It’s All Brad’s Fault

And here I thought we’d be spending this late summer newsletter time exploring Jordan Walsh’s 3-year extension …

By the way, locking up a 22-year-old wing defender who made over 38 percent of his 3-point shots last season was a nice bit of business, as the cap nerds say. Between Walsh and Ron Harper Jr., the Celtics have a pair of 20-something wing defenders for less than half the cost of a veteran free agent. Little moves on the offseason margins helped Brad Stevens carve out a bit more optionality, as the Celtics President of Basketball Operations put it following the Jaylen Brown trade.

Of course, the Celtics’ optionality exists because Stevens traded Brown and his massive cap-consuming contract to Philly for Paul George and picks. Time will tell if Stevens made the right move for his franchise, but it certainly seems to have enticed LeBron James to sign with the 76ers.

Whether it was forming an ad hoc super team in Miami, ‘coming home’ to Cleveland, or rescuing a moribund Laker franchise, LeBron James is the undisputed King of player empowerment. And like the Grateful Dead’s St. Stephen (no relation to Brad), wherever LeBron goes, the people all complain.

That’s because no one has ever moved the needle like LeBron James. No one entity commands so much power that the whole league essentially grinds to a halt while he makes his decisions. Even the league schedule makers were waiting on LeBron to make up his mind.

When it comes to the matter of LeBron James changing teams, cynicism and optimism often go hand in hand. Yes, he’s looking out for his own self interest, but that also puts him and his team in the best position to succeed. Which helps explain how he ended up in Philadelphia, of all places.