One of the narratives in the NBA after LeBron James signed with the Lakers has been that the Eastern Conference won't be nearly as competitive since James opted out of the final year of his contract with the Cavaliers. But that's also one of the reasons why Celtics star Jaylen Brown is "mad" about James' decision to play in the West.
James, who has made eight consecutive NBA Finals appearances with the Heat and Cavaliers, will face tough competition against the Warriors in the Western Conference, but the Celtics have emerged as favorites to take control of the East. And Brown doesn't seem too happy about that change.
"To be honest, I wanted him to stay," Brown said, via MassLive. "I was kind of mad, I wanted to be the team to go through him. I feel like we could have had it last year, but we fell a little bit short. But I applaud someone doing what's best for him. He did what's best for him in that situation.
"I wanted him to stay in the East. People say, I don't like when people say 'Now that LeBron's gone, y'all are the favorite.' That irks me. A lot of us, we feel the same, because we feel that whether he was there or wasn't there, we was coming out."
The Celtics barely got past the Bucks in the opening round of the 2018 playoffs, but defeated the 76ers in the second round, winning the series 4-1. Boston fell to the Cavaliers 4-3 in the conference finals before Cleveland faced the Warriors in the finals.
However, Boston faced a tough 2018 season with injuries as Kyrie Irving was sidelined for the playoffs and Gordon Hayward missed a majority of the season to a gruesome leg injury. If the Celtics had been at full strength for the playoffs, there is a chance they could have defeated the Cavaliers even with James in the East.
