New Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens explained the Kemba Walker trade in a press conference late Monday morning. Here’s what he had to say.
On the timing of the deal:
Trades almost never happen at this time of year. Generally, teams wait until the offseason to start doing next year’s business, but the Celtics and Thunder were operating under the 2020-21 season, which provided a couple of advantages for Boston.
First, it voided Walker’s trade kicker, which is a 15% bonus guys can get if they are traded. However, they are voided if it pushes a player past his max salary. It would not have next season, but it did now. That helps for salary matching purposes.
Second, it allows the Celtics to avoid the “Stepien Rule,” which prevents a team from trading consecutive future first round picks. By doing the deal now before the calendar flips, Boston can trade it’s 2022 first round pick.
“One of things we wanted was the ability to be unencumbered moving forward and kinda have a road ahead. We have a lot of things that we have to address appropriately and this is really hard,” Stevens said. “Lot of hard calls but that part, with this year’s pick versus maybe future picks, that was a big driver in making this decision.”
It was already obvious the Celtics had more to do this summer, but Stevens basically confirmed it with that quote. The team wanted all its available options, and the ability to trade the 2022 pick is one of them. How they do that is obviously still not clear here, but those aren’t just given away either. Stevens is hoping for another big move.
On trading Walker, specifically:
There are rumors of locker room discord floating out there but those really amount to little more than frustrations from a season going poorly and the typical head-butting that happens on every team (even the ones still playing).
“This is not the ideal first few weeks on the job,” Stevens said, admitting it was difficult trading Walker “just because of the kind of person that Kemba is, the kind of professional he is, and how good of a player he is and continues to be.”
It became clear that the mandate was what we thought it was. The Celtics needed to cut salary.
“I think the first thing was it was really important to create a clear road ahead from the standpoint of financial flexibility,” Stevens said. “And then when you have the opportunity to bring back a player, person the caliber of Al Horford, who's really excited to be here, it was something that we needed to move on.”
The Celtics accomplished their goal. They shed salary, they got a useful player in return, and they didn’t sacrifice the ability to make future moves.
On getting Horford back:
This isn’t the Al Horford from five years ago, but just keep in mind that when Oklahoma City decided they wanted to start losing every game, they sat Horford.
“Al can move the needle. Al had a good year in Oklahoma City,” Stevens said. “I think that sometimes the ability to space, pass, play in different ways and play in different coverages at the other end, be able to play with other bigs or as the lone 5 I think is something that--he just has a wealth of experience.”
Horford provides a more veteran presence on a young team. He brings a high level of professionalism to a team that could use a better rudder.
“His impact on others and his ability to lift others is one of his great strengths,” Stevens said. “To have the ability to get that in return and gain financial flexibility moving forward, the cost, right, was a person that you really really like and one first-round pick.”
But in Horford, the Celtics get another guy that they really liked before, especially Robert Williams. While Williams learned plenty from Walker, it was Horford who initially took Williams under his wing, and it’s a mentorship that can now continue.
“Rob is a guy that really wants to be good. He is a listener - he wants to improve,” Stevens said. “He’ll lean on every word Al says, obviously. And they can make each other better.”
On picking up Moses Brown:
Brown has already been learning from Horford, and he brings to Boston some intriguing talent.
“We like Moses as an upside player. Obviously we saw the best of Moses in our game,” Stevens said, referring to Brown’s 21 point, 23 rebound performance against Boston in March. “he’s a guy who got a bigger taste of the NBA this year. He got a great opportunity and when he did play he put up numbers. He’s a guy we’re excited to learn more about and work with, and see how he fits with our group. The ability to make our wings better is going to be a huge part of the people that will be around them.”
Translation: He’s got a bunch of potential but this team is all about Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and if a player doesn’t gear his game towards making their lives easier, he’s out.
There is a lot of discussion about how good Brown can really be. As I said earlier, when the Thunder wanted to lose, they sat Horford ... but they started Brown. He is young and learning and he had a ton of freedom to make all the mistakes he needed.
That changes a lot in Boston, but so does the quality of his teammates. He’s now the third or fourth-string center, depending on how the rest of the offseason shakes out (I do find it hard to believe the Celtics will carry four centers into the season).
That just becomes a longer discussion without getting into specifics of can guys play together, can you do the double big thing with certain groups, are there guys that pair better together,” Stevens said. “Those are things we’ll have to figure out. That won’t be as much my decision once those times come, once the roster is set. Then I’ll be out of that. Then whoever the coach is can figure out how they want to utilize everybody.”
Brown was good enough for the Thunder to lock up on a cheap deal, but clearly he is a work in progress. We’ll see how much progress he’s made, hopefully, soon as he will likely participate in summer league in a couple of months.
On the coaching search:
Nothing. Stevens refused to take questions on that, saying “in fairness to the people that have been under consideration, that are under consideration, I want to make sure that we’re doing it the right way.”
He did say that no matter who he hires, he won’t be meddling like a shadow head coach.
“I’m just there to support them. I don’t know how good I can be at this job. That’s to be determined. I’m pouring everything into it,” Stevens said “It’s been non-stop for however many days it’s been now. But the one thing that I should be good at is supporting the head coach and not being involved.
“My door is open, but I do not want to be anything but supportive. I’ve told everybody that I’ve talked to, in a weird way, in kind of a messed-up way, I’m looking forward to the first time we lose and I can walk in there and put my arm around them and say ‘I’ve lost a ton here. Let’s go get a coffee. Let’s go grab a beer. It’s OK. It’s part of a long journey.’ And so, I think I’m looking forward to that just being a support and staying out of it from a coaching perspective.”
On pulling off a trade a few weeks into the job:
It didn’t take long for Stevens to pull off a move, and he learned right away that changing someone’s life isn’t the easiest thing in the world.
“Trading people is hard. It was hard for Danny (Ainge). It’s hard for anybody,” Stevens said. “Being in the locker room with somebody and having a great deal of respect for him – yeah, it’s really tough. One of the things that you learn is it’s easy to be a person with an opinion in the room or outside the room, and it’s a lot different when you’ve gotta make that call. And so, I think that I’ve already learned that in the first couple of weeks. But we felt like it was the right move in the big picture for our organization. And sometimes you have to make those tough ones. Just didn’t anticipate it being this soon.”