Brad’s thoughts on Tatum, the finals, etc.
After Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum had a rough NBA Finals, Brad Stevens had a simple message for his team's franchise player.
"I just told him to go on vacation," Stevens, Boston's president of basketball operations, said with a smile during a videoconference call with reporters after Boston's season ended with a loss to the Golden State Warriors in six games in the league's championship round. "Go get some rest.
"The way I try to look at it is, obviously, we're all subjective in every moment and react emotionally, but when you start looking at it objectively and more so historically, what Jayson and Jaylen have done in the playoffs, historically at their ages, is rarified air," Stevens said. "I think we're very cognizant of the fact that even though Jayson would admittedly not have played his best series, there's no chance we're there without him and without all of his great play all the way through.
"I think back to all of the times ... Game 6 in Milwaukee was one of the best games I've seen an individual play in my time, certainly in person and with the Celtics. Without that performance, we would have had this discussion a month and a half ago."
"This guy gave us everything he had. When you look at the minutes, when you look at the games played ... I've said this many times: He's a superstar that doesn't want to sit. He wants to play, he wants to play all the time. I thought that in the Finals, obviously, I think he would be the first to say that he would like to have some of those moments back, but I thought there were other contributing factors to how he played."
"I think we have to walk a fine line a little bit," Stevens said. "I think teams are fragile. I think the way teams work together and operate together are fragile. And I think your identity as a team, when you find one that's successful, which we did this year on the defensive end of the floor and when we were at our best sharing the ball offensively, those things are fragile. So just to add doesn't mean that you're not taking something away from the group."
-Per ESPN