Brad Stevens put his own stamp on the TEAM (lockerroom sign)

[Clench123]

Celtics sign up for grit, teamwork
 
By Chris Forsberg | October 31, 2014 10:20:05 PM PDT
In recent seasons, the Boston Celtics have followed a common NBA practice and installed a pull-down screen to hide their locker room whiteboard from prying eyes. But there's a new sign in the team's locker room this season that's been positioned with every intention of being seen.


ESPN IMG
Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports
Brad Stevens wants his philosophical keys to become second nature for his players.
On it are five declarations that second-year coach Brad Stevens hopes his team will remember as they head to the court. The sign reads:

WE WILL   

(1) Sprint to set OUR defense.

(2) Execute OUR defense with multiple efforts to completion.

(3) Be TOUGH with the ball.

(4) Play unselfishly with pace and space to get great shots.

(5) Dominate effort plays.

The sign hammers home some of the key points of emphasis since Stevens arrived in Boston last season.

Not surprisingly, it leads off with defense. Stevens has maintained a desire to code a defensive DNA that serves as the backbone of this team. This season, the team tinkered with its philosophies to match its personnel -- with the addition of rookie Marcus Smart boosting the perimeter defense, and the team's lack of a pure size and rim protection forcing it to adjust how bigs defend from the back line. It resulted in the team owning the best defensive rating in the league in the preseason. But before any of that goes into motion, Stevens wants his team to get back and get set, forcing the opposition to beat Boston in a 5-on-5 half-court game and eliminating the higher-value transition opportunities that teams often feast on. In fact, one of the common buzzwords this preseason with Stevens has been "defensive stance" and the notion of how important body positioning is from the start of the play to the finish.

I love the motivation and the emphasis on defense...

[Celtics4ever]

I think the emphasis is on effort.

Effort is what you stress the most when your short on talent.  I think his Butler teams reflected these values as well.   They did not get top recruits but they could hang with the big dogs with hard nosed effort based play.

[GreenWarrior]

I hate the fact that we played great defensively in the 1st half against the Nets, giving up less than 25 in each qrtr. but then in the 2nd half in basically garbage time we gave up 30+ in the 3rd & 4th qrtrs.

essentially making that sign just words. they had the perfect opportunity in a blow-out to show us that the sign actually means something.

[Ogaju]

I love the fact that we have a coach that can really coach. He is not  a former player who coaches just because he has the respect of the players, he his a technician. His idea about defense is noteworthy because defense does a lot of positive things for a team.

First, it makes the opponent expend energy on offense, which in turn tires their legs so it takes away from their defense.

Second, good defense leads to turnovers and easy points on offense.

Finally, we have the personnel (young players) who can run teams tired by playing dogged defense.

[LarBrd33]

I think the emphasis is on effort.

Effort is what you stress the most when your short on talent.  I think his Butler teams reflected these values as well.   They did not get top recruits but they could hang with the big dogs with hard nosed effort based play.

Yeah totally... you stress effort when the talent isn't there.  Unfortunately, it's hard to sustain that level of effort after the team starts getting owned nightly.  We saw that happen with Pitino.  We efforted our way to a opening night victory over the Bulls... but as the team started losing, the players stopped playing as hard.   I think for the most part we kept our effort up last season despite the fact we only won 25 games.  We're probably a 25 win team again this year... will be interesting to see if we keep the effort up.

[Chris22]

I think the emphasis is on effort.

Effort is what you stress the most when your short on talent.  I think his Butler teams reflected these values as well.   They did not get top recruits but they could hang with the big dogs with hard nosed effort based play.

Yeah totally... you stress effort when the talent isn't there.  Unfortunately, it's hard to sustain that level of effort after the team starts getting owned nightly.  We saw that happen with Pitino.  We efforted our way to a opening night victory over the Bulls... but as the team started losing, the players stopped playing as hard.   I think for the most part we kept our effort up last season despite the fact we only won 25 games.  We're probably a 25 win team again this year... will be interesting to see if we keep the effort up.

We were trying to lose last year.
This year we are trying to win.
We will win more than 30 games.

[Neurotic Guy]

I think Stevens represents the kind of coach who sets expectations by being clear about what he wants and then making sure he recognizes/acknowledges the achievement of the expectations when he sees them executed (I saw this constantly in a taped practice session recently).  He coaches with an abundance of positive energy and encouragement. 

I know that many fans like the hard-ass, no-nonsense, tough coaches.  While Stevens appears to match the intensity and focus of any successful coaching style, his primary motivating strategy seems to be positive reinforcement -- capitalizing on encouraging the desire to do well rather than using in-your-face aversion to inspire anger or to discourage poor performance.  It is amazing that the disparity of effective coaches through time has proven that there is not a single methodolgy or philosophy to coaching that works, but rather, there are multiple methods that can produce successful outcomes.  I like Stevens' approach -- hope it works here.

[SHAQATTACK]

I think the emphasis is on effort.

Effort is what you stress the most when your short on talent.  I think his Butler teams reflected these values as well.   They did not get top recruits but they could hang with the big dogs with hard nosed effort based play.

Yeah totally... you stress effort when the talent isn't there.  Unfortunately, it's hard to sustain that level of effort after the team starts getting owned nightly.  We saw that happen with Pitino.  We efforted our way to a opening night victory over the Bulls... but as the team started losing, the players stopped playing as hard.   I think for the most part we kept our effort up last season despite the fact we only won 25 games.  We're probably a 25 win team again this year... will be interesting to see if we keep the effort up.

Not really.....this team this year....last year everybody was new, no one knew the coach or what to expect.....everybody looks calm and relaxed .   The team is somewhat more focused and prepared ....obvious if you watched the game....very little confused looks.....people matured ....coach matured and now knows his team better and time to work plans for each team .   

The players DA has choosen are TEAM players first and for most .  Me first players have no place on this team.  I think this is the coaches style ....team first......no divas .

Every group is different , as each of us are different......

Stevens has a very unique style coaching .

[pearljammer10]

Marc Gasol

[GetLucky]

I think the emphasis is on effort.

Effort is what you stress the most when your short on talent.  I think his Butler teams reflected these values as well.   They did not get top recruits but they could hang with the big dogs with hard nosed effort based play.

Yeah totally... you stress effort when the talent isn't there.  Unfortunately, it's hard to sustain that level of effort after the team starts getting owned nightly.  We saw that happen with Pitino.  We efforted our way to a opening night victory over the Bulls... but as the team started losing, the players stopped playing as hard.   I think for the most part we kept our effort up last season despite the fact we only won 25 games.  We're probably a 25 win team again this year... will be interesting to see if we keep the effort up.

Pitino tried to full court press, Stevens is not. Much less gimmicky and more energy-sustaining.

On a side note, Dos had the greatest post I've ever seen here regarding full-court pressing ending in a picture of Pitino making himself look foolish. I've wanted to show it to some people, but I can'y find it. TP to anyone who can link me to it.

[D.o.s.]

This one?

[GetLucky]

This one?

Yep! The post I saw it in was something like:
Full court press
Full court pres
Full court pre
Full court pr
Full court p
Full court
Full cour
Full cou
Full co
Full c
Full
Ful
Fu
F

[/quote]
Loved that post. TP

[D.o.s.]

Yeah. Let's just say I have some reservations about the idea. TP to you too.