I kind of feel like the Celtics and Pats are very similar in a way.
Like Bill, Brad will put this team in a situation to win with what he has and will get the most out of players that other coaches can't.
For the case of IT, maybe we would be a lottery team without him, or contradictory to that maybe IT would be a bench player on another team if he didn't have Stevens. Would Brady be the best of all time without Belichick's system? Probably not.
Who knows how good the Celtics would have been this year if we didn't have IT, maybe we would have been better if Smart was the starter all year long, maybe not..
While I don't think we would have finished first in the East without him, I still think we could have been a 5-8 seeded team and a tough out in the Eastern conference.
I think the statement is "We would be a lottery team without Brad Stevens" not a lottery team without one single player. Other than Greg P., Stevens is the best coach in the NBA and I think he is starting to finally get the credit he deserves around the league, or at least the attention he deserves from the national media.