At what point will Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens be on the hot seat if the team isn’t winning?

There is every reason to think that the Boston Celtics will be in the running for one of the top seeds in the Eastern Conference. What happens for Brad Stevens, though, if worst case scenarios pile up and the team is losing?

Every team goes through rough patches in a given NBA season. Even the mighty Golden State Warriors dynasty let in-fighting lead to Kevin Durant (a consensus top 10 player) leaving for an inferior Brooklyn Nets squad this past offseason. The Boston Celtics are no strangers to a rough patch being too much to overcome.

The 2018-19 Shamrocks were ultimately undone by an overlapping of egos rocking the boat and ultimately capsizing it. After the season, Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier all jumped ship to escape what had become an untenable situation.

The general rule of thumb is that underperforming leads to changes. Danny Ainge addressed the Celtics’ second round playoff elimination by replacing the team’s leader in Irving (who was seemingly on his way out long before free agency) with the best replacement available in Kemba Walker.

Losing Horford may ultimately be the difference between the Boston Celtics being a team that went to the Eastern Conference finals two of the last three years and a potential first round flameout. Though Enes Kanter should provide comparable scoring (at just 1/5th of the cost) to Horford, the defensive drop off from the Horford/Aron Baynes front-court should be steep.

Let’s say the defense falls off a cliff, and issues surrounding shot totals between Walker, Gordon Hayward and the rising duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum arise. Does the seat begin to get warm for Brad Stevens?

The team cannot afford another reset. Quite frankly, the Boston Celtics were lucky enough to have Walker fall into their laps after the Charlotte Hornets didn’t offer him a super-max contract.

If Boston has a slow start that drags into December, it seems likely that Ainge pivots his focus to replacing the coaching staff. The roster cannot continue to undergo constant roster reshuffling. That is how you become a dysfunctional organization like the New York Knicks.

It’d be one thing if the team undergoes a rash of injuries. That is beyond Stevens’ control and losing two of Walker, Hayward, Brown or Tatum would mean significant minutes for the team’s untested rookies.

Ideally, the Boston Celtics will start to function like the Warriors teams of the past few years: shot distribution differing based on who has the hot hand, but a pass-first mentality instilled. Short of that, Stevens should be able to establish a hierarchy that doesn’t see the team’s alpha falling into hero-ball habits.

With the preseason having practically arrived, all of the talk will be optimistic. Eyes will be on Walker’s fit with his new tram, Brown and Tatum’s development and Hayward’s potential return to All-Star form. There will only be thoughts of clear blue skies for the Boston Celtics franchise as it embarks on its quest for banner number 18.

What will happen if the skies turn gray and the dark clouds appear ? If Brad Stevens once again fails to lift his team over the hump, or particularly if the team has a flat start, you can’t help but wonder how hot Stevens’ seat will get before there is a coaching change in Beantown.