Boston Celtics Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Jayson Tatum Initially Hoped To Be Drafted By Suns In 2017

May 11th, 2020 at 3:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Celtics forward Jayson Tatum has taken steps toward superstardom during his three years in Boston, enjoying a breakout season and becoming an All-NBA candidate in 2019/20. However, appearing on All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson (video link), Tatum admitted that in the days leading up to the 2017 draft, he was hoping he’d end up with the Suns rather than the Celtics.

As Tatum explains, with Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball widely expected to go first and second overall, he thought there was a chance he’d go to Philadelphia at No. 3 or Phoenix at No. 4. Just five days before the draft, he visited Phoenix and became smitten with the Suns, who were talking about the idea of pairing him with Devin Booker.

“I called my mom like, ‘I think I want to go to Phoenix,'” Tatum told Barnes and Jackson.

However, the landscape at the top of the draft shifted when the Celtics and Sixers reached an agreement on a trade that would send the No. 1 pick to Philadelphia and the No. 3 pick to Boston. According to Tatum, he got word of that deal shortly after his meeting with the Suns, when he was still in Phoenix.

“My agent calls me, he’s like, ‘Danny Ainge called and said they’re going to trade their pick. They’re going to go to No. 3 and they want you to come to Boston the next day to work out,'” Tatum said. “I’m like, ‘No, I don’t want to go to Boston. I like it out here in Phoenix. It’s cool. The weather’s nice, I’ll get a big house, I’ll get a pool. My mom’s going to be out here.'”

According to Tatum, his agent talked up Boston head coach Brad Stevens and the Celtics’ storied history on that phone call and asked him to think about visiting the team. However, by the end of their conversation, Tatum still wasn’t sold.

“We hang up and I’m like, ‘I’m not going to this workout. I’m cool,'” Tatum said.

As Tatum tells it, it took a call from Mike Krzyzewski, his former head coach at Duke, to convince him to work out for the Celtics. Coach K told the young forward that he could learn a lot from Stevens and that he could succeed in Boston, prompting Tatum to visit the C’s just three days before the draft.

While the former Blue Devil still wasn’t convinced at the time that Phoenix wasn’t a better fit for him, he admits that everything ultimately worked out for the best after Boston selected him with the third overall pick.

“There was a part of me that didn’t really want to go to Boston because they just were the No. 1 team in the East,” Tatum told Barnes and Jackson. “They had Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, (Marcus) Smart, JB (Jaylen Brown), Jae Crowder. I was like, ‘Man, I’m not going to play.’ … But everything worked out. It was the best decision.”

King, Hollinger On Hayward, Tatum, Celtics' Rookies

May 6th, 2020 at 1:00pm CST by Luke Adams

In a pair of articles for The Athletic, Jay King and John Hollinger examine Gordon Hayward‘s contract situation and a potential max extension for Jayson Tatum, and Hollinger explains why he’s not particularly bullish on the Celtics‘ group of rookies.

Zarren: Celtics "Very Ready" For Draft

May 2nd, 2020 at 11:35am CST by Dana Gauruder

Celtics assistant GM Mike Zarren told season ticket holders that the front office is well-prepared for any draft scenario, Celtics analyst Marc D’Amico tweets. Boston could have as many as three first-round selections. “Regardless of what happens, we’ll be very ready for the draft,” Zarren said.

Wanamaker Committed To Remaining In NBA

April 30th, 2020 at 5:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Following up on a report by Chema De Lucas (Twitter link), Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter link) confirms that Celtics guard Brad Wanamaker has no intention of leaving the NBA to return to Europe. Before joining Boston for the 2018/19 season, Wanamaker had built an impressive international résumé, winning multiple championships and several awards in Germany and Turkey.

Danny Ainge Talks Draft Prep, Celtics’ Engagement

April 23rd, 2020 at 8:05pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Executives and coaches around the league are taking different approaches to keep their teams engaged during the NBA’s hiatus. Celtics team president Danny Ainge is simply trying to keep his guys motivated, as he believes the season will resume and wants to be ready for that moment.

“We’re approaching this like we’re going to return to play and that we’re going to be playing playoff basketball,” Ainge said told reporters earlier this week including Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald. “And we are staying in touch. We are having conference calls where we have guest speakers, motivational speakers, that address all of our guys on Zoom. We are doing workouts with the coaches and with the strength coaches via Zoom and so forth.”

Who have the guest speakers been so far? There are some notable names on the list.

“Maybe I don’t want to say that, just because maybe they’ll get bombarded by other people that read this,” Ainge said. “But we’ve had… Mark Wahlberg, (he) was great. He was a lot of fun. Our players got a good kick out of him. He had some pretty good stories. LL Cool J, his story is pretty fascinating. Jim Cash (one of the Celts’ board of directors), who’s always magnificent to listen to, had some great wisdom and knowledge for the players. And we had Dr. Myron Rolle, who has a fascinating story (neurosurgery resident, former NFL player), here at Mass General. So, yeah, we’ve had some very inspirational speakers.”

As for the evaluation part of his job, Ainge doesn’t envision the current circumstances making it that much more difficult. He did admit that not having pre-draft sessions (which is a possibility) could force teams to miss out on some gems.

“Let’s just take Rajon Rondo as an example,” Ainge explained. “Had I not been able to see him in the draft workout and sat down and talked with him and looked into his eyes, I don’t think I would have drafted him. So I think there is value in that. At the same time we drafted Avery Bradley without any draft workouts. We drafted Steve Nash back in our Phoenix days without a draft workout. So I think you don’t always get guys in for draft workouts, but you have to be prepared to take guys. That’s why we’re doing so much homework at this time and taking advantage of getting ahead of the game in case we don’t get draft workouts. But we’ll be prepared.”

Revisiting Celtics' 2019 Draft Decisions

April 20th, 2020 at 9:28am CST by Luke Adams

A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston revisits the Celtics‘ 2019 draft decisions, exploring whether the team should have gone in a different direction with any of its four selections.

Hayward Uses Hiatus To Heal Up

April 18th, 2020 at 10:20am CST by Dana Gauruder

Celtics forward Gordon Hayward said the hiatus has allowed him to heal up from lingering knee and foot injuries, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe reports. “That’s one positive from this whole thing is everybody’s been able to recover,” Hayward said. “We haven’t been able to do much, so hopefully everyone is healthy whenever and if ever we get back this year. … This has been good for everybody’s body.”

Ainge Was Interested In Walker Long Before Last Summer

April 11th, 2020 at 10:20am CST by Dana Gauruder

Kemba Walker would have remained with Charlotte for less than a super-max deal last summer but he knew that wouldn’t happen after meeting with Hornets owner Michael Jordan, Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe writes. Walker may have stayed put if the Hornets had offered him five years and approximately $180MM. The Celtics emerged as the most likely destination because they were already a playoff team and president of basketball operations Danny Ainge had been enamored with Walker ever since the point guard’s days at the University of Connecticut, Himmelsbach adds.

And-Ones: Clippers, Pistons, Cavs, Young

April 7th, 2020 at 9:49pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Clippers hold the top spot in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings, which predicts the best and worst franchises over the next three seasons. While the team has one of the best one-two punches in the NBA with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, Los Angeles’ inability to trade a first-rounder may come back to haunt the team, Bobby Marks suggests.

L.A. sent out several first-rounders in the George deal and had just one pick (2020 selection) that was eligible to be included in a trade this season — the franchise used it to acquire Marcus Morris at the deadline.

The Lakers, Warriors, Bucks, and Celtics round out the top-5 in the ESPN’s latest rankings. Here’s more from around the league:

The Pistons and Cavaliers rank 29th and 30th, respectively, on that aforementioned ESPN’s list. Both franchises lack blue-chip prospects and each has expensive veterans clogging its cap space.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times believes Thaddeus Young will find himself on the trade block this offseason. Young, who inked a deal the Bulls last summer, was the subject of trade rumors earlier in the season.
NBA agent Mark Bartelstein said he expected the season to get postponed after watching what was going on abroad in February and March, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic relays. Bartelstein has clients in the Chinese Basketball Association and other international leagues.

Kevin Garnett Talks Hall Of Fame, Timberwolves, More

April 7th, 2020 at 12:57pm CST by Luke Adams

The Basketball Hall of Fame officially announced over the weekend that Kevin Garnett will be part of a star-studded Hall of Fame class of 2020, joining former NBA legends Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan in a group that also features former head coach Rudy Tomjanovich, ex-WNBA star Tamika Catchings, and four others.

In a conversation with Shams Charania of The Athletic, Garnett spoke about his election into the Hall of Fame, referring to it as “the perfect way to end a dope story.”

The former Timberwolves and Celtics big man also offered some thoughts on what it means to be inducted alongside longtime rivals Bryant and Duncan, and weighed in on a few more topics. Here are some highlights from the discussion, which is worth checking out in full:

On going into the Hall of Fame with Bryant and Duncan:

“They both are unprecedented, not only athletes, but people. I feel more than honored to go in with these two, but Kobe not being there is going to be super emotional for everybody.

“The fact that the three of us actually pushed the other two… whether it was awards, All-Stars, battles, rings — we all three pushed the lines. To go in with these two guys, I couldn’t ask for two other people to go in with. And shout out to Tamika Catchings too. I’m a huge fan of Catch; Catch has put that grind in, she’s put that work in, and it’s dope to see all of us right here.”

On his NBA career:

“If I could actually go back and change anything, I would’ve left Minnesota a little earlier, knowing that the management wasn’t as committed as I was. Or wasn’t committed at all. I probably would’ve went to Boston or changed the situation earlier. I would’ve been a little younger and that means less wear and tear on the body. Teaming up with Paul (Pierce), I should’ve done that earlier. Who knows — I’m probably sitting here with another ring or two. But, yeah.”

On why his number is being retired in Boston, but not in Minnesota:

(Timberwolves owner) Glen (Taylor) knows where I’m at, I’m not entertaining it. First of all, it’s not genuine. Two, he’s getting pressure from a lot of fans and, I guess, the community there. Glen and I had an understanding before (former Wolves coach and executive) Flip (Saunders) died, and when Flip died, that understanding went with Flip. For that, I won’t forgive Glen. I won’t forgive him for that. I thought he was a straight up person, straight up business man, and when Flip died, everything went with him.

“There’s no reason to complain. Just continue to move on. My years in Minnesota and in that community, I cherish. At this point, I don’t want any dealings with Glen Taylor or Taylor Corp. or anything that has to do with him. I love my Timberwolves, I’ll always love my guys, I’ll always love the people who f–k with me there. I’ll always have a special place for the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota in my heart. But I don’t do business with snakes.”