Brad Stevens is running away with the Coach of the Year award
Brad Stevens has been a coach of the year candidate for three years but this is easily his best campaign. This is the most talent he’s had, but the overwhelming adversity completely dominates that factor.
The run the Boston Celtics are on right now is giving Stevens all the momentum, and is the most impressive part of the season. That being said, the adversity started immediately and never really stopped at any point.
In fact, Stevens’ coach of the year case goes all the way back to before the season even started. Danny Ainge took an eastern conference finals roster, and gutted it with just four returning players. Stevens had no continuity to work with, and a lot of people questioned if the could repeat their success with so many new faces, and this was before Gordon Hayward got hurt.
Then, barely into the first game, their prized free agent All Star went down with a season ending injury, and people started to question whether or not the Celtics would even make the playoffs. They shut that down real quick as Stevens took the players he had left and used a top defense in order to go on their longest winning streak of the season.
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The Celtics got their momentum back, but the adversity kept coming. Multiple players were in and out of the lineup, and Marcus Morris was not even a factor. Stevens had to deal with going an entire month without any time to practice. The team slipped a bit, but Stevens got them back on track and even took back that top seed for a bit.
The injuries never really stopped, players were back and forth with almost everyone missing some time. Marcus Smart missed an extended period and there was some duration to Jaylen Brown‘s injury. And yet, nothing seems to faze the team. Stevens keeps everyone focused, and even though he had no time to figure things out, made sure to get enough from the players he had.
Then everything collapsed. Dwane Casey started gaining more momentum, and the Celtics were set to go on a free fall with Daniel Theis, Smart and Kyrie Irving done for at least the regular season. Add on injuries to Morris and Horford and the Celtics hit rock bottom.
They responded with a five game winning streak, and after a perfectly executed Stevens out of time our play for Brown, a wide open three pointer to beat the Jazz, there is no doubt Stevens is the Coach of the Year favorite.
He has dealt with more adversity and mores challenges than any other coach, and they have not given up much in the standings. The only real argument Casey has over Stevens is the wins, but being ahead by three games in the standings is not nearly enough to make up for the overwhelming adversity overcome by Stevens.
The Celtics and Raptors still have two meetings left, and that should be Casey’s last hope. He needs a huge gap in the standings to get that coach of the year award, and if they Celtics just manage to split the games with these injuries, it will effectively end any coach of the year debate.
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Stevens had easily has the toughest job in the NBA this season, and the success has not suffered much. This last run has really brought it to the forefront, but Stevens has been the coach of the year all the way through.