What does it really say about Brad and his thoughts and objections to the roster construction this past year.
Not a lot, or at any rate nothing obvious.
Kemba became a part-time player on a max contract with a chronic knee issue. He’s 31 and his game relies on quickness and footwork. We can be sure that Boston management got more than one medical opinion about his future.
The Celtics got most of one good year from him, and as a team it was the best year of the Brad Stevens era - Fourth in offense and fourth in defense. If Kemba had been healthy in the playoffs, getting to the finals against the Lakers was a real possibility; as it was, they outscored Miami in the conference finals.
This was a very successful trade for Boston. But something like it would have happened anyway, with or without the change in management. I’m not a doomsayer about Kemba, but there’s a real risk that his career won’t outlast his contract; and the most likely outcome is that he won’t come close to matching his contract. This is not a problem for Oklahoma City, but it would be a big one for Boston. Likewise, the first round pick is much more valuable for the Thunder than it is for the Celtics, especially since Boston has a number of intriguing young players already.
A healthy Kemba Walker is a brilliant pick-and-roll ballhandler with outstanding quickness and handles who can get the ball wherever he wants in the half court. His defense is hurt even more by his injury than his offense, even when he’s able to get on the court. In any case, it wasn’t worth the risk to keep him and hope for the best.
Marcus Smart is severely underrated by many fans; but he cannot do what a healthy Kemba did. It’s a question of skill sets, not whether one player is better. But the ship has sailed, or most likely it has.