Celtics extend Brad Stevens

bigq

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Jul 15, 2005
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This is good news. Any ideas on the length of the extension or $ involved?
 

Ale Xander

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Fantastic. And I say this at someone who's often angry at his lack of timeouts. But the younguns are getting experienced, so should be less of a problem going forward. Objectively, he's still a top 5 head coach. Good move. He should be in 2nd place franchise all-time by end of 2021-2022.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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LFG!!

Edit: But really, I think CBS is pretty much at Doc level as far as player buy-in. And he's still growing as a coach and WANTS TO KEEP LEARNING.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Aug 23, 2008
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Survived Kyrie, has overseen the development of Tatum into a superstar and Brown into an all-star, has an impeccable reputation on and off the court and as a guy who backs his players no matter what. I quibble with some in game stuff but that's nothing, and every coach has that. Also, maybe most importantly, he and Ainge appear to be very in-sync with regards to how they want the team to play, what is needed from certain players, and so on. Front office continuity is so crucial to ongoing success.
 

Rook05

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Great news! The ESPN crew had a cool stat that Brad has the fourth most wins of any Celtics coach. That’s remarkable given that he seems to have just started needing to us a razor...
 

InstaFace

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Survived Kyrie, has overseen the development of Tatum into a superstar and Brown into an all-star, has an impeccable reputation on and off the court and as a guy who backs his players no matter what. I quibble with some in game stuff but that's nothing, and every coach has that. Also, maybe most importantly, he and Ainge appear to be very in-sync with regards to how they want the team to play, what is needed from certain players, and so on. Front office continuity is so crucial to ongoing success.
And even the in-game quibbles are hard to sustain - the guy was / is regarded as a genius for out-of-timeout plays, like the one that won that playoff game a few years ago.

The parallels to Terry Francona in that regard are strong. In a given moment in a game, you might scream at him to put in X or run play Y, but when you look back on it later, it's very rare that you can point to something he should have known to do at the time, and didn't.

I'm thinking he's here for a very long time. He values stability, the team values him, they're happy to pay him his full worth (it doesn't hit the luxury tax!), and unless 71yo Gregg Popovich is walking through that door, there's nobody out there you could even call a clear upgrade.
 

RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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deep inside Guido territory
And even the in-game quibbles are hard to sustain - the guy was / is regarded as a genius for out-of-timeout plays, like the one that won that playoff game a few years ago.

The parallels to Terry Francona in that regard are strong. In a given moment in a game, you might scream at him to put in X or run play Y, but when you look back on it later, it's very rare that you can point to something he should have known to do at the time, and didn't.

I'm thinking he's here for a very long time. He values stability, the team values him, they're happy to pay him his full worth (it doesn't hit the luxury tax!), and unless 71yo Gregg Popovich is walking through that door, there's nobody out there you could even call a clear upgrade.
Perfect post.
 

OurF'ingCity

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Apr 22, 2016
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And even the in-game quibbles are hard to sustain - the guy was / is regarded as a genius for out-of-timeout plays, like the one that won that playoff game a few years ago.

The parallels to Terry Francona in that regard are strong. In a given moment in a game, you might scream at him to put in X or run play Y, but when you look back on it later, it's very rare that you can point to something he should have known to do at the time, and didn't.

I'm thinking he's here for a very long time. He values stability, the team values him, they're happy to pay him his full worth (it doesn't hit the luxury tax!), and unless 71yo Gregg Popovich is walking through that door, there's nobody out there you could even call a clear upgrade.
Yes but he doesn't yell at the refs enough!
 

Caspir

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Jul 16, 2005
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New Pop is on board long term, and I am happy. I love CBS and think Tatum and Brown's development and camaraderie is partially his doing. He also survived Kyrie so give the man his money,
 

BigSoxFan

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May 31, 2007
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Wyc/Ainge/CBS is basically the best Owner/GM/Coach combo this side of Holt/Buford/Pop.

We are incredibly lucky. What a hire. I love Ainge.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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Interesting to ponder where Ainge will end up in the Celtics’ pantheon. Probably deserves its own thread at some point. Excellent player on championship teams, GM who constructed one championship team, brought in young mid-major college coach Stevens, and has developed another contender. If this group wins a title...? He’s probably in the top 10 already. Top 5?
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Kanter with praise for Brad and how he handled communication with Kanter about his reduced playing time in the bubble:
"What makes him so special is what he does off the court," Kanter said about Stevens. "He's the type of coach that tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. Always keeps it 100 percent real with you. More than a coach, he's just a friend, man. You can literally go to talk to him about anything."

Kanter, who has seen his minutes reduced lately in the Orlando bubble, praised Stevens for how he communicated with him about his decrease in playing time.

"There were some games where I was not playing a lot," said Kanter. "I went to his room and we talked, and he was like, 'Hey, listen, it's your ninth year now and there's so many young guys that are looking up to you. Your best strength is not the offensive rebound. Your best strength is not the post-ups, not the finishes and everything. Your best strength is just being a good teammate. Just trying to give positive energy. And that's what we need from you in the games where you don't play.'

"I mean, look, not every coach is comfortable talking to their players. The Celtics organization definitely feels very special to have him on our side ... It's a blessing to have a person like him on our team."
https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/enes-kanter-show-celtics-center-praises-brad-stevens-explanation-less-playing-time
 

lovegtm

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Apr 30, 2013
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Everything I thought Brad would do in Game 2 was wrong; he really upped his game. I think the guy loves being an underdog and trying to solve specific matchups.

One fascinating wrinkle is that Embiid's deep drop is letting the Celtics play 2-3 non-shooters at once: they played a Kanter/Grant/Romeo lineup at one point. All they have to do is let the center keep re-screening for Tatum and Kemba until something opens up.

Brown eventually tried zone to counter that, but then the Celtics just did the same thing to let one guy collapse the defense, and got it to the secondary driver (Kemba or Brown preferred, but Smart and Wanamaker are fine in this role).

Stevens' creativity against the specific defense was impressive--I definitely didn't think more non-shooters was the answer, and expected a lot of Semi.