The path to the NBA Finals has become a lot easier in the Eastern Conference with the departure of LeBron James, but Celtics guard Jaylen Brown isn't entirely happy about it.
Brown and the Celtics had James' Cavaliers on the brink of elimination in 2018 with a banged up lineup and he felt like there was unfinished business for his team.
"To be honest, I wanted him to stay. I was kind of mad," Brown said via Fred Katz of MassLive.com. "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."
Conventional thinking might lead you to believe that had the Celtics had Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward for their Eastern Conference Finals clash with Cleveland it would have been them, not the Cavs, hoisting the East title.
Instead, Boston fell 4-3 and James went to his eighth straight NBA Finals.
"I don't like when people say now that LeBron is gone you're the favourite," Brown continued via Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. "That irks me. We felt like whatever he was there or wasn't there, we were coming out (of the East)."
Boston finished second in the Eastern Conference with a 55-27 record last season. With a full and healthy roster, they're expected to be the favourites this season.