Jae Crowder, Evan Turner protective of current Boston Celtics roster as trade deadline approaches

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Jae Crowder, Evan Turner protective of current Boston Celtics roster as trade deadline approaches



Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com



on February 18, 2016 at 2:00 AM




SALT LAKE CITY -- As the Boston Celtics entered the University of Utah's beautiful basketball facility for practice Wednesday, Isaiah Thomas walked past the pool table and movie theater to make his way to the court.

Looking around at the brand new practice floor, the All-Star guard shook his head.

"That's dope," he said.

A few other Celtics offered similar reactions. Observing their care-free attitudes in that moment, it was easy to forget the tension that could surround Thursday's 3 p.m. trade deadline.

"Stay within the moment, man," said Jae Crowder. "You've got to focus on yourself. All that, you can't control it anyway. So you've just got to stay within what you know how to do. And that's come in, work, come do your job, and let the rest of it take care of itself."

Thomas admitted some players pay attention to rumors, and they all understand team president of basketball operations Danny Ainge will explore a number of opportunities to improve his team's short- and long-term future. Still, as the Celtics waited to start their first post-All-Star break practice, they sounded protective of their current roster.

Evan Turner called chemistry and camaraderie "everything," adding that Boston is "trying to get home court advantage, and we'll go to the playoffs, and we'll rock out from there." Asked about the need to acquire an elite talent, Crowder nodded at Thomas, "We just had an All-Star. So I don't know what other superstar you want."

"There's a lot of talk about we need a superstar and stuff like that," Crowder continued. "But all five guys on the court are so locked in and so engaged that we're one superstar. We all play together. It's a scary thing when a team don't know who to match up to, whose night it's going to be on the offensive end. And defensively we all fight together and play together, it's a scary approach."

After entering the break with 13 wins in their last 17 games, the Celtics are proud of how far they have come in the past year. Many teams talk about chemistry, but they show it on and off the court. Over the All-Star break, Crowder vacationed to Turks and Caicos with teammate Amir Johnson, while Jared Sullinger traveled to Ohio State to watch his old school hang Turner's jersey in the rafters. Bonds like that don't always translate to the court, but Boston plays like a group of tight friends.

"Listen, we're in great shape from a future flexibility standpoint," said head coach Brad Stevens, "and we've got a team that really likes playing together and has played some good basketball."

That won't be enough to stop Ainge if he finds the right deal. And if he doesn't, the current Celtics are excited to see what they can accomplish as a group.

"We've shown we can play with anybody," Crowder said. "We've got to tighten up a few things here and there on the defensive end to get back to where we were because as of late, going into the first half, we were outscoring opponents. Not just playing great defense, we were just outscoring them. But if we can continue to score and we guard like we know how to guard, we can play with anybody. And we can do some damage in the playoffs. So that's what we feel like we can do."


Turner gave Ainge first dibs

Sullinger wasn't the only Celtics figure to attend Turner's jersey ceremony at Ohio State. Even during the hectic trade deadline week, Ainge showed his support.

Turner shared his appreciation in a typically entertaining way, reminding his boss during a speech, "In July (during free agency), you can pay me all you want."

"I saw him and I thought it was kind of cool that Danny showed up," Turner said. "Then I was like, if Danny shows up he must like me. And then I thought about it, like, you know what Danny, I'll let you be the first one to offer me a lot of money. So I gave him first dibs and kind of repaid him in that sense.

"But that was definitely dope Danny showed up. I thought he was going to pump fake. He said, 'I might come out there.' And I was like, 'Oh, OK, cool.' But then he showed up and that was cool. I really appreciate Danny for doing that. That was definitely dope."


Thomas: Now cool with Russell Westbrook

Like he expected to, Isaiah Thomas enjoyed his first All-Star Game, calling it "an amazing moment for me, an amazing weekend."

The 5-foot-9 guard hopes to become a regular at the event, but still soaked in the experience.

"The best thing for me was just being around those guys and seeing how cool they really are," he said. "I mean I know some of them, especially on the Western Conference team, but getting to know all them superstar-type guys, it was amazing for them to really show them a lot of love. That was amazing for me.

"LeBron (James), I didn't know how cool of a guy he was," Thomas explained. "Carmelo (Anthony) was talking to me a lot, and also Russell Westbrook. It's funny because me and Westbrook always get into it in games. We don't know each other that much but he was a guy that always seemed to come up and talk to me and congratulate me and tell me I'm one of the guys that really deserved being there, so."

After Thomas and Westbrook got to know each other, their animosity on the court should stop. Right?

"It probably won't," Thomas smiled. "But off the court we seem to be cool."



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