Brad Stevens honor could make possible Celtics award snub look stupid

Brad Stevens has won his second Executive of the Year award in the last three years. As impressive as it is, what makes Stevens look even better this time around is that he won it because of how unscathed the Boston Celtics were despite all that worked against them. However, with him winning the award, it would feel like a travesty if Joe Mazzulla doesn't win Coach of the Year as well.

This was a tag-team effort by both sides. Stevens gets the right players, and Mazzulla makes it work on the court. Stevens won the award because he managed to craft one of the best teams in the league, even after being forced to trade some of his best players from their title team, and still get under the tax, giving Boston more options. That is some pretty crafty work.

However, the Celtics being as good as they were without Jayson Tatum definitely has Mazzulla's fingerprints all over it. Losing Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet more or less forced Mazzulla to really start from scratch. After a bumpy start, he really figured out a successful formula.

One so good that even before Tatum returned, the Celtics had snatched the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. We have seen coaches badly underwhelm despite the gratuitous talent on their roster, just as we've seen coaches greatly exceed expectations despite the dearth of talent on their roster.

The latter scenario was Stevens' MO when he was the Celtics' head coach, and Mazzulla proving he can do the same shows he truly is cut from the same cloth.

It appears as though Mazzulla will win the award

What makes this season a truly entertaining one was how many coaches had a legitimate case for Coach of the Year. Jordan Ott (Phoenix), JB Bickerstaff (Detroit), and Mitch Johnson (San Antonio) all helped the teams they coached vastly surpass expectations in their own unique way.

But even so, what Mazzulla did was pretty unprecedented because many thought this was a gap year for Boston that could have put them high in the draft lottery. It didn't take long for the Celtics coach to prove that wouldn't be the case to the point that nationally recognized media members are shouting him out for his excellent work.

Making it even more special is that Mazzulla proved the most scathing skepticism about him to be completely false: he could only coach loaded teams. With a team full of unknown entities, Mazzulla proved that such a challenge was child's play for someone like him, thus proving he truly is one of the NBA's elite coaches.

In fact, Stevens winning the award is actually a pretty good hint that Mazzulla will win his as well because media members are smart enough to understand both of their efforts in what's been an unexpectedly exciting season for Boston.

So don't be surprised if Mazzulla's name gets called when Coach of the Year gets announced. Despite his earlier objections.

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