Kind of insulting to refer to IT as future 6th man given his play this year. Really? He is today very arguably a top 10-15 player in the league.
He turns 28 early next month. Career Prime for next 5 years.
Also, it surprises me that Brad Stevens said "we will fit around you". Seems like the antithesis of his approach. Probably ghost written, it would be nice to know for sure though..
Really? You think so? Have you watched Stevens on his time here? What I think makes him so great, like Pop before him, is that he knows how to adjust his system in order to put his best players in a position to take advantage of their strengths. He's never really forced a guy to fit into "his system"
I mean, look at Evan Turner for example. Every other coach ET had insisted on plugging him into a largely off-ball role and he was almost out of the league when he came here. Stevens made him a de-facto PG and he earned a 72$M contract. That first year with Rondo, before he got traded, did we see a ton of open ball movement and 3's? Sometimes, but we ran a TON of Rondo/Zeller P&R's, and Zeller saw the best year of his career. Countless examples show this: Bradley getting 18 PPG on catch and shoots/P&P's. IT in isolation, playing as the offensive fulcrum, has turned him into a top 20 NBA player.
Stevens ability to adapt to his best players skill sets is one of the biggest reasons I love him as our coach so much.