By swapping the coach cap for that of president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens ended an eight-year term on the Celtics bench. So now is the time to take stock for the former NCAA prodigy and as you might expect, there is a lot to be said.
We could have made a chronological comeback since his arrival in 2013 from Butler and tell you his seasons one by one but we said to ourselves that it would still be damn long and counterproductive so we will rather take stock of it. Coach Stevens’ legacy in five questions that will summarize both his accomplishments, his failures but also the mark he left within the Massachusetts franchise.
Brad Stevens, a successful experience?
First and foremost, we must not forget that when Danny Ainge announced the appointment of Brad Stevens in 2013, it was quite a gamble! A very young coach, not even 37 years old (Kevin Garnett, who has just been traded, is older than him), without any NBA experience, who arrives directly from NCAA in one of the most legendary franchises and also the most ambitious, it was necessary to dare. It is also important to remember that Boston then comes out of a golden period with the Big Three and that it is necessary to take over from an important coach in the heart of TD Garden: Doc Rivers. Not the easiest setting for a rookie, therefore, but yet, a challenge that Stevens held. The rapid reconstruction orchestrated by the new architect will have given credibility to the university coaches, until then rather failed in the delicate transition between the university and the prosecution of the Great League (Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Tim Floyd to name a few. some). It is also difficult not to make the link between these successful beginnings and the appointment of Fred Hoiberg at the head of the Bulls two years later. Another young coach with a future out of NCAA but who unfortunately could not stand the comparison after three and a half campaigns without flavor. Eight seasons, seven Playoffs qualifiers and three Conference Finals later, the Brad Stevens test will rather have given reason to its former president.
What place in the history of Boston coaches?
This is a question that is particularly difficult because we are still talking about someone who held eight years on the Boston bench, a team always in search of results and under significant pressure. He holds the fourth longevity for a Boston coach, his winning percentage is also quite close to that of his predecessor. (55.7 against 57.7 for Doc Rivers). He will be remembered as much for the reconstruction of the post Big Three as for the possible future success of the players he launched. However, we are still talking about the Boston Celtics, a franchise that must rhyme with victory and which swears by the title and the finals. In this sense, hard to put Stevens on a pedestal when he neither won the first nor reached the seconds. This may be what keeps him away from Celtics’ Mount Rushmore where Red Auerbach (9 titles), Tom Heinsohn (2), KC Jones (2), Bill Russell (2) or even Doc Rivers and Bill Fitch (1) reign supreme. ). While it’s impossible to compare the team of the last decade with those of the 80s and 60s, there may have been room to make it to a final at least once in the last few years, especially within a Conference Is more and more open after the departure of a certain number 23.
More builder than finisher?
Some may rebel over the choice of terms, but they seem more suited to Stevens’ results on his overall journey. Excellent for managing the reconstruction of Boston, he who knew how to put in place his philosophy and his collective principles on both sides of the field quite quickly, he often shone where no one expected him but conversely, he also missed certain opportunities that were offered to him more directly. His most important fame? The 2018 Conference Final with a rookie and a sophomore as attacking leaders (hello the Jay Brothers), Al Horford to chaperone it all and while the two stars of the team are … in the infirmary (Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward). We say to ourselves that it is only a postponement. The icing on the cake, LeBron James goes to Los Angeles: the road to the Finals is open. So you have the best squad in the East, stars but also nuggets who have seasoned in the Playoffs and the scourge of the Conference in less, what could happen? Answer: you wallow in the main lines against the Bucks in the second round in 2019, a team… that you had nevertheless beaten a year earlier with a reduced roster. The paradox is particularly striking compared to the previous season: how can we do less well with a better team (on paper) and especially a whole team? The battle of egos (which Brad could not control) allows certain things to be justified, but it also shows that this group did not know how to cope with the pressure of the result when they were expected at the turn.
An absence of a final justified by extenuating circumstances?
We can insist on the fact that the coach did not know how to reach the Finals, we can still find some excuses that justify (a little) this little spot on the CV. there is no shame in losing to LeBron James’ team, he who still chained eight consecutive finals between 2011 and 2018. The King blocked the road of the Celtics Stevens on three occasions. And when you tell yourself that you can finally go into battle with the LeBron Cavs, you end up with injuries of important players (Isaiah Thomas in 2017, Irving and Hayward in 2018). There is also the fact that the quality of the workforce has gradually declined over time. Uncle Drew took the loose as well as Al Horford, Marcus Morris, Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward. To replace them? An often injured and inconstant Kemba Walker, an interior sector under construction and a host of young people on the bench, the fruit of a war chest amassed by Danny Ainge but without significant impact. How to go to war for the NBA title with a workforce that is losing momentum and with leaders who often squat in the infirmary? No small task.
What will we remember from Brad Stevens?
Everyone can make their choice. Some will remember the period of reconstruction with a beautiful collective set up and the emergence of Isaiah Thomas, others will prefer to think of the epic of 2018, the one that had made say some insiders that Brad Stevens was more valuable than a star. Finally, there are those who will leave on the missed appointments with the Finals and this exit by the back door while it is said to be worn out by the last two seasons under the sign of the virus. We can obviously not provide a single answer to this question but we can remember a coach who came to the NBA with a philosophy of his own, with ideas in his head and who knew how to make his group adhere to his values. Like a symbol, he withdraws as we feel a team at the end of the cycle and who may need a new message. Like the tactician who asks for a time-out when things are not going well, Stevens therefore hands over to hope for a revival of his Celtics. History will remember whether this final move proved him right or not.
Is Brad Stevens part of the pantheon of Celtics coaches? This is a question that everyone can ask themselves but we invite you all the same not to answer too quickly. Does the absence of a title necessarily lead to forgetting the beautiful things achieved? This would be a very simplistic observation and it would offend tacticians like Mike D’Antoni, Jerry Sloan, or Don Nelson, who have marked this League without ever lifting a trophy.
