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Jaden Springer debuted for the Boston Celtics on February 22 against the Chicago Bulls. His first appearance with the team is brief, but after the Celtics acquired him two weeks ago, he’s noticing a difference between them and his previous team, the Philadelphia 76ers.
Before the Celtics and Bulls squared off Springer explained how the Celtics approach to basketball differs from the Sixers.
“I feel like there’s more read and react,” Springer said, per CLNS Media Boston Sports Network’s YouTube Channel. “You going out there playing based off each other, playing based off your teammates. So you’re just reading what everybody else is doing. It’s not really a set, ‘we have to do this, we have to do that.’ So just going out there and hooping and playing basketball.”
Springer also talked about what it was like to go up against the likes of Luka Doncic and Stephen Curry before the Sixers traded him.
“I mean, yeah, being able to play to play against those guys, that was pretty cool,” Springer said. “Being able to have that matchup. Being able to come here, it was great. That was all good news for me. I’m feeling good.”
Springer likely won’t have much of a role with the Celtics for the rest of the 2023-24 season. However, in the long term, the Celtics will try to develop him into a regular rotation player.
Daryl Morey Fired Shot at Jaden Springer
After the Sixers traded Jaden Springer to the Celtics, President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey had some harsh words for Springer. After the trade deadline passed, Morey explained why the Sixers traded Springer.
“We had to look at, what are the odds Jaden Springer, who I think has a great future, helps our playoff rotation in the one, two, three-year horizon,” Morey said via Sam DiGiovanni’s X account. “And what are the odds a second-round pick helps us? And we thought the second-round pick helped us more,nd that’s just the reality. It allows us to maybe get a veteran at next year’s deadline, things like that.”
Despite that, Morey clarified that he believes in Springer’s potential.
“We did it. It sucks. Jaden’s going to be really good, I think. I think his timetable is a little pushed out, though. Our evaluation was that his timetable to help a playoff team is farther than what the second-round pick can do for us.”
If Springer works out for the Celtics, the Sixers will have to face him four times in the regular season for the next several years.
Brad Stevens Wanted Jaden Springer for a While
After the trade deadline passed, Brad Stevens revealed that the Celtics had kept their eyes on Jaden Springer for some time before acquiring him.
“We’ve tracked his development pretty closely over the years,” Stevens told reporters, per CLNS Media Boston’s Sports Network’s YouTube Channel. “We liked him in the draft a few years ago. He was the youngest player in that draft, and again, he’s still a puppy. He’s still 21 years old.”
Stevens added that Springer’s performance against the Celtics in a preseason game only fueled their interest.
“I would say that the preseason game here had more of an impact than that,” Stevens said. “So we were already like, ‘Woah, that looks like strides.’ The other thing that you know, everybody that is nuts like us watches all of the G League stuff, and he was unbelievable in the G League playoffs last year. He’s done a lot of good things against us when he’s been up in Maine. We’ve seen him live several times up there, so he’s a guy we’ve been tracking for a while.”
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