Throughout the Celtics struggles during this disappointing season there has been a consistent theme: Brad Stevens gets zero blame for the Celtics struggles. There’s something to be said for the amount of talent on the Celtics and they are only the 5th seed in the Eastern Conference. While the expectations of the Celtics just cruising through the Eastern Conference were lofty, the expectation for them to win the East wasn’t unreasonable. The Celtics in theory should be better this year. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown gained a lot of experience after the injuries sustained to Hayward and Irving last year. While Hayward has been a disappointment, the experience that Tatum & Brown got in the playoffs last year and the return of Irving should in theory mean the Celtics are better this year than last year, but it hasn’t worked out that way.
I will give Brad Stevens credit, he gets the most out of his bench players, especially guys 8 through 10, but there are serious questions about whether he can coach stars. Stevens and Kyrie Irving do not appear to be meshing and the rest of the team isn’t responding well either. Stevens makes great in series adjustments in the playoffs and his X’s & O’s are good, but is he a leader? Is he respected by his players? These are worthy questions as this is the most talented team he’s ever coached and it is severely underperforming. I feel if the players are not responding to the coach, it means that they have lost respect for the coach. Once players lose respect for the coach that is pretty much it for the coach. You can’t coach people that won’t listen to you. The bottom line is the roster is underperforming and it appears the players are not responding to Stevens.
Final Take
Brad Stevens is a good coach with X’s & O’s and is good at making adjustments in the playoffs. The questions about his leadership though are fair. The NBA is a league where stars win you championships. If you can’t coach the stars, are you really a good NBA coach?
The Lounge 