Is Brad Stevens the Coach of the Year Favorite?

Has Brad Stevens done enough with the Boston Celtics to be a coach of the year favorite?

Ever since Brad Stevens took a group of overachieving misfits to the playoffs, along with being universally recognized and respected by the rest of the league, he has always been involved in coach of the year talks. The one problem is that it is rare to get any reward without being one of the top teams in the league, and last year was the first time he had that.

Unfortunately, too many people were more impressed with Erik Spoelstra’s ability to get the Miami Heat right at .500 and outside of the playoff picture, than they were with Stevens getting the Celtics to the number one seed.

Stevens get universal respect round the league, and yet it feels like he was far too overlooked in the coach of the year race last year. This season, he has been at the top of all lists since the very beginning, but there are still a lot of great candidates.

When you look at everything that has happened this season, and where the Celtics are currently in the standings, there is no reason for him to have fallen on any lists. That being said, other coaches are gaining momentum, and this race is still wide open in the eyes of a lot of people.

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There are a lot of great stories and surprising teams that are dealing with a lot of adversity that deserve a lot of credit, but a quick rundown of what Stevens has been dealing with this season should wrap up the coach of the year race, at least up until this point.

A lot of people would look at the Gordon Hayward injury as the first big obstacle that Stevens had to overcome, but it started way before that. Stevens had a number one seeded team that made the Eastern Conference Finals, and Danny Ainge turned it inside out, with just four returning members. On top of that, the Celtics brought in mostly young players, making them the least familiar and unexperienced team with any hopes of contending in any capacity.

Stevens could not even had a concrete idea of what his starting lineup would look like, so forget about trying to figure out how the rest of the rotations would look. He knew that some of the youngest players on the team would have some of the biggest roles, and he had to figure out how to get all of this working with the expectations that this team is now ready to really compete with the Cavaliers.

He had all the strain and all the expectations, and then they could not even get out of one game before Hayward suffered the most devastating injury of the season. Stevens was left with one of the youngest teams, with players that had no familiarity together, and now had to replace his top free agent acquisition with a 19 year old rookie.

From there, Stevens rallied everyone together and, even if it was not very pretty, made sure they always knew what was needed to get a win and put together 16 straight. Also keep in mind the injuries did not stop with Hayward. None were serious, but the Celtics were winning at an unprecedented rate, with all their significant players in and out of the lineup.

Forget about even thinking about team chemistry, Stevens did not even have the luxury of a set starting lineup. And yet all the Celtics kept on doing was winning, and they were doing it against some of the top competition i the league.

Stevens already has an amazing case for coach of the year with just these parts of the season, but it gets even more difficult. Because of the extra days off they requested, the Celtics had to endure an entire month without getting to practice, and without having more than two days off. So, the team that was completely overturned this offseason, lost arguably their best player on the first game, and went through all kinds of injuries and lineup changes for weeks, an could not even get into practice to try and work through these issues.

The Celtics struggled, but still escaped that stretch as the number one seed. Immediately after that stretch, and once Stevens got a chance to practice, the team went on a seven game winning streak, putting them in the best position they have been in all season.

There is still time for things to change, but Stevens should be an overwhelming favorite for coach of the year right now, and that is taking nothing away from the other great jobs being done in the NBA. You can look at the success the Spurs are having, despite getting older and not having their otherworldly talent in the lineup for most of the season. You can look to Steve Kerr and his ability to keep things together despite his two MVPs dealing with injuries.

You can also look to Spoelstra again, who is actually having the kind of success with an under talented team that warrants coach of the year credit. Even Tom Thibodeau has put himself into the race with the way things are coming together in Minnesota.

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Don’t get me wrong, there are multiple coaches deserving of coach of the year honours, but no coach has dealt with more adversity that Stevens has, and that goes for during this season, and how his team was assembled. When you see Stevens has gone through all this and has a three game lead in the East, while being just two loses behind the Warriors, he is well on track to finally getting that coach of the year award.

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