Tag: Aron Baynes

Q&A: Aron Baynes talks Celtics, Suns and more — from Mexico City!

Celtics Wire caught up with former Boston Celtics big man Aron Baynes during the Phoenix Suns’ trip to Mexico City last week.

The Boston Celtics and Aron Baynes are having an excellent season so far. Unfortunately for many of us with attachments to both, they are doing it for opposing franchises.

That doesn’t mean that the former Boston big man, now with the Phoenix Suns, has any ill will for his former team — far from it, in fact.

When Celtics Wire caught up with the Australian big man in Mexico City ahead of the Suns’ match with the San Antonio Spurs, the 33-year-old center expressed nothing but love for his former franchise, and spoke glowingly about the Celtics’ newfound groove.

Baynes is having a surprisingly good season. Not that anyone expected him to have a bad one, but many seemed puzzled that he did not make noise about being traded to Phoenix, with rumbles of him wanting to play for a contender.

 

The general thought was that the Suns were still a season or two away from competing in the Western Conference, and few had the foresight to predict just how well Baynes and newly-added veteran point guard Ricky Rubio would function as a pick-and-roll nightmare for opponents.

Like Boston, Phoenix has slowed after a hot start to the season, dropping seven of their last 10 games. Yet, Phoenix remains in the playoff picture in a hyper-competitive Western Conference even after dropping a game to the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 14 and the Portland Trail Blazers on the 16th, in no small part to the big man’s career-best season: 14.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, 40.5% 3-point shooting and 67.4% 2-point shooting.

When Celtics Wire caught up with Baynes in Mexico City, the former Celtic had plenty to say about the good things happening in Boston this season without him, his pick-and-roll partnership with Ricky Rubio in Phoenix, and more:

Why do you believe the new-look Celtics are finding success above what many fans and analysts expected for this season?

First and foremost, they’re led by a great coach. I have a lot of respect and gratitude towards Brad [Stevens] for what he was able to help me with throughout my time there. He helped me grow as a person, and as a player. So, I know they’re well-coached, and then they have some really good young guys, and they added an All-Star in Kemba Walker.

Then they got to play [together in the FIBA World Cup] this summer. They got that familiarity, and it helped early on in the season for them to be able to push forward.

Some people call it exceeding expectations, but they’re just trying to go out there and improve in each and every game.

How do you feel about the recent trade rumbles in response to the Celtics’ recent two-game losing streak?

[The frontcourt of Boston] might be different, but their record shows that it’s working for them.

They have some tough games, but everyone does in the NBA. More often than not, they’re doing what they need to do. It’s been fun to watch those guys when I have the opportunity.

What’s the feeling about your own recent growing pains in Phoenix?

We’re taking steps in the right direction, but there’s a lot of work for us to still do.

It’s been good. We have a great group of guys, guys that are buying into the system, and when we play within the system, Monty [Williams] puts us all in a place to succeed.

Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio — who wowed the crowd in Mexico City with his native command of español as much as he did with his play — has been another huge part of your offensive renaissance. What do you have to say about your pick-and-roll partner?

Ricky’s a great player. Being able to watch [him] from afar for a long time … When I first started playing, I heard about this little guy from Spain who’s making a name for himself. Ever since then, I’ve been watching from afar … When he signed here, I was excited to be able to play alongside him, because I’ve seen what he’s been able to do, and I’ve heard good things from [fellow Australian, former Jazz teammate of Rubio] Joe Ingles as well, about what he did in Utah.

I’m excited to get to work with him. He’s one of those guys people don’t put as much emphasis on the type of defense he can play. He really does get out there and just drop the ball, and offensively sees things four or five steps ahead of what’s happening.

It’s evident he impacts us tremendously on the offensive end, and he’s a facilitator. He makes it fun when he moves that ball as well as he does.

Is this recent spate of games the Celtics we should expect, or do they still have room for improvement once healthy?

It’s still early. [Boston] has a lot of room to get better.

Fun is something Baynes and Boston had little of in 2018-19, but each is getting what they likely expected in that most depressing of lost seasons this season. As Baynes and the Celtics find success on different paths, fans of the Gisborne native can take comfort — watching, as all of Australia sometimes does, from afar, with respect, gratitude and appreciation.

Ja Morant finally had his signature dunk and social media loved it

Ja Morant finally had his signature dunk on Wednesday night and social media absolutely loved it.

Even some 12 hours later, social media is still buzzing over Ja Morant.

In case you haven’t seen it a dozen times already on your timeline, the Memphis Grizzlies rookie threw down the dunk of the season Wednesday night over Phoenix Suns center Aron Baynes though calling it just a dunk seems downright disrespectful to Morant.

With less than 50 seconds left in a two-possession game, Morant found himself matched up in a 1-on-1 situation with Baynes. It is the situation all point guards dream of and one that Baynes likely immediately dreaded once it happened.

Morant begins to his right, then dribbles over to his left and goes right at Baynes toward the rim. As he approaches the basket, he finishes with his right hand over Baynes and social media took over from there:

Morant finished with 13 points, six assists and four rebounds in the 115-108 win over the Suns. The contest was just his second back with the Grizzlies after missing four games due to back soreness after crashing into a courtside camera operator.

The second overall pick called upon the NBA to move the photographers located on the baseline of arenas to prevent future collisions. He said that he is going to take a different approach to how he attacks the rim though his dunk over Baynes may have delayed that change.

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Report: Brett Brown to coach Australian national team in 2020 Olympics

Sixers coach Brett Brown will coach the Australian men’s basketball team in next summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown will be coaching again on the international basketball stage next summer.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Brown and the Australian men’s basketball team are finalizing an agreement to bring on Brown as coach for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Brown also coached the Boomers in the 2012 Olympic games, where he led the team to the quarterfinals in which they lost to Team USA; the Boomers would finish seventh. 

Along with his stint in 2012, Brown was also an assistant coach for Australia during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and 2000 Sydney Olympics, per a story on ESPN from Jonathan Gold. 

Brown is slated to have Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons on the roster. Simmons, an Australian native, said in a statement on Twitter this offseason that he plans on playing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Along with Simmons, Australia also boasts NBA talent such as Dante Exum, Matthew Dellavedova, Joe Ingles, Aron Baynes and Patty Mills.

With Brown having a wealth of talent available, Australia should be one of the most formidable teams in next summer’s Olympics.

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Aron Baynes holds no grudges towards Boston over trade

Former Boston Celtics center Aron Baynes has no hard feelings about the trade that sent him to the Phoenix Suns.

If you thought that Aron Baynes has been seething about the trade that sent him from the Boston Celtics — where he had just signed a two-year, $10.6 million deal — to the Phoenix Suns during the 2019 NBA Draft, you would be wrong.

As it’s often said, the NBA is a business and Baynes knows that as well as anybody. Per MassLive’s John Karalis, “Baynes is well aware of the business side of the NBA, so he said he holds no grudges [about being traded to Phoenix].”

While loyalty between players and teams is a an ideal that’s often discussed, it’s rarely practiced — so rarely in fact, that it’s celebrated — in the modern era.

Gone are the days when teams like the Boston Celtics had multiple players who spent their whole career with one team, as the symbiotic team-player relationship has fallen victim to lucrative contracts, a player union and superstars who are less reluctant to leave their team than the players before them.

Even when looking at situations from that of a front office, the bevy of talent in the NBA pool, the premium placed on draft picks and an era that expects accelerated success has created an atmosphere where player movement seems to be at an all-time high.

That said, Boston was the third team that Baynes had suited up for after spending three seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and two seasons with the Detroit Pistons. Though he left an indelible mark on the Celtics franchise with his leadership and toughness, the big man wasn’t a Celtics lifer and both he and Boston acknowledged that.

As a result, Baynes and the 24th overall pick were shipped off to the Suns in exchange or a first-round pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

With the Celtics’ logjam at center and Baynes having a career year in Phoenix with 15.0 points per game (and 46.8% shooting from 3-point range), both parties may have been better off without each other regardless.

However, Baynes continuing to have friendships with players in Boston and likely some individuals within the organization who weren’t suiting up on the court, the relationship between he and the franchise is a feel good story in a league where plenty of bridges burned.