Fwiw, Washburn and Mannix both reported that Brogdon was upset at the Celtics at the time of the trade, not that he still is (3 months later). And Shelburne said that she doesn't think the bad feelings are over. These are just not reports imo and we have to wait and see what Brogdon actually has to say.
He may very well be upset, but we don't even know for sure that he actually ever was. Remember when Joe said the thing about the 'healing process' after the trade. Was that actually the case or did Joe just say something stupid? Are these reporters using that as the basis of their reports or do they have any inside information? I can't imagine Ramona Shelburne has the inside scoop on the Cs.
For sure there’s a “healing process.” Unless a player has asked for a trade (and there’s been zero indication that Brogdon had asked for one prior to the draft), it has to hurt on some level. In the ideal world for the Celtics, Malcolm Brogdon would not be on the team and Marcus Smart would. And every one of his teammates knows it, and all of his peers around the league know it too. For sure he’s a professional and understands the business, and should even understand from a roster standpoint why they wanted to trade a PG for Porzingis, but he’s also human, and the Celtics are right to acknowledge that it’s natural he’s hurt and thus needs to heal.
Add to it that he’s injured, and there’s also probably a level of anger of the “I got hurt playing for you and now you want to trade me” vibe going on.
I do think it will matter little in the long run, because he’s had three months and he is a professional, but he’s going to be asked about it when he returns, so it won’t go away immediately.
Is it a healing process really, though? He's a very good player, but not a core piece - he understands the business of the NBA because he is literally a VP. Nobody is talking about the healing process between the Clippers and Marcus Morris. And in our case, we were trading a player who was actually desired by another team; the Clippers were just essentially salary dumping Morris. That has to hurt more.
It just gets annoying how anytime the Celtics trade or try to trade a player, it is this major headline and they are doing their guys dirty, but nobody else faces the same criticism. It's like, oh well, we attempted to trade you for a clearly better player to a team that actually really wanted you and it didn't go through. I get that it's not awesome, but it's something you should get over pretty quickly. Having three major reporters come out this week and talk about how p---ed off (yes, Washburn's words) Brogdon is/was is just salacious reporting.
And I'm still not sure that all of these reports aren't based on Joe's casual, awkward wording back in June.
1) He very likely considers himself a core piece. I’m sure the staff all year told him “you’re a big part of what we’re trying to do”. He won a league honor for his play. Just because you don’t consider him a “core piece” (and I actually agree with you on that), I’m sure he
does consider himself one. And with the fourth-highest salary on the team, he’s being paid like one too.
2) As for criticism of the Celtics, I generally agree it’s unfair, although this case is odd, because it’s rare a deal so publicly falls apart as this one. A lot of players have been almost traded, but this was different.
3) Because of 1&2, I have zero problem with what Joe said. It’s obviously going to be an elephant in the room, and it’s better to acknowledge and move forward than pretend it didn’t happen. Joe’s comment, whether thought through or not, didn’t give extra life to the story — the slow summer did. Once Brogdon shows up to camp and plays in a game, the story will die, and there will be more interesting stories for the NBA to gossip about, but before then, I think it’s perfectly fine if Brogdon hears his coach acknowledge that it’s reasonable for him to have been hurt, because that acknowledgement will help everyone move forward.
