Coming off of the most disappointing season since he was hired by the Boston Celtics in 2013, it’s time for Brad Stevens to show what kind of coach he really is. Though Kyrie Irving is now in Brooklyn, the addition of Kemba Walker gives Stevens a second chance to prove he can coach star talent.
During his first four seasons with the Boston Celtics, head Coach Brad Stevens never found himself facing the pressure of coaching an NBA superstar or a team with championship expectations. Despite that, he always found a way to get the best out of his players and overperform as a team.
Joining a rebuilding team in 2013-14, Stevens coached the Celtics to a 25-57 record, but only continued to improve from there. Boston won 15 more games and made the playoffs the following season, just the second year into a rebuild. They followed that up by winning 48 and 53 games the next two years while having little to no expectations or star players.
Stevens has made a reputation for himself of getting his players to perform better than they ever have; most notably Isaiah Thomas. Thomas made his first two all-star teams under Stevens and was named to the All-NBA Second Team in 2017, despite never being in the conversation as a star in the league before coming to Boston.
With the additions of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward in the summer of 2017, it was the first time a Brad Stevens coached Boston Celtics team had championship expectations. After Hayward fractured his ankle 5 minutes into the season and Irving was ruled out for the final month of the regular season and playoffs due to knee surgery, Stevens once again found himself with little expectations. He managed to coach an Al Horford and rookie Jayson Tatum led team to game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals, once again showing off his ability to get his players and team to overachieve when expectations are low.
Continuing to bring the best out of his players and find unexpected team success, Stevens quickly found himself in the conversation for the best coach in the league. In a survey taken by NBA GMs before the start of the 2018-19 season, Brad Stevens was voted the league’s best coach with 47% of the vote ahead of Spurs legend Greg Popovich who came in second at 30%.
Brad Stevens rated the league's best coach in the annual NBA GM survey. https://t.co/DjLsO02o9l pic.twitter.com/Z80HBLenvi
— Boston.com Celtics News (@BDCCeltics) October 3, 2018
This past season was a completely different story for the Boston Celtics coach as a team with championship expectations was corrupted by drama and disconnect from the very first month. With all that transpired over the recent season, some have started suggesting Stevens may not know how to coach a bonafide star player or team with expectations.
The growing narrative is something Stevens himself is aware of and took full responsibility for after Boston was embarrassed by the Bucks in the second round of last season’s playoffs.
”I did a bad job. As a coach, if your team doesn’t find its best fit together – that’s on you,” said coach Stevens. ”I’ll do a lot of deep dives on how I can be better.”
Replacing Irving with Walker means Stevens will still be coaching an NBA star, though he does not bring an ego even close to the size of Irving’s. While that may take some pressure off of the 42-year old coach, he will still be expected to negate any drama that may be left over from last season.
It could be said that most of the negative energy from the 2018-19 team left town with Irving and Terry Rozier, though only time will tell.
The upcoming season could be a make or break year for Stevens with all of the question marks surrounding him. He must use the offseason to figure out how he can better manage his stars (Walker and Hayward), as well as young and hungry players like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, while also maintaining an upbeat vibe in the locker room.
Boston may not have as many expectations this season compared last, but it is certain people expect them to be a much more fun and positive team.
If Stevens can find team continuity while winning games, he will certainly prove his worth in the upcoming 2019-20 campaign. If not, he may find himself on the hot seat sooner than anyone expected.