IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF A TITLE RUN FOR TATUM, BROWN … AND STEVENS?
The merger of two stars starts with Brad Stevens, who has assembled a masterpiece not very long after his Eli Lilly gig and includes passionate words from coach Joe Mazzulla about leadership and unity
Soon enough, Eli Lilly and Company should hold a reunion for Brad Stevens. It remains unimaginable he worked at the medicine firm as a marketing associate before launching a basketball career. He was a volunteer coach at Butler, then rose to the head position and almost beat Duke in the national championship game near campus in Indianapolis. Then he coached the Boston Celtics before he was asked to run the entire operation.
All of which happened in a blink. Today he wants it known that his two best players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, share more than parts of a name. He is doing so with his impromptu coach, Joe Mazzulla, who had little going for him last season but suddenly is four victories from an NBA title. People in New England think the Celtics don’t receive enough national adulation, including Tatum and Brown. Mazzulla is tired of comparing the two, with corresponding headaches, when the media world adores how Luka Doncic meshes with old cuss Kyrie Irving in Dallas.
This is step one in winning Banner 18.
“They’re two of the greatest teammates and players that you could have and it’s been an honor to coach both of them. It doesn’t mean they have to be the same. So it’s bulls—. I love both of them and they deserve better,” Mazzulla said. “I’m kind of praying about how deep I want to get into that, because the whole thing that really pisses me off is that it’s really unfair to both of them. I think it’s stupid that people have to use those two guys’ names and use information they don’t know so they can create clickbait so they can stay relevant. It’s really unfair that those two get compared. They’re two completely different people, two completely different players. They’re great teammates, they love each other. They go about winning and they go about their process in a different way.”
Unlike Doncic, who wants to rule the baller kingdom, Tatum and Brown share the wealth in a way vaguely comparable to a previous dynasty. Neither is Michael Jordan. Neither is Scottie Pippen. But both have had to accept each other, through trials, and want to break a troubling mark of 102 postseason games without a title. If they lose to Dallas, they’d become the modern version of Utah’s Karl Malone and John Stockton, who never won. Tatum is acknowledged as one of the league’s best players but needs a trophy to solidify his standing, unless he wants to remain stuck as a wannabe. Brown finally won personal honors when he was named MVP of the Eastern Conference finals, ending his own run of infamy.
“Oh s—,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. I don’t never win s—.”
Maybe it’s the beginnings of a glorious tandem. While Tatum reminds us that he’s “one of the best players in the world,” Brown should feel the same way. Stevens and majority owner Wyc Grousbeck gave him a $304 million deal, which Tatum soon will surpass, and not until they harmonize together will the Celtics celebrate on the city’s duck boats. I pick them to win a memorable Finals in seven games.
“Four more,” Tatum said.
Brown nodded, knowing a 64-18 regular-season record with a 12-2 playoff record isn’t enough. Beating the Mavericks gives them 80. “Time has gone by. Experience has been gained,” Brown said. “And I think we are ready to put our best foot forward.” Adding Jrue Holiday, another Stevens special, should be enough to bring the banner that will pass the Los Angeles Lakers atop the standings. He has been monumental in allowing the stars to merge, more important for Brown in a period when he has been critical of Boston, at times, as a city of systemic racism.
His attitude led ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith to suggest, while using an unnamed source, that Brown blows endorsement opportunities. “It’s not so much that he’s underrated, it’s just that he’s not liked because of his I-am-better-than attitude,” Smith said. “He knows it. It’s the same reason that he is not as marketable as he should be, that’s what an NBA source just sent me.”
Replied Brown on X: “State your source.”
Smith never did, which prompted Hall of Famer and broadcaster Isiah Thomas to respond and support him. “I have been a friend, mentor and advisor to @FCHWPO since he was a student at UC Berkeley (and) he is 100 percent marketable and before you slander his name, @stephenasmith tell your source to put their name on it or don’t speak on it. Let it be known,” he said.
Since that day in May, Brown has been on a rampage. He didn’t make the All-NBA team when Tatum did. Carry on. “I am who I am. Take it or leave it. I’m not going to change my values and change my approach because someone feels uncomfortable,” he said. “I am not going to be disrespectful or step on any toes. But I am going to be me. Sometimes it makes people feel uncomfortable and sometimes I miss out on things. I miss out on opportunities, awards, marketing deals, or whatever the case may be. And at this point, I just embrace it. I am who I am and I’m going to stand on my beliefs. And I’m one of those people who would die for what they believe in.”
He is dying to be known as a defensive wizard and an offensive standout. “I don’t care who sees what. As long as my team knows my value, my city knows my value, my family, that’s all I really care about,” Brown said. “I like to set my hat on just being a versatile two-way wing and can do both at any point in time.”
Curiously, he took lessons from a game against Doncic in January. He scored 34 and Tatum had 39 in Boston’s 119-110 victory — as Doncic had 33 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists. “I think we kind of glorify guys who can play one side of the ball but we don’t really pay respect to people who guard and play defense and get deflections and steals and change the game in that area,” Brown said then. “We only glorify the people who can score because that’s what the NBA has marketed. But basketball is both sides and the purity of it is that as I’m challenging myself to get better, I’m challenging myself to be the best that I can on both sides of the ball. And moments like this kind of prepare you for I think the long run. Being able to pick up guys full court, being able to get in guys’ jerseys for long durations of time builds endurance for the playoffs and stuff like that.”
Stuff “like that” would be a round that begins Thursday night in TD Garden, where ticket brokers are demanding an average of $4,003 for Game 1. The fans will obliterate Irving, who has tried to blame himself for flipping middle fingers and tromping on the leprechaun midcourt emblem. “I don’t mind, after a few years, taking the brunt of the blame,” he said this week of his failure in Boston. “I’m one of the best players in the world so I know what comes with fair criticism. You know, it’s just that a little bit more grace could have been extended my way, especially with what I was dealing with during that time as a human being. I know sometimes in sports, it’s literally about the end goal and result in what you accomplish. But we’re still human. I wasn’t my best self during that time. When I look back on it, I just see it as a time where I learned how to let go of things and learned how to talk through my emotions.”
In the bosom of New England, as Irving deals with abuse and Doncic figures out the mob scene, the Celtics should be fine on the first night. How about Stevens making an impressive gesture in saying Jeff Van Gundy — better off away from ESPN’s broadcast mess — probably will join Mazzulla next season as an assistant coach. “Jeff’s been great. I’ve known Jeff a long time and gotten a chance to spend a lot of time with him over the years,” he said. “It’s fun watching a game with him when he doesn’t have to speak in 15-second sound bites. He’s pretty entertaining.”
All while Mazzulla likes his current lot in life. “I think, one of the best gifts, things that I have is, why I got into coaching is building relationships with guys,” he said. “When I left college to go to the NBA, most people were, like, hesitant about that because NBA guys get a negative rap as to being able to build relationships with them. But I felt like it was, ‘There’s a lot there.’ ”
Brad Stevens saw it. I’m not sure what the pharmaceutical company would have in mind. If he wins, someone might give him a cigar, like the one Red Auerbach smoked.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.