are fielding calls on the multitude of quality guards on their roster, sources tell B/R,” Haynes wrote. “With Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon and Payton Pritchard all deserving of playing time, Boston is looking to create some position balance, sources say.”
Haynes’ report came a day after MassLive’s Brian Robb, as well as The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor leaked the same news.
It makes sense for Boston to look at bringing in added support behind Tatum and Brown. It was something that they really lacked throughout their playoff run and ultimately paid for. In Game 7 against Miami, No. 0 went down with a rolled ankle and wasn’t able to give the team much for the entirety of the game.
Brown nor anyone else was able to fill the void and the Celtics earned themselves front-row tickets to watch the NBA Finals from the couch.
Smart, White, and Brogdon all make around $20 million per season, meaning that Boston would be able to return a player with a similar salary — and hopefully a similar impact as well — in a trade.