Boston Celtics leave awards show empty handed

The Boston Celtics had plenty of nominations, but no one came out victorious during the awards show

The Boston Celtics just had one of the more remarkable seasons we have seen in a while. They fought through more adversity than any team should be able to handle, they had to be led by the youngest players in the league, and they pushed LeBron James further than any team in the East has since Paul Pierce was in Boston.

The Celtics surpassed any kid of realistic expectations, and they never made any excuses. The Celtics had the kind of season that made it clear they are going to be true contenders right now and for the future.

When the NBA announced their award nominations, it felt like the Celtics got the respect they deserved for their incredible season. Now that the results are out, it feels a lot more like their great season was disrespected.

The biggest problem is that the voting comes before the playoffs. The Celtics overcame more than anyone else in the regular season, and it is not even close, but the playoffs really are where they defined this season.

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Even so, it still feels impossible to reconcile some of the voting for these awards. Jayson Tatum coming third in rookie of the year voting is the easiest to take. Ben Simmons was a different kind of monster in the regular season, and Tatum never had the role he or Donovan Mitchell had until the playoffs come around, so that one is acceptable.

Then you get to coach of the year, and it almost feels like a joke. The Toronto Raptors may have had the best season in the history of their franchise, but that is not enough to be more impressive than everything Stevens had to overcome.

The lone advantage Dwane Casey has is the record, but they were barely able to hold onto the number one seed in their greatest season ever, where the Celtics saw every significant player get injuried at some point, including their top free agent going down less than five minutes into the season.

The Raptors were a model of consistency, and Casey got the absolute most be could have out of that core, but there is no way he had to do more than Stevens this season, because the issues he dealt with normally send teams into the lottery.

Then you add on Quin Snyder finishing ahead of him too, and it feels a lot like the voters are assuming that Stevens will get his eventually. This could easily be the crowning achievement of Casey’s career, while Stevens is just starting what should be a nice long run of coach of the year nominations.

The good news is that Stevens was uncomfortable with the idea that he was even nominated for coach of the year, so the fans are the ones enduring the majority of the angst over this decision.

Then you get to the final snub, as Danny Ainge lost out on executive of the year. Fortunately, the culmination of the Celtics core this season should easily get him his executive of the year award, but last season might have even been more impressive.

Ainge did everything to set this team up, pulling off another all time heist by getting Kyrie Irving, after signing arguably the top free agent in Gordon Hayward that summer. Maybe people held the fact that they had incomplete seasons against him, which is silly enough.

The worst part is that it was his draft picks, and another one of his free agents in Al Horford that got the Celtics as far as the Houston Rockets were able to get, and Daryl Morey had made much fewer moves to assemble his team.

Next: With or witout Irving the Celtics will contend

There is no doubt that the Celtics were snubbed during these awards, but fans are even having a hard time getting into them considering the regular season ended months ago. Everyone in the organization knows the only way they can validate the work they have done is winning the championship, so the rest of this really is just outside noise.

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