Brown: Trade to Sixers has been 'crazy transition'

All Star forward Jaylen Brown said he "wasn't that surprised" when he learned he'd been traded from the Boston Celtics to their rival, the Philadelphia 76ers, because of how often he'd heard his name in trade discussions during his 10 years with the franchise. He was disappointed with the Celtics' process and communication, however. "When I first got traded, I just threw my phone across the room," Brown said during his introductory press conference Thursday afternoon in Philadelphia. Soon afterwards, Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey reached out to him and said, "'I know it's a lot of stuff going on right now, but we're excited to have you.'" "I think everybody knows how incredible the opportunity that we have, but we also got to put in the work. So my focus is on that, putting in the work, earning the respect from the city, from the coaching staff, everything." Brown went out of his way throughout the 25-minute press conference to focus on the future and the opportunity ahead of the Sixers, who also landed the NBA's all-time leading scorer, LeBron James, in free agency and move past any resentments or bad blood with the Celtics. "I just choose to focus on what I focus on. Obviously it got to a threshold this off season that was a little bit higher than it's been in the past, where I think people attacked my character. Someone even went as far as said I had a disease," Brown said of the Celtics decision to offer him in trade discussions for Giannis Antetokounmpo before ultimately shipping him to the division rival that beat them in the first round of the playoffs last season. "So it's been a crazy transition to be honest, but none of it is completely surprising. Even though some of these things were said externally, internally and through organization and stuff like that, there's been conversations. ... Then obviously getting traded to the Sixers, like somebody that for the last 10 years, has been a rival, that was a process too. "It has been a lot, but people deal with it every day. People have to change, relocate, play. I'm not complaining up here. But it is what it is. So let's get to it." Brown said he's been talking or texting with his new teammates every day since the trade, singling out Maxey, second-year guard VJ Edgecombe, former MVP center Joel Embiid and James as players who've reached out to him and been active in the team's group chat and helped him feel welcome. He also acknowledged the challenge ahead of them. "Obviously it's a lot of guys with talent and egos. But to win, you got to be able to sacrifice, you got to be able to have trust and communicate," Brown said. "I want to come in transparent. I want to come in with my agenda on the table. Look, this is what I'm here to do. This is what I want to do. I want to win. And we kind of can figure out how to respectfully move around each other. "Being the first to the gym, being in a film room, I'm looking forward to learning from LeBron - just everything that he's endured during his career on and off the floor. One of my favorite things to do is learn and can't wait to just soak up as much information as I can and apply it to myself." In February, after Brown's Celtics beat James' Lakers in Los Angeles, James publicly endorsed Brown for the MVP award because of how he'd carried Boston during the regular season while his co-star Jayson Tatum was recovering from an Achilles' tendon injury. "Nobody gave them a shot to start the season and he's averaging, what, 30? Just under 30?" James said. "It's a popularity contest sometimes, I tell you." Brown ended up sixth in MVP voting after the Celtics surprising second place finish in the Eastern Conference. "I think he just used the motivation of a lot of people saying they're going to have a down year," James said then. Now, James and Brown are teammates and each has new motivation in Philadelphia. "To be honest, I'm moving on," Brown said, when asked to elaborate on comments he made on a recent Twitch livestream in which he said he felt a lack of respect from the Celtics in how they communicated with him during trade discussions. "Maybe one day you share the details of how everything transpired and all the moving parts that took place in this. Obviously it's a lot of speculation. I feel no need to chime in on it because I'm focused on what's in front of me." As for his relationship with Tatum, Brown said that the two have "not really" spoken since the trade, but "on my end it's nothing but respect." "We won a championship together," Brown said. "So anybody that you won a championship, you would think that's what a brotherhood or a lifelong legacy would entail. Obviously there's ups and downs in any type of relationship for sure. But on my end, it's nothing but respect. Besides when he plays the Sixers, I hope he does well. But other than that, everything for me is just based in respect."