The Boston Celtics might make the NBA Playoffs. It’s certainly hard to believe considering the team was left for dead by every analyst not named Bill Simmons. After trading away Rajon Rondo and losing Jared Sullinger, the team was supposed to wither away and die, but that hasn’t been the case.
Brad Stevens might be the main factor in the Celtics success. The second-year coach has had a monumental effect on a young Boston squad, which is getting solid contributions across the board from players such as Isiah Thomas, Tyler Zeller, Evan Turner and Marcus Smart.
It’s not unlike Stevens to make unheralded talent do great things, after all he did lead Butler to the NCAA title game. However, Stevens is such a young coach, that he himself is still learning.
Only spending five years as an assistant at Butler before he became a head coach, Stevens broke the NCAA record for most wins in a coach’s first three seasons. While he hasn’t broken that record at the NBA level, the 38-year-old Stevens is quickly becoming one of the league’s best up and coming coaches.
There is a certain aspect to Stevens that makes him such an intriguing coach. He spends hours upon hours using the analytic approach to basketball, using stats like PER and plus/minus to game plan and adjust his roster. He is a coach of the “New School NBA”, one that relies more on the use of computers than that of scouting.
Whatever Stevens is doing it’s sitting well with team president, Danny Ainge, who showed an enormous amount of confidence in Stevens during a recent interview with ESPN.com
“One thing is for sure: Brad is our future- and our present.”
If the Boston Celtics make the playoffs, then you must give Stevens coach of the year consideration. It’s a bold statement for sure considering Boston is under .500. However, when you take into account what he has gone through for the season, and what he has to work with, there is a lot of incentive to put him in the conversation.
Brad Stevens is going to coach the Celtics for a long time. While he might never be Red Auerbach, he might be the next great coach in Boston basketball history.