What Type of Coach The Celtics Are Getting in Brad Stevens

Mar 21, 2013; Lexington , KY, USA; Butler Bulldogs head coach Brad Stevens during the second round of the 2013 NCAA tournament against the Bucknell Bison at Rupp Arena. Butler defeated Bucknell 68-56. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Now that the coaching search has come to a halt and the Celtics have found their guy in Brad Stevens, what should we expect from him? What type of offensive system will Stevens run? How will the Celtics’ defense play out? Will what he did in college be effective on the professional side of things?

Well, all of these questions can’t be answered for certain until November when the season starts. However, we can make projections. From Steven’s resume at Butler, he’s a great coach who has won 77% of his games in six seasons coaching. That is a great number for any level of play.

Stevens doing this was especially phenomenal because it was at a mid-major school like Butler that was relatively unknown before Stevens touched the program. That’s why they locked him up with a 12 year deal as soon as they could.

As far as his scheme’s go, we’ll find out what he  is going to do with Rajon Rondo, Jeff Green, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk when the time comes. His offenses at Butler weren’t very fluid or the most efficient. Some of them were extremely hard to watch because of the shot selection that was involved. There seemed to be a premium on the midrange jump shot–something that won’t work at the NBA level.

I’m sure Stevens knows that, too. He’s dealt with advanced basketball analytics on the college level and that experience should translate into what Danny Ainge wants at the pro level.

Over his six years, his best offensive players have been Mike Green, Matt Howard, Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack. They’ve never been a top 10 offense–barely top 100 in the NCAA. However, his defenses have been completely different.

Stevens has always seemed to have very good defensive teams–even this past year. He’s had a top 10 defense as far as points per game scored for three out of his six season’s at Butler. It only fell out of the top 100 once in his time there–and even still, that’s a good mark considering that there are over 300 teams.

Stevens is going to bring a defensive presence to this Celtics’ team. It’ll be interesting to see what scheme he employs. At Butler, they ran a variation of different zone schemes mixed in with man to man and it switched up at times depending on situation.

I don’t expect to see much full zone here in Boston, but there should be some interesting schemes that he’ll bring from the college game to play with.

This team is going to be a defensive oriented one–this is the culture that has been instilled in the Celtics over the last few years. I’m glad to know that it won’t be changing just because Rivers is gone.

Welcome to the Brad Stevens era.