Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge understands that trading Rajon Rondo made coach Brad Stevens‘ job tougher, Mark Murphy of The Boston Herald writes. Rondo’s departure has thrown Boston’s rotation for a loop, and Stevens has the difficult task of sorting out who the team should be playing, Murphy adds. “It’s difficult if there aren’t three or four guys who are the stabilizing force for your team,” Ainge said. “Sometimes the second team is capable of beating the first, and sometimes it’s the first that’s better than the second. Sometimes the third is better than both of them. You could see it [last Monday] against Charlotte. He used 13 guys, and the third unit looked hungrier than the other two.”
Here’s more out of Beantown:
- Ainge doesn’t place the onus solely on Stevens to keep the Celtics’ locker room content, Murphy adds. “It’s hard to keep everybody happy,” Ainge said. “It’s not Brad’s job to keep everybody happy. It’s a player’s job to make the coach believe that he can’t win without him. This is just a very difficult roster to manage up and down.”
- In light of Boston’s recent trades, Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com ran down the plethora of draft picks the Celtics have accumulated through the 2019 NBA draft.
- Despite the recently acquired Jameer Nelson spending time on the inactive list since arriving in Boston, Stevens has praised the veteran player’s professionalism, Murphy writes in a separate piece. “We talked. I don’t know that it’s a fixture,” Stevens said of whether the veteran guard has a long-term role on the inactive list. “Tonight, yes, but it’s hard for me to predict anything beyond one day right now. We had a talk and he’s been great. He’s a pro, he’s helpful. We had a film session and he was active in the film session helping the young guys. It’s a transition. He played 10 years in one place, and then he chose to go someplace else and gets traded. He’s never lived this before.“
- Jeff Green, who is part of the proposed three-way deal with the Pelicans, Celtics, and Grizzlies, is expected to opt out of his contract after the season, Zach Lowe of Grantland reports (Twitter link). Green has a $9.2MM player option for 2015/16, which is the final year of his current deal.