Since being drafted by the Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have gone from energy to energy and have quick turn out to be the 2 finest gamers on the roster and among the many finest in the whole league.
Jayson Tatum is a 4-time All-Star and potential MVP candidate, and Jaylen Brown is a 2-time All-Star who is flourishing as a mid-range scoring specialist. As standalone gamers, each are formidable, however collectively, they create one in all, if not the, strongest duos in the whole NBA. But, based on Danny Ainge, the Celtics nearly traded away the chance to pair these two stars collectively.
In a current interview with Underdog Fantasy, Ainge revealed how the Celtics as soon as thought of buying and selling away their 2016 and 2017 draft picks to accumulate Jimmy Butler, who, on the time was nonetheless with the Chicago Bulls.
“There was a state of affairs the place I might have given away each of these picks to get Jimmy Butler, and so, like, that criticism is honest, like ‘you’re hoarding your picks to eliminate Jimmy Butler.’ I simply thought it was too wealthy on the time, and thank goodness, we had been fortunate, and that turned out to be Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum…You by no means understand how these are going to work out, Jimmy was actually good, and we preferred him, and we needed him,” Ainge mentioned
Butler went on to have an incredible profession that has since taken him to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Philadelphia 76ers, and Miami Warmth; nonetheless, you’ll be hard-pressed to check the Celtics’ future being as vibrant as it’s proper now if Ainge had determined to push forward with the commerce.
After all, there’s no telling if Butler’s presence in Boston might have led to a championship or what different gamers would have needed to comply with him to the TD Backyard, however given the place Boston presently finds itself, it definitely appears like Ainge made the best name in retaining maintain of these draft picks.
It’s form of humorous, in a poetic approach, that the previous President of Basketball Operations, who was constantly ridiculed for his poor drafting, has his fingerprints all around the present core that’s thriving below Joe Mazzulla’s stewardship and Brad Stevens’ organizational administration.
It is sensible, then, that Ainge is seeking to repeat the same course of with the Utah Jazz, having traded away their prime stars for a haul of draft picks, as he appears to show their fortunes round in a similar way to what he did in Boston — though there isn’t any assure the Timberwolves are going to tumble towards the underside of the Western Convention the identical approach the Brooklyn Nets did within the East.
So, as you sit down to look at the All-Star festivities this weekend, and see Tatum doing his factor (hopefully Brown sits out to proceed therapeutic), simply bear in mind, there was an alternate world the place neither of those gamers find yourself in Boston, and the Chicago Bulls are as soon as once more one of the vital dominant forces within the NBA panorama.
