Should Brad Stevens be fired?

[GreenCoffeeBean]

I’d say yes if there was a suitable replacement. Too bad Chicago got Donovan already.

What makes Donovan a qualified candidate above Brad?  His playoff resume consists of a blown 3-1 lead in the Conference Finals and a bunch of 1st round exits....

You’re forgetting the part where Donovan coached in an actually competitive conference and watched his team get dismantled every year one piece at a time after he joined.

Giving up the 3-1 lead to GSW was ugly at the time, but knowing what we know now about that GSW team and KD, it’s not that surprising anymore

[GreenEnvy]

I'm pretty sure Brad's not going to get fired

Very true.  Teams generally don’t fire coaches a month and a half after giving them a contract extension.

Not to mention making the ECF three times in four years.

It's also more the fact that I don't think there's a compelling alternative out there. D'Antoni? Jim Boylen? Stan Van Gundy? Ty Lue? Alvin Gentry?

I think I'm going crazy but I would love to see D'Antoni unleash Tatum and Brown on offence. Should revolutionise coaching and go with an offensive coordinator (D'Antoni) and a defensive coordinator (Stevens)

That's a really interesting idea, though I'm not sure that I like those specific options or how feasible something like that is. Also, the game of basketball is much more fluid than football, and one's defensive philosophy is inherently tied into the offensive philosophy (e.g. do you stay for offensive rebounds or get back for transition D).

It’ll never work for precisely the reason you mentioned. Football there are different sets of teams within a team. Basketball you need all players to be on a specific page at all times.

Doc is not a great coach. I believe he held the Big Three back. But having a defense guru in Thibs (along with an all-time-great defender in KG) allowed him to be the rah-rah guy while the routinely sputtered offensively and relied on Thibs to get stops.

I think Brad is good on both ends. I think he’s an excellent planner. Does he motivate these guys though? I really don’t know. I think he gets the most out of players that have unreached potential. But doesn’t he get the most out of the Kyrie’s and Kemba’s of the NBA? He molded Hayward into the all-star-caliber player he is, but can he take him to the next level?

Injuries and confidence aside, next year is a big prove-it season for this team. From top to bottom.

[SparzWizard]

I'm pretty sure Brad's not going to get fired

Very true.  Teams generally don’t fire coaches a month and a half after giving them a contract extension.

Not to mention making the ECF three times in four years.

It's also more the fact that I don't think there's a compelling alternative out there. D'Antoni? Jim Boylen? Stan Van Gundy? Ty Lue? Alvin Gentry?

I think I'm going crazy but I would love to see D'Antoni unleash Tatum and Brown on offence. Should revolutionise coaching and go with an offensive coordinator (D'Antoni) and a defensive coordinator (Stevens)

That's a really interesting idea, though I'm not sure that I like those specific options or how feasible something like that is. Also, the game of basketball is much more fluid than football, and one's defensive philosophy is inherently tied into the offensive philosophy (e.g. do you stay for offensive rebounds or get back for transition D).

It’ll never work for precisely the reason you mentioned. Football there are different sets of teams within a team. Basketball you need all players to be on a specific page at all times.

Doc is not a great coach. I believe he held the Big Three back. But having a defense guru in Thibs (along with an all-time-great defender in KG) allowed him to be the rah-rah guy while the routinely sputtered offensively and relied on Thibs to get stops.

I think Brad is good on both ends. I think he’s an excellent planner. Does he motivate these guys though? I really don’t know. I think he gets the most out of players that have unreached potential. But doesn’t he get the most out of the Kyrie’s and Kemba’s of the NBA? He molded Hayward into the all-star-caliber player he is, but can he take him to the next level?

Injuries and confidence aside, next year is a big prove-it season for this team. From top to bottom.

Yeah, Thibs was the reason why that Celtics Big 3 won in 2008. Doc Rivers the overrated coach was just riding on the coattails of the Big 3 and Thibs.

And when Thibs was gone? So were the Celtics.

[Eric_Suede]

YES HE SHOULD BE FIRED. If for no other reason because he doesn't seem to have enough guts to tell Marcus Smart to quit shooting 3's. Actually he needs to tell the whole team that. Had they limited their 3's to 25 or less per game we'd be celebrating right now. 

[ScoobyDoo]

Yet another "massive" choke job by Stevens and the players. When things got tight the players opted for the asy long threes instead of attacking the hole  to score and/or kick out for better threes.

Stevens shouldn't be fired but he should learn when to call timeouts and when to stop actions that are killing us. On four, maybe five straight plays during the critical period where Miami pulled away, Bam Adebayo basically approached our lane without impediment and just went to work on Theis. How about after the second time you actually guard Bam and force the ball out of his hands before he crosses over our foul line?

Just so painful to watch. #1 job, stop the immediate and glaring problem in front of you. Then deal with the next thing. That was a pathetic stretch of coaching.     

[ScoobyDoo]

Yet another "massive" choke job by Stevens and the players. When things got tight the players opted for the asy long threes instead of attacking the hole  to score and/or kick out for better threes.

Stevens shouldn't be fired but he should learn when to call timeouts and when to stop actions that are killing us. On four, maybe five straight plays during the critical period where Miami pulled away, Bam Adebayo basically approached our lane without impediment and just went to work on Theis. How about after the second time you actually guard Bam and force the ball out of his hands before he crosses over our foul line?

Just so painful to watch. #1 job, stop the immediate and glaring problem in front of you. Then deal with the next thing. That was a pathetic stretch of coaching.     

[SparzWizard]

Yet another "massive" choke job by Stevens and the players. When things got tight the players opted for the asy long threes instead of attacking the hole  to score and/or kick out for better threes.

Stevens shouldn't be fired but he should learn when to call timeouts and when to stop actions that are killing us. On four, maybe five straight plays during the critical period where Miami pulled away, Bam Adebayo basically approached our lane without impediment and just went to work on Theis. How about after the second time you actually guard Bam and force the ball out of his hands before he crosses over our foul line?

Just so painful to watch. #1 job, stop the immediate and glaring problem in front of you. Then deal with the next thing. That was a pathetic stretch of coaching.     

He is so bad that this post deserves two posts! Well said. Except in my mind, he's already fired, but if he loses again next season (which looks likely given that the East will be challenging again), he should be canned immediately.

[PhoSita]

 You don't fire a guy after making three ECFs in four years with a ton of roster turnover and a very young roster.

He does need to show some new stuff next year though or he will be on the hot seat at least a little.

[DocomoCelts]

Danny won't fire him but if we have an underwhelming next season, it'll get interesting.  JB's got a bit more grit to him but I don't see JT staying (or see him agitating for a trade) if this team treads water.

What I admire about Spo is that his players seem to know their roles. On our front, we have a player like Smart jacking up 3s all over the place, seemingly part of Brad's "let 'em just play" mentality.

[SparzWizard]

Danny won't fire him but if we have an underwhelming next season, it'll get interesting.  JB's got a bit more grit to him but I don't see JT staying (or see him agitating for a trade) if this team treads water.

What I admire about Spo is that his players seem to know their roles. On our front, we have a player like Smart jacking up 3s all over the place, seemingly part of Brad's "let 'em just play" mentality.

This team just doesn't play like a team. They play individually. And Brad Stevens always want to let the players figure it out themselves hence he doesn't wanna call timeouts. He's the coach, he needs to be the voice and the instructor for them.

And it's too bad, he's failed them. I'm scared if we waste too much of Tatum's years he's going to LA. He originally was "meh" about coming to Boston, since he wanted Phoenix. But because of his hero Kobe, that might motivate him in his next approach should things go south with the Celtics.

[tenn_smoothie]

Perfect example of what a Gen-X type personality Stevens has .................................. He talked post-game 5 about being in the locker room at half. He went over a few minor adjustments, then turned the room over to the players to "share" their feelings on having to win the second half and save their season. "I told them, this is your season and your team, so I'm going to let you talk about that amongst yourselves." Something along those lines.  I'm not against the players interacting and talking things out, but, good grief, maybe do that back at the hotel the night before. During halftime of an elimination game, the head coach should be barking out adjustments and strategies and making demands for effort, rather than having a communal group therapy session.

[ozgod]

Danny won't fire him but if we have an underwhelming next season, it'll get interesting.  JB's got a bit more grit to him but I don't see JT staying (or see him agitating for a trade) if this team treads water.

What I admire about Spo is that his players seem to know their roles. On our front, we have a player like Smart jacking up 3s all over the place, seemingly part of Brad's "let 'em just play" mentality.

This team just doesn't play like a team. They play individually. And Brad Stevens always want to let the players figure it out themselves hence he doesn't wanna call timeouts. He's the coach, he needs to be the voice and the instructor for them.

And it's too bad, he's failed them. I'm scared if we waste too much of Tatum's years he's going to LA. He originally was "meh" about coming to Boston, since he wanted Phoenix. But because of his hero Kobe, that might motivate him in his next approach should things go south with the Celtics.

This team played a lot more like a team compared to last year for most of the season...I think the issue is that under pressure they revert to hero ball. Tonight they clearly panicked in the 4th and started throwing them up from 3 after Bam took off his coat and revealed his cape and they started falling behind.

[Rikibellevie]

Danny won't fire him but if we have an underwhelming next season, it'll get interesting.  JB's got a bit more grit to him but I don't see JT staying (or see him agitating for a trade) if this team treads water.

What I admire about Spo is that his players seem to know their roles. On our front, we have a player like Smart jacking up 3s all over the place, seemingly part of Brad's "let 'em just play" mentality.

Next year, the team will probably be build to contend. So next year the pression will get higher on him. If there is again obervations about some passivity in PO ingame choices, maybe we can question his position. But not before the next year end...
Whatever he is a very good coach, we overachieved this year like each Stevens years but last year. He just was a little outcoached by a coach who outcoached by miles mores recognised coach as Bud or Mac Millan...

And even with ingame questions and the possibilty he isn't the best to win it all, don't forget most our role/bench pieces are very young -many rookies and maybe other rookies to come next year-. And CBS is one of the best to developp players.

[Androslav]

How many ECF we make in the last 4 years if Brad isn't here.
Maybe 1, that magical IT year.

[Who]

This team played a lot more like a team compared to last year for most of the season...I think the issue is that under pressure they revert to hero ball.

To me it is more a lack of skill.

Tatum and Jaylen are still young works in progress on offense who are far better at scoring the ball than distributing / playmaking with the ball.

So when your two go-to-guys are like that it puts pressure on other people. Those people tend to be (1) a playmaking PG (2) a facilitating big man (3) playmaking wings.

The loss of Horford robbed Boston from #2.

Kemba (#1) is more of a scoring PG than a playmaking one. He will give you some playmaking but largely through the threat of own individual scoring -- meaning the ball is being worked more through him and not Jaylen or Tatum (risk of peripheral than balanced).

#3 - Hayward was playing hurt and not his best self. He gave what he had but he couldn't do what was needed. I am not sure Kemba was really healthy either. Throughout the bubble Kemba wasn't attacking on offense the way he was earlier in the season.


Which forced more responsibility on Tatum and Jaylen to be playmakers / distributors --- which leads to more one-on-one hero basketball because they do not have the skill-set to provide teamwork based offense yet. They needed others to help them and that help wasn't available.


That is how I view the hero-ball in the playoffs. Injury to Hayward. Alright but not great performance from the scoring PG. No playmaking big men to help ball movement. Leading to Tatum and Jaylen being asked to do things they are not yet good at. And Smart being asked to do more than he is capable of too.

So more skill-related than mentality or coaching.

So much of today's offense is 25 feet from the basket. If you lack those playmaking skills and do not have enough team passing & playmaking elsewhere -- you end up with hero-ball type situations. You see that around the league. That is what I see here with this team.

We need more team passing. More incisive passing. The great thing about a passing big man is that the ball goes inside the three point line and moves out. In and out. Dribble penetrators create a similar unbalance to opponents defense with the drive and kick. The problem is without these you end up with more sideways passing around the three point line that does not take the opposition out of position on defense.

Celtics do not have a big man to run the offense through. With Hayward not fully healthy and Kemba being so-so (probably not healthy either), they lacked the dribble penetration also. Smart is limited by lack of quickness. Jaylen and Tatum by lack of passing. More self-creators than team creators. So you get hero-ball rather than team-offense.