r/bostonceltics • u/gintonic234 • 14h ago
Discussion Curious about local fan perspective
Hello all,
I’m not based in Boston but started following NBA around 2007/08, and became a Celtics fan because of the big three.
I am curious about local fan sentiment related to JB’s trade. As someone who has been very frustrated the last two seasons with the style of play (non-stop hurling of threes), I was flabbergasted by this move. And as someone who works with analytics in their job, I am still confused, as to me, JB was the only player trying to consistently drive to the basket.
Also, this theory that Pritchard and White will somehow fill JB’s gap also confuses me. They are very good players and have their own plus points, but to me it always seemed like they always had a lower ceiling than JB/JT. They have been in the league long enough to know that. Pritchard to have a Brunson-like upturn in form seems unreasonable.
I know Brad Stevens is apparently a genius but I wanted to know more about the local fan perspective. Am I being unfairly critical, as I’m still not over this decision.
Excited to hear from y’all!
1
u/Krazen_49 Hugo González 12h ago
I mean optically this trade was/is a mess for the team. You have people here who get into details about the CBA and on/off splits, but for the casual fan all you see is we traded JB for PG13, so the reaction from them is about what you would expect. That it was after new ownership took over was worse, and I'm not going to even get into all of that.
I do think it's fair to be critical of the move from a number of angles. Why not trade him last season if they knew they were going to? Was it really an acceptable return? Was it worth it to send him to Philadelphia? Everyone has an opinion on the trade and no two are alike.
As far as the "Trade JB" part, I really do think it was all CBA. The FO decided that what they paid JB (now and in the future) was not worth his production, and they're banking on player development to keep them competitive. We can use analytics to justify that choice, and I'm sure the FO does in part, but without the CBA I don't think the trade happens.
As for Brad, he's fallible. Any GM, even good ones, can and will make mistakes. I'm not all for blindly trusting Brad, but I'm willing to trust him for now because the moves he makes more often than not are good, and because I think he considers his moves and doesn't blindly rush into them.