Author Topic: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?  (Read 1944 times)

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Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« on: November 12, 2018, 03:05:00 PM »

Offline bcgenuis

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Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?

Let me start by saying Brad Stevens is an excellent coach - no doubt.  However, his reputation has been earned from taking young, inexperienced, and underestimated rosters and getting them to overachieve and play above their expectations.  Perhaps once he has a roster that is expected to achieve great things, his message or style is not as effective.

Doc Rivers, for example, was the opposite, he was really successful with a stacked roster.  He knew how to massage the egos of his superstars (the Big 3) and lead them to a chamionship.  His record of overachieving with a lesser roster was not so great.

Is Brad's problem that he has not clearly set out the roles of the various players on this team?  Is he "afraid" to ask certain players to sacrifice and accept lesser roles?  Are players not listening to his messaging and accepting their roles?

It seems that the team lacks a cohesiveness.  And that is on Brad.  The players need to know their roles and accept them. If a player cannot sacrifice for the betterment of the team then it might be time to look to trade him for solid role players. 

I think the issues sit with Tatum, Brown and Rozier.  They are trying to find their place on this roster.  If this isnt settled in the next few games it has the possibility of getting ugly.

Looking back to the Big 3, Pierce, KG and Ray Allen were the clear scoring options in that order. Perkins was the muscle and defense and Rondo was the facilitator.  KG was the heart and soul.
The bench had Posey and others that filled roles as needed.

This teams current starting 5 lacks a Perkins/KG presence, and a facilitator. 

This current roster, lacks experienced role players who know and accept their role other than Thies, Morris and Smart and they only have one player with heart (Smart).


Definite Starters (assuming health)

Kyrie - should be scoring option 1
Hayward - should be scoring option 2
Horford - should be scoring option 3

Potential starter
Baynes - does not need the ball, adds toughness
Brown - can be scoring option 4, adds defense and main focus if starting should be defense.
Tatum - this year has become a chucker, can be socring option 4, but would be better as lead bench scorer. Defense is lacking.

Role Players
Morris - accepted role and is thriving
Smart - accepts role and doing Smart things
Thies - 2nd year, but plays his role well
Rozier - finding his way - rumors that he wants out
Ojeleye - still developing
Yabusele - still developing

What I would do.

Start Baynes in place of Tatum - starting 5 - Irving, Brown, Hayward, Horford, Baynes
BWA - Smart, Rozier, Tatum, Morris, Theis
Defense Role - Ojeleye
Emergency - Yabusele, Williams, Wanamker

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2018, 03:21:29 PM »

Offline knuckleballer

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Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2018, 03:29:29 PM »

Offline hpantazo

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Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2018, 04:14:03 PM »

Online ozgod

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Bit early to tell. I'm sure Brad could do a better job than he has been doing right now but he can't make them make open shots. They just need to shoot better and defend with more aggression and purpose.

Re the roles, I suspect Brad himself is still trying to figure out which lineups work best. Because there are lineups that work well in spurts and others that don't work at all. But just as you don't want to wait too long, you also don't want to overreact and start chopping and changing in a knee jerk fashion.

Because our expectations of this team as fans were sky high, these struggles we're having, particularly during this road trip, seem worse than they probably really are. Portland is a pretty good regular season team, Utah made the semis last season. We're getting open looks, if we make those shots it's a different narrative.

I think by end of the year, with a quarter of the season under our belt, will be a much more relevant time to see if our Perfect Coach is truly perfect for this team.
Any odd typos are because I suck at typing on an iPhone :D

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2018, 04:41:06 PM »

Offline GreenFaith1819

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Nope.

He is the Right One.

This team needs to understand that Gordon Hayward will take some time to get used to the game again.

This team needs to realize that ALL of our opponents see targets on our backs since we are still favored to get to the Finals. We are getting EVERYONE's BEST SHOTS.

NO nights OFF.

If ANYONE on the team has SELFISH thoughts - they need to look NO FURTHER than THESE guys for an example of SACRIFICE



We should all stay committed to the grind. It looks like most of our "guestimations" at win totals will be a bit OFF.

We may win "ONLY" 50-55 games. Nothing wrong with this, at all - as long as we are steamrolling the league by Feb and March.

And we WILL.

And Coach Stevens will be at the head of it all - with him, Kyrie, Big Al AND Gordon Hayward completing their "Unfinished Business".....

What we are experiencing NOW will pass.

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2018, 04:53:21 PM »

Offline Boris Badenov

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Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?

Let me start by saying Brad Stevens is an excellent coach - no doubt.  However, his reputation has been earned from taking young, inexperienced, and underestimated rosters and getting them to overachieve and play above their expectations.

Doc Rivers, for example, was the opposite, he was really successful with a stacked roster.  He knew how to massage the egos of his superstars (the Big 3) and lead them to a chamionship.  His record of overachieving with a lesser roster was not so great.


I suspect most people stopped reading right about here.

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2018, 04:59:05 PM »

Offline fairweatherfan

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Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?

Let me start by saying Brad Stevens is an excellent coach - no doubt.  However, his reputation has been earned from taking young, inexperienced, and underestimated rosters and getting them to overachieve and play above their expectations.

Doc Rivers, for example, was the opposite, he was really successful with a stacked roster.  He knew how to massage the egos of his superstars (the Big 3) and lead them to a chamionship.  His record of overachieving with a lesser roster was not so great.


I suspect most people stopped reading right about here.

Doc Rivers cut his teeth overachieving with a lousy roster in Orlando. Got a Coach of the Year for it.


Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #8 on: November 12, 2018, 05:59:09 PM »

Offline Ilikesports17

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Quote from: George W. Bush
Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions.

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #9 on: November 12, 2018, 06:11:20 PM »

Offline Ogaju

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Nope.

He is the Right One.

This team needs to understand that Gordon Hayward will take some time to get used to the game again.

This team needs to realize that ALL of our opponents see targets on our backs since we are still favored to get to the Finals. We are getting EVERYONE's BEST SHOTS.

NO nights OFF.

If ANYONE on the team has SELFISH thoughts - they need to look NO FURTHER than THESE guys for an example of SACRIFICE



We should all stay committed to the grind. It looks like most of our "guestimations" at win totals will be a bit OFF.

We may win "ONLY" 50-55 games. Nothing wrong with this, at all - as long as we are steamrolling the league by Feb and March.

And we WILL.

And Coach Stevens will be at the head of it all - with him, Kyrie, Big Al AND Gordon Hayward completing their "Unfinished Business".....

What we are experiencing NOW will pass.

Yall notice that when you add the numbers of the the first three the total is the 34 Pierce's number.

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #10 on: November 12, 2018, 06:32:06 PM »

Online ozgod

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Nope.

He is the Right One.

This team needs to understand that Gordon Hayward will take some time to get used to the game again.

This team needs to realize that ALL of our opponents see targets on our backs since we are still favored to get to the Finals. We are getting EVERYONE's BEST SHOTS.

NO nights OFF.

If ANYONE on the team has SELFISH thoughts - they need to look NO FURTHER than THESE guys for an example of SACRIFICE



We should all stay committed to the grind. It looks like most of our "guestimations" at win totals will be a bit OFF.

We may win "ONLY" 50-55 games. Nothing wrong with this, at all - as long as we are steamrolling the league by Feb and March.

And we WILL.

And Coach Stevens will be at the head of it all - with him, Kyrie, Big Al AND Gordon Hayward completing their "Unfinished Business".....

What we are experiencing NOW will pass.

Yall notice that when you add the numbers of the the first three the total is the 34 Pierce's number.

TP, never noticed that  ;D
Any odd typos are because I suck at typing on an iPhone :D

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #11 on: November 12, 2018, 07:20:57 PM »

Offline Spicoli

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The issues i'm seeing are two-fold. The first issue is on defense. Stevens is not making adjustments on the defensive end when players start to get hot. He's not sending doubles and he's just allowing the hot guy on the other team to go nuclear. I watched how the Celtics played defense against Jamal Murray and then i watched how Memphis played defense against him and it was night and day. The pick and roll coverage is horrendous as well. This absolutely has to fall on the coach. This team needs an interior presence on the defensive end. There's no reason not to start incorporating Robert Williams into the game. The second issue that we're all aware of is on the offensive side. His rotations are bad...REALLY BAD. He takes out players who have it going (essentially icing his own players) just so he can stick to some stale schedule/rotation. I like a coach who rides the hot hand and who makes substitutions based on how the game is unfolding, not based on some set schedule that can't be deviated from.

It's also up to the coach to lay out defined roles on the team. This is Kyrie's team and the rest of the players need to fall in line. Kyrie should be putting up 20 shots a game. Next in line is Tatum. After that should be Brown. After that should be Morris. After that should be Hayward. And after that should be Horford. That should be the pecking order IMO. It's up to Stevens to make this abundantly clear to the players.

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #12 on: November 12, 2018, 08:20:04 PM »

Offline gouki88

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'23 Historical Draft: Orlando Magic.

PG: Terry Porter (90-91) / Steve Francis (00-01)
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PF: Terry Cummings (84-85) / Paul Millsap (15-16)
C: Chris Webber (00-01) / Ralph Sampson (83-84) / Andrew Bogut (09-10)

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2018, 08:21:53 PM »

Offline Moranis

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Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?

Let me start by saying Brad Stevens is an excellent coach - no doubt.  However, his reputation has been earned from taking young, inexperienced, and underestimated rosters and getting them to overachieve and play above their expectations.

Doc Rivers, for example, was the opposite, he was really successful with a stacked roster.  He knew how to massage the egos of his superstars (the Big 3) and lead them to a chamionship.  His record of overachieving with a lesser roster was not so great.


I suspect most people stopped reading right about here.

Doc Rivers cut his teeth overachieving with a lousy roster in Orlando. Got a Coach of the Year for it.
Yeah Doc has actually done quite well in rebuilding or with scrappy teams.  Doc's problem has always been his ego and 2-faced nature (that and he is a terrible GM).  Eventually people figure out that you will say anything at any time even if you contradict something you said the prior week, and that always gets old. 
2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick

Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip

Re: Is Brad the wrong coach for this team?
« Reply #14 on: November 13, 2018, 11:53:39 AM »

Offline Hoopvortex

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Don’t everybody go crazy.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Boston still has the best defense, even after the last two games. If there’s one performance measure for great coaching, it’s that.

Also, Tatum is a very good defender. For a guy in November of his sophomore season, he’s remarkable.
'I was proud of Marcus Smart. He did a great job of keeping us together. He might not get credit for this game, but the pace that he played at, and his playcalling, some of the plays that he called were great. We obviously have to rely on him, so I’m definitely looking forward to Marcus leading this team in that role.' - Jaylen Brown, January 2021