Emotional Brad Stevens reflects upon what Marcus Smart meant to Boston Celtics

BOSTON -- The NBA Draft was held Thursday night, and while Brad Stevens was a busy, busy man during that event, his trade from the night before still remained the biggest story in the land of the Celtics this week.

So when the Celtics' president of basketball operations sat at the podium following the conclusion of the draft, the second question he faced was obviously about Marcus Smart.

Stevens was asked a simple question: What did Marcus Smart mean to the franchise, and how difficult was the decision to trade him?

Stevens' answer was quite expansive and emotional.

"Yeah I mean, really hard," Stevens said. "I said this at the start of the summer, I thought that we needed to balance our roster and make sure that we look at the best ways to do that. And that meant that we were likely going to lose a really, really, really good player. And as far as Marcus, as I told him, when he got here, we were 25-57 the year before. And the greatest legacy you can leave is to leave a place and it's better off because you were there. I think that everybody here feels that way. I think that he will always be appreciated and thought of so fondly here for any number of reasons."

Given all of the effort that Smart put in on and off the court, Stevens indicated that the 29-year-old will always be highly regarded in Boston.

"Obviously, people love the way that he plays and how hard he plays, but also his work in the community. We're all really grateful to have had Marcus in our life for as long as we've had," Stevens said. "We're sad to see him go but know that he's going to have a huge impact on that really good Memphis team. So very difficult, very difficult conversations. Really hard to do. But he'll always have Boston for sure, right? I think that Boston really appreciates him. Certainly, I do. And he knows that we'll do anything for him. It was hard."

Stevens was in his second year as Celtics head coach when Danny Ainge selected a 20-year-old Smart with the sixth overall pick in 2014, and the coach-turned-executive has seen every step of Smart's growth and development over the following nine years. Stevens shared what his conversation with Smart was like while delivering the news.

"I mean it wasn't -- you can imagine -- it wasn't very long," Stevens said. "It was, you know, your best chance to share your gratitude to him. Again, I think that because of these things and the sensitivity of these things and how many people talk about him and wild speculation, when something happens, it's hard to digest, right? And it's hard to process. But he actually came in [Thursday] morning, so I got a chance to see him this morning. You know, it's just ... you're not gonna be around a guy like that you like every day, but you always have the relationship that these teammates have and these coaches have and everybody in the building and everybody in the organization has that'll be forever."