And lo, the day after the Celtics rose from the dead on the courts of Cleave-land, Brad Stevens went unto the grave of Ironhead Heyward, and spake to his tombstone, bidding him rise. And he cast aside the weight of having played for the Browns, and liberated himself from the earth, and followed Stevens, and played a mean Small Forward, and required only minimal compensation in the form of braaaaaaainnnsss.
And the people did feast upon the lambs, and the sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats, and...
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In my view, this series hasn't changed Heywode's decision one bit. The question is and has always been, can Boston free up enough cap room to make him an offer credibly near max? And to answer that, Ainge needs to decide which skilled, valuable players on-the-rise he will give up to do so. Last night makes us as fans not want to see Smart or Bradley go (nor KO after Game 7), but realistically speaking, two out of the three of them would almost certainly have to get tossed aside in order to do so.