Brad Stevens is clueless

[Spicoli]

Bump. Brad Stevens cost his team the game tonight when he took a red hot Tatum out of the game and didn't re-insert him until 6 minutes left in the freaking fourth quarter. JT was having the game of his life and could have EASILY had 40 if Stevens didn't keep him out for that long. Stevens is going to cost this team a title. He just has no killer instinct as a coach.

[MickaelPietrus]

How the Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. can Marcus Smart take every single clutch shot in a game like this? It is almost embarassing for our coaching staff and potential all stars

[Tr1boy]

How the **** can Marcus Smart take every single clutch shot in a game like this? It is almost embarassing for our coaching staff and potential all stars

I agree

[IDreamCeltics]

Bump. Brad Stevens cost his team the game tonight when he took a red hot Tatum out of the game and didn't re-insert him until 6 minutes left in the freaking fourth quarter. JT was having the game of his life and could have EASILY had 40 if Stevens didn't keep him out for that long. Stevens is going to cost this team a title. He just has no killer instinct as a coach.

This is also my most frequent criticism of the unflappable Brad Stevens.  He has this weird thing where he coolers his non-preferential players when they get hot.

Last night you had it all... Boston vs. LA, hotly contested game on the road, your young guns vs. two of the best forwards in the NBA, and one of your young potential stars embraces the moment and puts the team on his back in a way that Celtics fans haven't seen from a Celtic draft pick in decades...

Naturally, you give him the hook, crush your team's momentum and let the game go to OT in a hostile environment during a grueling road trip.  Predictably, the game ends in a Loss.

I'm a fan of Stevens - even the great Greg Popovich once blew an NBA championship by micromanaging lineups at the end of a game - but he over-coached his team out of a statement win last night.   

[Ogaju]

Bottom line is Danny has done his job this team is ready...Brad really needs to step up. This team is ready.

[gpap]

This is what Stevens does every season to start the season. He experiments with different combinations in various situations for the first month or so, and collects enough samples sizes of data to determine which lineups to go with in the long term. That's why his Celtics teams usually start off mediocre and then hit their stride by Xmas.

This team absolutely cannot afford a slow start. This team is too young and inexperienced to pull themselves out of a huge hole. They need continuity and familiarity with each other. I never know who is going to play from one game to the next, and for how long. If it frustrates me as a fan, i'm sure it frustrates the players even more.

Actually since they arent contenders and are using this season as a bridge, they can afford it.

I don't agree with this, but if this were the case, then why should I bother watching?

[gpap]

I'm giving Stevens a Mulligan because I strongly believe Kyrie was the issue for last season. I've enjoyed every season Brad's been coach minus last 2.

Questionable assessment.

It's up to the coach to get the most out of his players. Blaming it all on Kyrie is kinda weak.

[greg683x]

I'm giving Stevens a Mulligan because I strongly believe Kyrie was the issue for last season. I've enjoyed every season Brad's been coach minus last 2.

Questionable assessment.

It's up to the coach to get the most out of his players. Blaming it all on Kyrie is kinda weak.

but he doesnt get the most out of Daniel Theis and Brad Wannamaker?

this team has a huge hole at the center position and lost arguably their 2nd best player yet still managed to ride their win steak to 10 games and be the hottest team in the NBA


....but after one loss, somehow this thread finds its way to get bumped

[gift]

There are two seasons where Brad Stevens' Celtics teams have not overachieved. His first year, they were about as good as expected, and last year. Every other year they clearly overachieved and have started off that way this season as well. If you guys don't like that track record from a coach I don't know what you're looking for.

I think it might be a cultural thing from some people to whine and blame someone. It certainly isn't based on merit in this case.

[BitterJim]

This is what Stevens does every season to start the season. He experiments with different combinations in various situations for the first month or so, and collects enough samples sizes of data to determine which lineups to go with in the long term. That's why his Celtics teams usually start off mediocre and then hit their stride by Xmas.

This team absolutely cannot afford a slow start. This team is too young and inexperienced to pull themselves out of a huge hole. They need continuity and familiarity with each other. I never know who is going to play from one game to the next, and for how long. If it frustrates me as a fan, i'm sure it frustrates the players even more.

Actually since they arent contenders and are using this season as a bridge, they can afford it.

I don't agree with this, but if this were the case, then why should I bother watching?

That's something you're going to have to ask yourself.  I watch because I like the team/players and want to see what they can do this season.  Unlike last year, this year's team is a ton of fun to watch night in and night out

If you don't want to watch the team for anything but a championship, though, you might want to just pick things up next year (or at the trade deadline if we make a big deal)

[BitterJim]

Bump. Brad Stevens cost his team the game tonight when he took a red hot Tatum out of the game and didn't re-insert him until 6 minutes left in the freaking fourth quarter. JT was having the game of his life and could have EASILY had 40 if Stevens didn't keep him out for that long. Stevens is going to cost this team a title. He just has no killer instinct as a coach.

Tatum played 40.5/53 minutes last night, including all but 4 seconds of the 3rd quarter.  He needed a rest, and after he got that rest he played the entire 5:45 remaining in regulation plus the entire 5 minutes of overtime. Players aren't going to play the entire 2nd half and stay fresh, especially on a team that plays hard defense

Not to mention that the lead actually increased in the ~6 minutes Tatum sat (from 6 after Wanamaker's 2nd free throw to 7 when Tatum checked back in).  Maybe it would have been larger if Tatum had played straight through, but I would counter with saying that it's equally likely that a tired Tatum would have allowed the Clippers to take an earlier/bigger lead in the 2nd half of the 4th quarter.

[gpap]

I'm giving Stevens a Mulligan because I strongly believe Kyrie was the issue for last season. I've enjoyed every season Brad's been coach minus last 2.

Questionable assessment.

It's up to the coach to get the most out of his players. Blaming it all on Kyrie is kinda weak.

but he doesnt get the most out of Daniel Theis and Brad Wannamaker?

this team has a huge hole at the center position and lost arguably their 2nd best player yet still managed to ride their win steak to 10 games and be the hottest team in the NBA


....but after one loss, somehow this thread finds its way to get bumped

I wasn’t even able to watch the game last night and I’m not the one who bumped the thread. I saw it show up in latest discussions and commented. I don’t think Stevens is neither a good nor a bad coach. He’s still a work in progress. Theis and Wannamaker are role players. The question is can Brad lead this team to a championship? The answer to that is....I don’t know.

I disagree that everything last year was Kyrie’s fault. There was plenty of blame to go around for everyone.

[tstorey_97]

I don't have interest in defending Steven's actions or frankly, his coaching style.

Ainge puts together the roster and has the ownership pay the coach he wants running the team.

He has a good regular season record if you drop the "tank years"  and go with 2016 to today,  W 216 L 126 and is .482 in the playoffs which has a lot more to do with Ainge's roster building than anything else.

"Stevens lost the game last night" is fine, but, I don't see how. If the Celtics had won, players would have gotten the credit. Stevens rotates his players with the intent of giving the team the best chance to win.

Brown played identical minutes to Tatum and scored 9 points. Smart was 1/11 from three. Kanter scored 8 points and had 6 rebounds in 12 minutes and couldn't get on the court. You pay Walker $30M t play point and get 2 assists and score 13 lousy points in an overtime game and the coach's rotations are to blame.

How about, the Clips are good, they were playing at home and Lou Freaking Williams and Paul George combined for 18/39 and lit you up for 52 points?

I have my reservations about Stevens, but, I think he's got 55 wins or more in the bag this season and there are 20 other NBA teams who'd sell their souls to be that good.

[Spicoli]

Bump. Brad Stevens cost his team the game tonight when he took a red hot Tatum out of the game and didn't re-insert him until 6 minutes left in the freaking fourth quarter. JT was having the game of his life and could have EASILY had 40 if Stevens didn't keep him out for that long. Stevens is going to cost this team a title. He just has no killer instinct as a coach.

Tatum played 40.5/53 minutes last night, including all but 4 seconds of the 3rd quarter.  He needed a rest, and after he got that rest he played the entire 5:45 remaining in regulation plus the entire 5 minutes of overtime. Players aren't going to play the entire 2nd half and stay fresh, especially on a team that plays hard defense

Not to mention that the lead actually increased in the ~6 minutes Tatum sat (from 6 after Wanamaker's 2nd free throw to 7 when Tatum checked back in).  Maybe it would have been larger if Tatum had played straight through, but I would counter with saying that it's equally likely that a tired Tatum would have allowed the Clippers to take an earlier/bigger lead in the 2nd half of the 4th quarter.

Tatum ended the game playing roughly the same amount of minutes as Brown, Walker, Smart etc. Stevens clearly sticks to a script and does not allow the players to exceed his pre-conceived minutes allotment. If a guy is having a career night and did not ask to be subbed out, let him play and see what he can do. Stevens will never allow this. I've seen him do the same thing with Brown, when he's on the verge of having a monstrous night.

And don't even get me started on his rotations. RWIII is clearly the second best center on this roster yet he's back to third string on the depth chart. Why? Because Stevens is going out of his way to appease Kanter? This is absurd. He needs to play the best players and stop messing with the lineups each and every game. His coaching style makes me want to vomit.

[Hoopvortex]

I enjoy provocations as much as the next man, but this one appears to be serious.

You didn't ask for my advice, but I'm going to give it anyway:

When it comes to coaching basketball at the highest level, take the case that most people don't likely know enough to have an opinion (let alone a strong one). I include myself.

People posting on fan forums are more likely to have a case of Dunning-Krueger than to know what they're talking about.  Claims to be outraged by incompetence, to find character flaws in the coach, or to have involuntary physiological reactions to the coach's coaching (like vomiting!) would raise the eyebrows of Dr. Dunning and Dr. Krueger, but are rightly dismissed by people who love the game and want to understand it.

A little modesty on this subject would go some way toward having people take you seriously.

I'm not getting in a discussion about this. I've said my piece.