Obviously deserved.
I thought he also deserved it two years ago when he swapped Kemba for Horford, extended Smart and Time Lord, and brought in White and Theis midseason, while staying under the tax. That team went to the Finals, and if you go back and look at it, this year’s moves were all set up then. Theis was turned into Brogdon, and Malcolm in turn was paired with TL to bring us Holiday. Smart, of course, brought us Porzingis, and White and Horford have excelled next to the Js.
Brad has done a terrific job — he clearly has a vision of how the team best fits together, and makes far better use of contract extensions than Ainge did.