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Dear Boston Fans, ...

Boy, what a few weeks it has been. Most of our players are trade blocked from the league, which comes to no surprise to you all, as Danny Ainge and myself love to shuffle the deck what seems like every few days. We apologise for the unrest this may have caused you. We know you care, and grow sentimental towards players, and that our sheer willingness to cut ties with players may make it tough to care about the players who compose the roster. We understand, and we are sorry.

The team had been finding some real chemistry over the last few weeks, and the crowds have been energised. That, for now, is gone, and we are sorry for the frustrations this may have caused. We thank you for coming and we truly know you are the greatest fans in the NLL.

Celtics love to win, love to go all in each season and try to bring a championship to Boston, We know you are on board with us and have supported us in the past, through thick and thin, in our pursuits to be the best in the NLL and reach the pinnacle of it all; winning a championship. Our recent moves might go against the grain, to some, and we can understand how it is perceived like that. We still value winning as much as we ever have, and we endeavour to bring that title to Boston sooner rather than later.

We are sorry to see top tier talents like Avery Bradley and Derrick Favors go. They make the game look easy and there is no doubt the team will miss them dearly and we wish them all the best at Miami.

Now that we have gotten past all that, we want to talk to you about Kyle Kuzma. We are certainly not sorry to have him as a Celtic. In fact, after deliberation, we were willing to, and would be, willing to pay the price to get him, if we had to do it all over again.

Picked at 24 in the 2017 draft, Kyle Kuzma has been underrated and underappreciated for his entire young career. During his four-year career at the University of Utah, he continued to progress his all-around skillset but was still used as a somewhat traditional power forward, with his fate game-to-game in the hands of the guards on his team. His three-point range continued to get better and he showed great instincts to go along with his length and speed.

Fast forward to summer league, he had improved out of sight. Confidence, conviction, shooting range and a whole knew repertoire of moves was on show. We took notice. While you take summer league results with a grain of salt, you couldn’t ignore this kid – he looked like an alpha out there. He can shoot threes, mid range, can finish with either hand, can pass, can post up, can cut, can pop… he showed he had it all.

Then, we dug further, finding out all we could about this kid. Apparently he smashed pre-draft interviews and showed intelligence for the game, a hunger to learn and improve and a confidence and drive that indicated he could really improve. Breece and the Heat took notice and selected him in the draft.

We spent weeks deliberating if it was worth giving up the pieces we had to to get a deal done, and possibly compromising our win now window somewhat. After some time had passed, we all agreed that it was worth the gamble. We all saw what he was and what he possessed. He can do it all. We see him as an above average passer, we think he can be a good and willing defender and we think he can be an elite scorer and shooter across all scoring areas.

At just 22, we see him with years of progression ahead of him still. I genuinely think that the fact that he was drafted so late and in such an unheralded way has people still sleeping on him. He can do it all, and he wants to. He will have a huge chance to play for this team and will be taken under the wing of Durant – ‘He can be a helluva player; I see some similarities in him that I see in myself’, Durant said.

He has already taken over games in the league. He has the respect of Kobe Bryant, a former Celtic GOAT who regularly talks and meets with Kuz. Kobe said he is 'one of the most inquisitive rookies' he has ever talked to and 'believes he can be great'. Kobe is a lone wolf, so for him to vouch for an unproven rookie, he must be something.

So we are sorry if we startled you, but be excited. For now, and for the future.

King Kuz is here to stay.

Go Celtics!

Yours sincerely,

GM JMAC

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