Brad Stevens: Celtics Never Asked Enes Freedom to Remove Shoes Protesting Oppression
On Sunday, Enes Freedom said the Boston Celtics asked him to remove sneakers that protested human rights violations this season:
But Celtics president of basketball of operations Brad Stevens told Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald on Tuesday that the Celtics never made that request of Freedom:
"Here's exactly what happened. I was actually at home, and when he decided to wear the sneakers, there was some concern—and I didn't even know until the end of the first quarter—that there was a potential uniform or dress code violation. I don't know what was said—I can't imagine that phrasing was said—but the question to me was what to do about Enes' shoes. I said I think that he's fine, and let me double check with the NBA to see if there's any uniform violation. Double-checked, fine, and he wore those the rest of the game and he wore whatever he wanted the rest of the year. It's interesting, because I feel really good that we truly sat here and supported him and his right to express himself and his freedom of speech, and I even told him the next day that you know I've always done that."
"I talked to him the next day, and I said you know I've always supported your right to express yourself, to speak on whatever you speak on. Just let me know in advance, so I'm not checking on these things in the middle of the first quarter from my couch at home. We didn't talk about anything after that, because we weren't checking from that point forward. Wear whatever you want."
Kanter has sported a variety of sneakers this year protesting various dictators and oppressive regimes around the globe.
Freedom has also taken aim at LeBron James and Nike with his sneaker choices:
The Celtics dealt Freedom, Dennis Schroder and Bruno Fernando to the Houston Rockets in February for center Daniel Theis. Houston then waived Freedom, and he has yet to sign with a new team.
"I really liked having Enes on our team—he's a good basketball player," Stevens said Tuesday. "When we decided to trade Enes, it was 1,000 percent a basketball decision. Obviously the opportunity to bring Theis back with our defensive identity, and his mobility and the ability to play the way we wanted to as an eighth or ninth guy just made too much sense for us. Enes is a good guy, he has a good heart."
The Celtics, one of the hottest teams in the NBA, have gone 8-2 since the deal, though they were already on a six-game winning streak before acquiring Theis. In his six games, the Celtics are outscoring opponents by 13.1 points per 100 possessions while Theis is on the court, per NBA.com.
The Celtics had a net rating of 7.8 while Freedom was on the floor in his 35 games.
