Appearing on Toucher and Rich on Boston radio on Thursday morning, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens expressed displeasure with one of the quotes included in Tim Bontemps’ ESPN report on the team last week. As we relayed, an anonymous assistant coach who spoke to Bontemps questioned Jayson Tatum‘s desire to win, suggesting that the forward only wants to win “on his terms.” Stevens vehemently disagreed, calling the comment “a joke.”
“I thought that quote was absolutely ridiculous, to be honest,” Stevens said, according to Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “I don’t ever react to that stuff and I actually sent a note to one of the people I work with like, ‘This is idiotic.’ Just be around (Tatum) every day. That guy loves to win. He’s sitting there with his feet in the ice bucket after every game that we lose and he looks despondent. This guy’s competitive. I know that for a fact. I’m glad he’s on our team.”
Stevens said that anonymous assistant coach shouldn’t be making that sort of comment without putting his name to it, but acknowledged that wouldn’t happen because it would provide Tatum with bulletin-board material when the Celtics played the assistant’s team.
“Jayson would kill him every time he played him for the rest of his career,” Stevens said. “That’s the way those guys in this league are wired.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Nets center Nicolas Claxton, a restricted free agent in 2022, recently hired new representation, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link), who says Claxton has signed with CAA Sports. Bondy adds that the non-COVID illness which has kept the big man out of action since October 25 is mononucleosis. Claxton appears to be nearing a return though. As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN notes (via Twitter), he’s not listed on the team’s latest injury report for Friday’s game.
- Ian O’Connor of The New York Post says the Knicks‘ benching of Kemba Walker should send a message to Evan Fournier, another one of the team’s major free agent additions whose play has been inconsistent since he arrived in New York.
- The decision to pull Walker out of the rotation and start Alec Burks is paying early dividends for the Knicks, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Burks has led New York in scoring in his first two games as a starter and the team is playing better defense.
What a surprise, the player with the higher PER who plays for the team makes the team better.
And the player with the higher PER who plays to his own terms, not so much.
Hey Stevens, why doesn’t Tatum play so hard regardless of whether he is playing against somebody who insulted him?
Burks stays out of external stuff that does not matter, even a teammate’s stuff. That makes him somewhere between a backup and an alternative starter, on a winning team.
Tatum’s struggles are sorely due to his .319 3pt%. Nothing more, nothing less. As for the Knicks, they are built on a flawed foundation. The ceiling is playoff fodder.
only taking fade away 3 … He has no Mamba in him
Both Stevens and Tatum are a joke and ruining the Celtics franchise
Bulls brought it. They owed the Knicks one. Vucevic was big. Totally outplayed Mitch. To me Mitch is nowhere near top playing shape. If he was playing like last yr. We’d have won this game. Randle played more inside. Which he should have against smaller players. Not a fan of his PG skills. That’s why he and Kemba don’t mesh. Thibs has to accept blame for this too. You got a PG who initiates offense. But you want him standing at 3PT line.
Knicks are too Three happy. There’s not enough ball movement. That and their team D (Mitch) are biggest issues. DeRozan had 34 cause RJ didn’t play. The Bulls simply wanted it more. Sad that Knicks don’t play smart at home. Fournier and Kembas D are issues. But without Mitch controlling the paint. It looks worse. That’s why missed Noel too.
NY knew Kemba was a work in progress. We all want the best. But we know it could go the other way. Thibs knew this too. Randle is playing like he is 1A star. Which he’s not. He’s at best the 2nd or 3rd. But it’s off the team offense. That his work pays off. He also is not playing like last yr. Last yr he had to prove himself. This yr he’s playing like he’s already proven himself. Instead of proving it every game. Knicks are good when they play as a team. Cause we got plenty of depth. Garden deserves better effort. Still a work in progress. Thibs please, get a grip.