Given the location, that\u2019s expected. <\/p>\n
Celtic green sprinkled across the packed theatre. For the series\u2019 raffle, the award was a silver, signed basketball. Elders dominated the crowd, but if Stevens glanced at the edge of the front row, he\u2019d see kids donning Jayson Tatum and Payton Pritchard jerseys \u2014 there were no Brown jerseys. <\/p>\n
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Talks of the stunning move brought light to a room clearly expecting him to break the ice at some point. Even Stevens knew it\u2019d come, flashing a smirk any time a question was asked that could relate to the trade. <\/p>\n
Honaker, who is Butler University\u2019s associate athletic director for development, was sure to pick Stevens\u2019s brain on it, even if not directly. He asked how Stevens, who is the Celtics\u2019 president of basketball operations, can trust his instincts when making unpopular decisions. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, obviously, I\u2019m sure a lot of people immediately got to Jaylen Brown, right, or immediately go to [Marcus Smart] a couple years ago, and that\u2019s a really hard part of the job,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cAnd, you, again, try to be as upfront and honest as you can, but there are a lot of factors when you end up making a decision and you\u2019re leaning on a lot of people, leaning on a lot of information.\u201d <\/p>\n
Stevens added it\u2019s important in leadership roles<\/a> to understand that decisions like that will be painful. <\/p>\n \u201cI get a lot of emails and a lot of people that ask about wanting to be a GM,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018I wish you would\u2019ve been around last summer when we basically had to trade Jrue Holiday.\u2019 That\u2019s like brutal. Or we go through this long arduous process and ultimately decide to trade Jaylen, whose numbers will likely go up in the rafters in Boston. Not fun.\u201d<\/p>\n