The Celtics have moved on since trading Jaylen Brown. Now it’s time for fans to do the same.

Brad Stevens knows how to spot a metaphor, whether it happens to be right in his face, a little behind him, or, coming off a transformative and endlessly deliberated Celtics offseason, both at the same time.

More than two months after the stunning trade that sent former NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jaylen Brown to the rival 76ers for 36-year-old forward Paul George, two first-round picks, and a pair of second-rounders, the Celtics finally introduced the nine-time All-Star — along with fellow offseason acquisition Mike Conley Jr., a highly respected 38-year-old point guard — Tuesday afternoon at the Auerbach Center.

During the half-hour news conference, when Conley — who noted that he was already in the league when Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and friends collected Banner 17 during the 2007-08 season — said all of the right things, and George almost did.

They were joined on the podium by coach Joe Mazzulla — 262 days Conley’s junior — and Stevens, the president of basketball operations, whose extraordinary aptitude as a team-builder during his five seasons in the role did not shield him from Celtics fans angered by and unwilling to understand the decision to trade Brown.

It was a little more than 12 minutes into the festivities when Stevens, in a sly and slightly wry way, turned to the metaphor as a subtle way to say that the Celtics have turned the page.

When asked when the Celtics had stopped feeling the absence of players that have moved — obviously meaning Brown, who averaged precisely 20 points per game in his 10 seasons with the Celtics and was one of sturdiest pillars of the community that Boston sports has provided in recent generations — Stevens brought up Monday’s “season launch” for the basketball staff at the Auerbach Center.

“I had one picture behind me while I was speaking,” recalled Stevens. “It was of the [Auerbach Center] court being refurbished. That happens every year right around [this time]. And to me, every single year you go through, it looks like a blank canvas of the court absolutely being redone. Nobody has stepped on it, and it’s [a reminder that it’s] this year’s team’s turn to write its own chapter.

“Every team has a chance to write its own chapter,” he concluded. “I really like this group.”

George, still broadly skilled and savvy but injury prone, will be essential to how this chapter plays out.

The first sentences are just being written now, but Celtics fans, if they are ready to allow themselves to, should like almost all of what they heard from George, who was the main draw on Tuesday for an assortment of reasons.

He’s a highly accomplished player in his own right, a six-time All-NBA selection who played an essential role in the 76ers’ comeback from a 3-1 deficit to bounce the Celtics from the postseason in a seven-game first-round series. George, who shot 55 percent from 3-point territory in that series, had an active on-court role in ending the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown era before he was a main chip in the trade that ended it officially.

George, who acknowledged that he was well aware of a consensus of Celtics fans’ disfavor with the trade, was effortlessly gracious about what Brown meant to the Celtics and the city.

“I understand the circumstances. I understand how huge JB was not only for the organization but also here in the city,” George said. ”So I didn’t take [the backlash] personally. [Fans] should have a relationship personally to the trade.”

As for the aforementioned “almost,” let’s just say that George, for a 16-year veteran, did make a rookie mistake at the podium. He thought the Celtics were tied for the most championship banners — he was quickly corrected by Stevens — which is the kind of mistake one might expect from someone who spent five seasons with the Clippers, the perennial second-class citizens in Los Angeles to the Lakers. Presumably he’ll remember that the Celtics have a one-banner lead, 18-17, from now on. He had better.

It would take some fortuitous breaks, the rapid development of multiple young players, and team-wide good health for the Celtics to have a shot at increasing that title advantage in the coming season.

But George’s acknowledgment that the Celtics have “a superstar, and that’s JT,” is an enticing indication that we will be watching a more aesthetically pleasing style of basketball this season.

Acknowledge it if you haven’t already: Tatum and Brown, as accomplished as they were as a tandem, didn’t play together so much as they played opposite of each other.

As accomplished as he is in his own right, George plays an unselfish style that should mesh well with Tatum’s skill set.

It struck me as notable that the acknowledgments of how much Brown meant to the Celtics came from the player acquired for him, the one replacing him in the lineup, if not stylistically.

Stevens did already say his praiseful piece about Brown in a news conference following the staggering trade back in July. There was no need for him to say more Tuesday.

But the court has been refurbished. It’s a new season, and a new team’s turn to leave its marks on the hardwood.

The Celtics have moved on. Left unsaid, but true nonetheless: It’s time for Celtics fans to do the same.

Chad Finn

Sports columnist

Chad Finn is a sports columnist for Boston.com. He has been voted Favorite Sports Writer in Boston in the annual Channel Media Market and Research Poll for the past four years. He also writes a weekly sports media column for the Globe and contributes to Globe Magazine.