With Brad Stevens taking over as the Celtics’ president of basketball operations earlier this month, one of the interesting aspects of this offseason is going to be whom he consults with and how much.
Would the now-retired Danny Ainge still be involved to some extent? Would Stevens consult star players Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the coaching search and/or personnel moves?
Speaking to media on Monday, Stevens said he’s been in regular contact with all three of Ainge, Tatum and Brown.
“Yeah, I talk to Danny all the time,” Stevens said. “I called him the other day and he was out on a golf course. They day before I called him and he was with his family. I still bug him, unfortunately for him. He obviously has such a vast experience in this, and it’s great to run everything by him. And he’s going to be around. I told him, ‘Be around as much as you want to be around here.’ Because he’s done so much for all of us, and he’s really, really good at this, obviously.
“And then with regard to the players, I’ve stayed in close contact with all. I talked to several of the guys the other day, right after it [the Kemba Walker trade], and have been in very close contact throughout the last couple of weeks with both Jaylen and Jayson, specifically. But that’s not unusual. That’s pretty typical, whether I was in the coaching role or in this role.”
Stevens didn’t say just how much, if at all, any of those three are influencing the decisions he makes, but it certainly seems like he’s using Ainge as a resource and making sure Tatum and Brown are at least being kept in the loop.
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