BOSTON — A personal matter prevented former New York Knicks center Mitchell Robinson from joining Paul George and Mike Conley Jr. at a media meet-and-greet for newly minted members of the Boston Celtics on Tuesday afternoon at the Auerbach Center. But that didn’t stop Brad Stevens, the team’s president of basketball operations, from speaking as if the three were sitting at the table with him.
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“It’s an exciting day to welcome these guys,” Stevens said. “You can feel their presence in the building.”
And yet the presence of another NBA player — Jaylen Brown — could be felt in the building. Paul George made it impossible not to think about the nine years when Brown and Jayson Tatum made franchise history as “the two Jays.”
It was George who twice said the quiet part out loud: 1) he said he understood what Brown meant to the Celtics and their fans, and 2) he put it out there that he wasn’t focused on establishing a new 1A/1B-type configuration with Tatum.
Since Tuesday’s news conference was meant to introduce new players and look ahead to the 2026-27 season, let’s start with George’s comments about Tatum.
Question: Does George see himself as a “superstar” on this retooled, rebuilt, reimagined 2026-27 Celtic roster? The reporter’s question was partly about age and injuries. George, after all, turned 36 in May. But c’mon: It was also a question about George playing with Tatum, whose relationship with Brown was, well, let’s call it complicated. So, Brown is gone, George is in, and how is that going to work out?
“Umm, superstar … we have a superstar, and that’s J.T.,” George said. “I’m not here to necessarily steal the shine or try to reinvent who I am.”
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There was more.
“I’m here to help J.T.,” George said. “And he’s the guy, right? I played alongside another superstar wing (Kawhi Leonard), and we co-existed beautifully. I see myself and that with J.T., being able to play off him, being able to help him, being able to still kind of be a mentor … so I can play off another superstar wing, still bring a presence and still be on the side of doing everything to win.”
This no doubt will be somewhat soothing news for Green Teamers. It doesn’t change the fact that the Celtics felt compelled to trade Brown — and to trade him to the Philadelphia 76ers, who are second only to the Los Angeles Lakers in Boston’s “Top Ten Countdown of Basketball Teams We Hate the Most.” The trade set in motion a turn of events that landed LeBron James on the 76ers, another reason why it’s going to be a long, long time before Celtics fans “move on” from Brown.
“Listen, I understand the circumstances,” George said, speaking in such a way as to leave no doubt that he absolutely gets it. “I understand how huge J.B. was, not only for the organization, but here in the city. So I didn’t take it personal. To be honest, they should have an (emotional) relationship to that trade.”
(“They” being Celtics fans, of course.)
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“But my job is to kind of come in to a great opportunity for me,” George said. “Obviously, the last two years have been rough, just with injuries. But for myself personally, I feel great again. I feel like I turned that corner of dealing with injuries, and (I’m) now kind of re-establishing myself from a physical standpoint again. And with that, I can carry it over to the court.”
Since the theme of Tuesday’s news conference was about whose presence was being felt in the building, Stevens was asked, in so many words, how long it took him to get over Brown’s absence.
He fashioned a philosophical response.
“We had our season launch (on Monday), and at that I had one picture behind me while I was speaking, and it was of the court being refurbished,” Stevens said. “And that happens every year, right around the end of July. And to me, every single year you go through, it looks like the blank canvas of the court being absolutely redone. Nobody’s stepped on it. And now, it’s that year’s team to write its own chapter.
“And I’ve felt that way every time they do it,” Stevens said. “It’s one of my favorite times to be in the building, except for the smell, and right at that moment is when you start to focus on forward.”
Also at that moment, Stevens said, “… is when these guys all get in the building. Again, you can feel their presence.”
Stevens was asked if this season is more than about refurbishing the court.
“It’s a new team,” Stevens said.
OK, no harm, no foul with that response. It’s Stevens’ job to look ahead to the next season, with its new players and shiny new practice court.
But Paul George’s first appearance at a Celtics event made it necessary to bring Jaylen Brown back into the conversation. George not only understood this, but he also embraced it.