After Making A Franchise Altering Decision, Brad Stevens Finally Faced The Music Following The Jaylen Brown Trade

Throughout the years, there have been some pretty big press conferences in the history of Boston sports. Some, have become timeless (for all the wrong reasons)

and once it was announced that Brad Stevens and new owner Bill Chisholm were going to be speaking with the media Monday afternoon, it immediately went up the list for me. Trading not only a franchise player, but one of the greatest Celtics history is a very big deal. A franchise altering level deal. The biggest of big deals. This isn't changing the window dressing around your roster where maybe you flip an ancillary piece for something else. This is changing the foundation. The very core of your team. 

So yeah, Brad Stevens and Bill Chisholm stepping up to the mic for the first time since the decision is a pretty massive deal. Even though going into these things you know you aren't going to get the full truth and there will be some level of PR speak, who cares. The point is, you do something like this, you have to face the music and go on record. That's part of the gig. You can choose how much to believe or not believe, but you can't be like that asshole John Henry. You have to face your fanbase.

Things began, with an 8 minute opener by Brad Stevens. Some fluff in there, but also some rather significant admissions

First and foremost, the root of everything. When people say the Jaylen Brown trade was financially motivated, that's true……just not maybe how they think. The financial motivation was not to get rid of the cost, seeing as how the return player costs the team just as much money. The financial motivation was not paying Jaylen Brown that money, and using those same dollars in different areas.

Remember, this is the new CBA world. You simply do not see two 35% max guys on rosters that win the title. It sucks, but that's the reality of the CBA. When the Celtics won their title, Tatum and Brown were both under 30% of the cap, as neither were on their supermax salaries yet. In 2024-25, it was Year 1 of Jaylen at 35%. In 2025-26, it was Year 2 of Jaylen and Year 1 of Tatum being at 35%. We saw the roster moves that happened in both of those seasons as their cap hit went up. 

The issue, of course, is what they took back. Paul George takes up 32% of the cap, so in the short term, that roster building challenge exists regardless of Jaylen being on the roster or not, at least for the next season. 

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If next summer George is flipped for a different 32-35% cap hit player, it'll confirm even more that the team simply does not feel like Jaylen's on court value matches that cap hit. Is it you can't have two 35% guys, or you can't have two 35% guys if one of them is Jaylen Brown? To me, those are very different things. 

If that 35% hit ends up being in a trade that splits it for multiple pieces, that'll speak more to what Brad is saying when it comes to spreading out your cap hit to build out your depth. Brad Stevens said it himself: if Jaylen were at a lower cap hit, we're not even here right now. That means, for the price, we can no longer justify it and need to adapt based on how you now need to build in this new world. 

The one thing I'll say about Brad, is you can tell how much he cares. That certainly hasn't prevented him from doing his job, but watching him during this presser, you could tell he was fighting to keep things buried inside

After the emotional intro, it was time to get to business. As fans, we needed some sort of reasoning or direction. Especially given some of the things Brad himself had said at the presser during the Draft, only to then actually do the complete opposite. That was one of the first things he addressed

I mean, the easy answer is he was lying during the Draft presser, but I guess that works too. What I didn't exactly love was his continued attempts to convince the world that the return package for Brown was "good", when we all know that it was really just the best shitty offer as a result of a shitty market. 

It's not like there was no intention of trading him two weeks ago, and then the Sixers came to their door with an offer so good it completely blew their dick off and they had no choice but to accept it. Let's at least be honest about the situation.

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One of the curiosities around this whole trade was the timing. Why now? What's the rush? You're telling me this Paul George offer had an expiration date?

Notice that comment about the cap hit? Again, that's the root. 

In terms of the actual timing question, the answer to that is because it got out? Because it blew up, they had to just bite the bullet immediately? I'm not sure I love that reasoning, because this could have all been prevented had they just upped the price for Giannis. If there was good communication, why would it becoming news matter? I thought this was something Brad dodged pretty quickly, and I would imagine there's more meat on the bone there.

Next question, what was Jayson Tatum's role in all this? 

While I do believe Brad doesn't go to players and ask them if he should or shouldn't do something, I am having a HARD time believing that they gave Tatum no sort of heads up about this. I'm to believe he learned the same way we did with the Shams bomb? No chance. At the end of the day, that's now what matters most. Because on what planet would you run the risk of keeping your only franchise player in the dark and now getting pissed? What if he then demanded out? There are too many disaster possibilities for me to believe that at no point during this whole saga that Tatum wasn't told about it.

That doesn't mean he had input or played a role in the decision, but there's no chance he wasn't aware of what was on the table.

Speaking of Tatum, everything this team does moving foward now has to be about maximizing Jayson Tatum. That's it, that's now your most important objective. Before this happened, the goal was to do that with their two best players. So how does Brad Stevens think this move achieves that?

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Pretty sure that was not the answer to the question. Why go this route? Easy, because anything Brad says here can easily be spun as things that Jaylen Brown doesn't do, further causing a shit storm with all that shit. The reality? The bet is that a better off ball shooter, better passer, and more connective type player will perform just like everyone else who shares those skillsets and plays next to Tatum. Time will tell if that can exist with a 36 year old player.

Next question, did things just reach a point where there was no going back? Where you simply had to trade the player no matter what?

I'll tell you this much, if there was such a point, we were never going to be told about it. At this point of the presser, I don't think Bill Chisholm was asked a single question. He just sort of sat up there looking very nervous and very uncomfortable. Finally, it was his turn 

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Listen, I get that nobody wants to defend owners. I also get that Private Equity is often the devil when it comes to sports. But all I'll say is that at the end of the day, when it comes to this new ownership and their spending, all we can do is evaluate based on what they do or do not do. So far this summer:

- They took back the same money in the Jaylen trade

- They paid full top of the market price for Mitchell Robinson

- They extended Neemias Queta with a $12M raise

- They extended Ron Harper Jr

- They've already committed future money to be over the luxury tax in 2027-28

So really, nothing we've seen from Bill Chisholm says he won't spend. Do I think if he didn't want Jaylen traded, would Jaylen be a Sixer right now? No. So ultimately he owns that just like Brad. It's his call, he can say no. But so far, when given the chance to spend, they've spent. 

That's why to me, this whole situation needs to start and stop with Brad. He is the one who determined that the value was not there for the salary. He believes Jaylen is no longer a fit with his flaws for how they want to play and build their roster. That's OK to acknowledge.

About that decision, what about the analytics? 

Later in the presser Brad was sort of cornered about his when he was asked what specifically about the information did he learn that drove him to this decision. He deflected. Of all my "complaints" this was something I wish was harped on more given all the discourse around Jaylen these last few weeks. They kept referencing "being better" and all that stuff, so what did they learn that they feel makes them better? Better how, and answer it without saying the word optionality.

Speaking of the Giannis trade, this was the other big question of this whole thing. Why do you get involved but not close the deal? 

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Textbook deflection, which is understandable, I guess. That's about as textbook a nonanswer/changing the subject as you're going to get from a GM who doesn't want to tell you the truth or the reality of the situation. 

Then came the whole perception angle. As we know, the Boston Celtics are the only team in the NBA who is not allowed to make any sort of trade. No matter what they do, it's usually the same story

Again, on one hand, this is what you want to hear from the owner, but the only way to truly get the fanbase on board is to back up your words. So far, he has when it came to spending. He has another chance to do it this summer. But let's also not get it twisted, it's part of Bill Chisholm's legacy as owner that he is the one to sign off on splitting up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. It's not just about spending, it's about spending it the right way to win so you can win a title. This is a defining moment for the franchise and his ownership tenure. Period.

So in the end, does anyone feel any better about things following this presser? I can't say I do. The whole time watching it, all I kept saying to myself was that I couldn't believe this was actually real life. It's still surreal that this is where we are so quickly following the 2024 title. How do you even process that (pun not intended but intended)? 

The beauty (?) of this is the fact that we're about to find out who was right. Are the sheets right or did the Celtics just make a colossal mistake? If it fails, then what the fuck is the plan? 

No pressure!