Bull, you can keep telling yourself that, but remember you are defending the very FO that tore this team to shreds this season and is being ran like a circus. They will leak any information, true or false that will save their own jobs, and that has been proven. For all we know Malone loved IT, and that is the reason the Gerbil didn't even meet with IT to discuss a return, he knew he was going after Malones head at the first chance to save his own hide. Just keep believing the BS this FO spews though, be a good little fan and support blindly.
Here is the thing- we all know IT will thrive in a situation where he has to (and gets to) be the man. The IT who gets to play 32 minutes per game, leads his team in shot attempts, and plays the 4th Quarter was never the team chemistry problem. That IT is happy, motivated, and a pretty damn good player. That IT is capable of taking over a game, capable of getting hot and winning games, and capable of helping a team win 40 games in a terrible Eastern Conference where he gets to play NY, Detroit, Philly, Orlando, etc... 4 times each season. We saw prolonged flashes of that IT in Sacramento, and we know that version of IT can make a bad team decent, and a boring team fun to watch.
The problem is that IT is not good enough to be a number 1 option on a good team. He will do great as the leader of a plucky #7 seed that will lose in 4 or 5 to Cleveland. The question is that when Boston gets other pieces via free agency and the draft that are legit #1 players, is IT willing to step down and become the #3 option? He wasn't willing to play #3 option to DMC and Rudy. He wasn't willing to do so in Phoenix either.
Don't let the "buy in" to 6th man fool you. IT is the man in Boston. He might come off the bench, but he played 32 minutes last night (second behind Turner), has a green light to play 4th quarter hero ball, and led the team in FGA last night. He is the guy they go to when they need a hoop, 6th man status be damned. But when Boston acquires someone else who is better, someone else who is more equipped to be the man, and someone else who doesn't have the same holes in his game (whether a PG or another position), will IT be okay coming off the bench or playing second fiddle to that guy? History says no.
IT is happy if he is the man. He is the man right now in Boston. The cap for upside on a team where IT is the man is a middle tier playoff seed in the East with no hope of winning the title. A cap for upside on an IT led team in the West is to miss the playoffs. The cap for a team where IT is willing to buy in as the #3/#4 option is potentially limitless. Who knows if he will ever buy in.
But don't believe that his willingness to embrace the 6th man role is willingness to "take one for the team." The man is the de facto #1 option for the team, just like he likes it...