Stevens dismisses the latest trade rumors
From the Boston Herald:
"I think until it's something validated on the inside, then I would say I don't even pay attention to rumors," Stevens said. "Nothing, to me, has really been discussed.
"I'm not a part of that group, with regard to making decisions like those, so I just focus on coaching the team. The one thing you can’t get caught up in, and I lived this in college, is not everything you read has any validity."
...
"But you know how Twitter rumors go. You know how those things go. And they're going to gain steam any time things like that are out there, but I don’t consider them to be valid until I hear from the important people.
"I think it's all speculative talk right now, and it's probably going to continue to ramp up as teams get more into their season, I would guess. You guys know that a lot more than I do."
This is pretty much the cookie cutter response that every NBA coach gives when asked about trades. They know nothing, they believe nothing. It'll be interesting to see how Stevens reacts to the constant rumors and if GM Danny Ainge does make a move, how Stevens will adapt given that he never dealt with trades in college.
We'll probably never know how much Ainge is telling Stevens about deals he is working on, but if Stevens is to be trusted with rebuilding the franchise, you'd hope Ainge would at least get Stevens' perspective and he probably is. Not to say Ainge should build "Steven's team," but checking in to see if a guy Ainge is targeting could work in Stevens' system. Sometimes when a coach says, " I just coach" you believe it. But during a rebuild, with a coach signed up for the entirety of the rebuild, and one whose best attribute is player development? Steven's words are about as believable as the rumors.
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