Time for a New Coach

[Sophomore]

A 7th seed missing its 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best player lost to a team with 3 of the top 10 players in the league. My friends, there’s not much more to analyze.

Bingo.

It was good to see them get a W and fight in game 4. The fire and heart showed up, we just need the talent to stay healthy.

[Walker Wiggle]

Did not know the title of magician is needed to be a coach in the NBA in this day and age. If Nash coached the Celtics we would still be down 3 games to one and maybe even swept.

We are facing 3 top 10 players in the NBA and 2 of the Top 5 players and wondering why Tatum, Smart and scraps cannot be more competitive. Their big 3 are absolutely ridiculous right now and we need players like our injured Brown to play D vs one of them to help.

To say we are undermanned right now would be the understatement of the year. Tatum is great but lets be real here. The refs plus a big 3 equals zero chance at winning back to back vs this Nets team.

How about we give Brad a healthy team and average bench for starters. There are almost no coaches out there that I believe would be better for our young team.

Well said. Detach yourself from the 2021 basketball season. It was over weeks ago. Get a full training camp in, bring guys back healthy, see what changes you can make to the roster, and see what happens.

I firmly believe a lot of the frustration that fans feel right now is due to the fact that the front office is taking a multi-year view of this team. Once Kyrie and Horford left they knew they were going back into rebuilding mode. They are trying to build a contender, not a team that can flame out in the 2nd round or the ECF. You might fuss with the execution, but there’s a reason this team has such a young roster and has kept all of its future draft picks. Their goals are much bigger than “we need to compete better against the Nets before ultimately losing to them”.

[Somebody]

This roster isn't ready to compete, so what's the point? Playing musical chairs with coaches isn't going to transform our team into a contender.

I'm not sure honestly. 

This roster is better then people give it credit for. 

* We have three all-star calibre players (Tatum, Brown and Kemba) - at least one of those guys is on the borderline of true superstar status. 
* We have three role players who are exceptionally good at their role in Fournier (scoring), Thompson (rebounding) and Smart (defence)
* We have two solid prospects who have shown a great deal of promise (Rob Williams and Payton Pritchard)
 
It's actually a pretty good roster on paper.  The roster is either good enough to contend, or else it's pretty [dang] close to it.  And many of the players on that roster are far from reaching their prime, meaning the roster (in its current form) can only get better.

Now granted, we didn't have Fournier or Parker most the year, and our top 3 guys (Brown, Tatum and Kemba) have all missed significant games to injury or Covid.  It does need to be acknowledged that this plays a significant part. 

Rob Williams also didn't really start to emerge until later in the year, and he also missed quite a few games.  Normally I'd say all of this offers a good explanation for a team struggling...but in this case I don't.  The reason I don't is because of WHO they struggled against.  This team lost to a LOT of really bad teams, in many cases it was by way of blowouts. I don't believe those opponents had more talent on the floor then the Celtics with their depleted rosters, so I find it difficult to blame talent or health. 

If they beat the bad treams and lost to good teams, different story.  When you get blown out by 20+ by a bottom 5 team that's NOT a talent problem.  That seemed ot happen far to often for Boston this year .

And this is the problem with the team, unrealistic fan expectations not rooted in reality.  Boston has a good team and Boston had a good season.  Boston does not have a great or elite team and shouldn't be expected to have a great or elite season.  Boston, quite simply, is no where near contender status because the roster is no where near good enough to be near contender status.  Until the fanbase really comes to that conclusion, you are left with posts like this and threads like this, that have no semblance of reality.

Takes that constantly downplay our talent that just contended for the NBA title a season ago are the truly unrealistic ones

[celticsclay]

This roster isn't ready to compete, so what's the point? Playing musical chairs with coaches isn't going to transform our team into a contender.

I'm not sure honestly. 

This roster is better then people give it credit for. 

* We have three all-star calibre players (Tatum, Brown and Kemba) - at least one of those guys is on the borderline of true superstar status. 
* We have three role players who are exceptionally good at their role in Fournier (scoring), Thompson (rebounding) and Smart (defence)
* We have two solid prospects who have shown a great deal of promise (Rob Williams and Payton Pritchard)
 
It's actually a pretty good roster on paper.  The roster is either good enough to contend, or else it's pretty [dang] close to it.  And many of the players on that roster are far from reaching their prime, meaning the roster (in its current form) can only get better.

Now granted, we didn't have Fournier or Parker most the year, and our top 3 guys (Brown, Tatum and Kemba) have all missed significant games to injury or Covid.  It does need to be acknowledged that this plays a significant part. 

Rob Williams also didn't really start to emerge until later in the year, and he also missed quite a few games.  Normally I'd say all of this offers a good explanation for a team struggling...but in this case I don't.  The reason I don't is because of WHO they struggled against.  This team lost to a LOT of really bad teams, in many cases it was by way of blowouts. I don't believe those opponents had more talent on the floor then the Celtics with their depleted rosters, so I find it difficult to blame talent or health. 

If they beat the bad treams and lost to good teams, different story.  When you get blown out by 20+ by a bottom 5 team that's NOT a talent problem.  That seemed ot happen far to often for Boston this year .

And this is the problem with the team, unrealistic fan expectations not rooted in reality.  Boston has a good team and Boston had a good season.  Boston does not have a great or elite team and shouldn't be expected to have a great or elite season.  Boston, quite simply, is no where near contender status because the roster is no where near good enough to be near contender status.  Until the fanbase really comes to that conclusion, you are left with posts like this and threads like this, that have no semblance of reality.

Takes that constantly downplay our talent that just contended for the NBA title a season ago are the truly unrealistic ones

Also just constantly insults other posters if they don’t have the same perspective as him. Which does not help the discourse on the board. I would like us to add a few vets this off-season, but “quite simply” we are not that far away from contending especially with continued growth from Tatum, brown, Williams and perhaps one of Langford or neismith.

[bcgenuis]

I agree with you Brad’s time is up. What convinced me was a few years ago when he had a stacked roster and couldn’t make it work.
Irving, Tatum, Brown, Hayward, Horford, Smart, Rozier, Morris, Thies and Baynes. I don’t think the Celtics will ever have a better roster than that while Stevens is here. The team completely underachieved as we know. Yea Kyrie is a complete Edited for profanity.  Please do not do it again. but so are a lot of other NBA superstars that Brad would have to coach. He can’t handle NBA players egos for some reason. He belongs in college. After that season every player left at their first opportunity. Irving, Horford and Hayward. Hayward is surprising since he is supposed to have a great relationship with Brad.

This!!

Brad's team either perform above expectations (when IT4 did his thing) or perform underwhelmingly (Irving and crew).

My opinions is not based off this year's performance.  It is seeing the same dribble handoff. The same stand around offense for years now. 

Seeing the Smart's and other lesser players hoisting shots they shouldn't be.

This years team did neither.  They were not expected to perform great, but they did were not entertaining.  They were not winning games that they should and were not pulling out any great wins.  They played uninspired ball.

To me that is what did it.

Add to that the lack of progress of the young players not named Brown, Tatum and Williams.

Langford, Ojeleye,

[dannyboy35]

 Yup. I agree. Too much talent criticism this year was so absurd. That was on Brad. Just like last year not making the finals is on Brad. You can’t get a guy to simply come to the free throw line a whole game and you use no challenges?
  Before the year started I think I had the Celts at 5 or 6 seed . The loss of Hayward was never gonna be possible for us to be nearly as good. I mean, he’s also a good defender. Losing Wannamaker really backfired. I’m glad we dumped Teague because I really felt he dogged it. I hated watching him saunter. But that and Tristan turned out no good for us.
    It’s more Danny but also Brad. Why do we ever give minutes to players who don’t make us contenders while the young guys we get rot on the bench. We’re about to go down quickly to Brooklyn. We never had a shot. So why do we play Theis all year ( a player that we can’t afford going forward therefore he has value) just to dump him to acquire Jabari Parker? Seriously? If he has value we could t have got a late 1st much earlier on the year? Or some asset at all?  All we did is get Theis reps to go play elsewhere. I just have no clue what the Celtics are doing .

[Neurotic Guy]

This roster isn't ready to compete, so what's the point? Playing musical chairs with coaches isn't going to transform our team into a contender.

I'm not sure honestly. 

This roster is better then people give it credit for. 

* We have three all-star calibre players (Tatum, Brown and Kemba) - at least one of those guys is on the borderline of true superstar status. 
* We have three role players who are exceptionally good at their role in Fournier (scoring), Thompson (rebounding) and Smart (defence)
* We have two solid prospects who have shown a great deal of promise (Rob Williams and Payton Pritchard)
 
It's actually a pretty good roster on paper.  The roster is either good enough to contend, or else it's pretty [dang] close to it.  And many of the players on that roster are far from reaching their prime, meaning the roster (in its current form) can only get better.

Now granted, we didn't have Fournier or Parker most the year, and our top 3 guys (Brown, Tatum and Kemba) have all missed significant games to injury or Covid.  It does need to be acknowledged that this plays a significant part. 

Rob Williams also didn't really start to emerge until later in the year, and he also missed quite a few games.  Normally I'd say all of this offers a good explanation for a team struggling...but in this case I don't.  The reason I don't is because of WHO they struggled against.  This team lost to a LOT of really bad teams, in many cases it was by way of blowouts. I don't believe those opponents had more talent on the floor then the Celtics with their depleted rosters, so I find it difficult to blame talent or health. 

If they beat the bad treams and lost to good teams, different story.  When you get blown out by 20+ by a bottom 5 team that's NOT a talent problem.  That seemed ot happen far to often for Boston this year .

And this is the problem with the team, unrealistic fan expectations not rooted in reality.  Boston has a good team and Boston had a good season.  Boston does not have a great or elite team and shouldn't be expected to have a great or elite season.  Boston, quite simply, is no where near contender status because the roster is no where near good enough to be near contender status.  Until the fanbase really comes to that conclusion, you are left with posts like this and threads like this, that have no semblance of reality.

Takes that constantly downplay our talent that just contended for the NBA title a season ago are the truly unrealistic ones

Also just constantly insults other posters if they don’t have the same perspective as him. Which does not help the discourse on the board. I would like us to add a few vets this off-season, but “quite simply” we are not that far away from contending especially with continued growth from Tatum, brown, Williams and perhaps one of Langford or neismith.

I wouldn’t say the C’s are close but are not light years away either.  When you look at Harden/Durant/Irving plus solid rotation players I think the gap between Nets and C’s is significant- even with healthy Jaylen and Kemba.   Same can be said for Bucks and Philly.  All 3 are better than the C’s as are a good handful of teams in the West.

Kemba (imo) isn’t an all-star anymore and while I’m hopeful for growth and health from Rob, Nesmith, PP and Romeo - we are counting on unknowns.  They could explode next next and C’s would contend, but that’s not something to count on.  C’s need Tatum to be an established top 5 (not yet) and Brown to be an established top 15 (not yet).  Lots of ifs to come to fruition for Cs to be considered a contender. 

[celticsclay]

This roster isn't ready to compete, so what's the point? Playing musical chairs with coaches isn't going to transform our team into a contender.

I'm not sure honestly. 

This roster is better then people give it credit for. 

* We have three all-star calibre players (Tatum, Brown and Kemba) - at least one of those guys is on the borderline of true superstar status. 
* We have three role players who are exceptionally good at their role in Fournier (scoring), Thompson (rebounding) and Smart (defence)
* We have two solid prospects who have shown a great deal of promise (Rob Williams and Payton Pritchard)
 
It's actually a pretty good roster on paper.  The roster is either good enough to contend, or else it's pretty [dang] close to it.  And many of the players on that roster are far from reaching their prime, meaning the roster (in its current form) can only get better.

Now granted, we didn't have Fournier or Parker most the year, and our top 3 guys (Brown, Tatum and Kemba) have all missed significant games to injury or Covid.  It does need to be acknowledged that this plays a significant part. 

Rob Williams also didn't really start to emerge until later in the year, and he also missed quite a few games.  Normally I'd say all of this offers a good explanation for a team struggling...but in this case I don't.  The reason I don't is because of WHO they struggled against.  This team lost to a LOT of really bad teams, in many cases it was by way of blowouts. I don't believe those opponents had more talent on the floor then the Celtics with their depleted rosters, so I find it difficult to blame talent or health. 

If they beat the bad treams and lost to good teams, different story.  When you get blown out by 20+ by a bottom 5 team that's NOT a talent problem.  That seemed ot happen far to often for Boston this year .

And this is the problem with the team, unrealistic fan expectations not rooted in reality.  Boston has a good team and Boston had a good season.  Boston does not have a great or elite team and shouldn't be expected to have a great or elite season.  Boston, quite simply, is no where near contender status because the roster is no where near good enough to be near contender status.  Until the fanbase really comes to that conclusion, you are left with posts like this and threads like this, that have no semblance of reality.

Takes that constantly downplay our talent that just contended for the NBA title a season ago are the truly unrealistic ones

Also just constantly insults other posters if they don’t have the same perspective as him. Which does not help the discourse on the board. I would like us to add a few vets this off-season, but “quite simply” we are not that far away from contending especially with continued growth from Tatum, brown, Williams and perhaps one of Langford or neismith.

I wouldn’t say the C’s are close but are not light years away either.  When you look at Harden/Durant/Irving plus solid rotation players I think the gap between Nets and C’s is significant- even with healthy Jaylen and Kemba.   Same can be said for Bucks and Philly.  All 3 are better than the C’s as are a good handful of teams in the West.

Kemba (imo) isn’t an all-star anymore and while I’m hopeful for growth and health from Rob, Nesmith, PP and Romeo - we are counting on unknowns.  They could explode next next and C’s would contend, but that’s not something to count on.  C’s need Tatum to be an established top 5 (not yet) and Brown to be an established top 15 (not yet).  Lots of ifs to come to fruition for Cs to be considered a contender.

I think Tatum becoming a top ten or 5 is kind of a question of when and not if (barring injury). He still has some young players bad habits (not getting back on d when his offense is not going and not passing well out of doubles). These in my opinion are kind of the easiest things to fix (compared to being poor at shooting, finishing in traffic or lacking size). We also don’t need those guys mentioned to stars, just even one of them becoming an average or above average starter would be huge. I’ve been impressed with Thompson the last month and am glad we did not dump him for peanuts. I am not sure if Fournier is coming back, but he has looked solid after initial struggles. We need a savvy trade or some good cheap free agent signing, but are not that far.

[spikelovetheCelts]

Keep Brad!
Nets should be embarrassed they couldn’t sweep this Celtics team.

Exactly. If we had a healthy roster we we would have won last night.
Langford, Nesmith and PP even Grant looked good. Our future is bright. We say that alot. Everyone was happy when Gordon and KI signed. I think we will be top 3next year if we bring everyone back. Tatum is going to be even better. Kemba will have his strength back.
All is well.

[PhoSita]

Biggest problems for this team are

Health

Talent

Experience

In that order.

I'd worry about fixing those issues before looking at changing the coach.

[Kuberski33]

Biggest problems for this team are

Health

Talent

Experience

In that order.

I'd worry about fixing those issues before looking at changing the coach.

Need to add leadership. This team lacks a leader who can motivate the other guys and hold them accountable - especially on defense where there's often been a lack of effort by many..  Maybe Jaylen or Tatum turns into that type of leader in time - maybe not.  But it's missing.

[PhoSita]

Biggest problems for this team are

Health

Talent

Experience

In that order.

I'd worry about fixing those issues before looking at changing the coach.

Need to add leadership. This team lacks a leader who can motivate the other guys and hold them accountable - especially on defense where there's often been a lack of effort by many..  Maybe Jaylen or Tatum turns into that type of leader in time - maybe not.  But it's missing.

Who was the leader last season when they were a top 5 defense?

[gouki88]

Biggest problems for this team are

Health

Talent

Experience

In that order.

I'd worry about fixing those issues before looking at changing the coach.

Need to add leadership. This team lacks a leader who can motivate the other guys and hold them accountable - especially on defense where there's often been a lack of effort by many..  Maybe Jaylen or Tatum turns into that type of leader in time - maybe not.  But it's missing.

Who was the leader last season when they were a top 5 defense?

Gordon Hayward obviously!

[Moranis]

This roster isn't ready to compete, so what's the point? Playing musical chairs with coaches isn't going to transform our team into a contender.

I'm not sure honestly. 

This roster is better then people give it credit for. 

* We have three all-star calibre players (Tatum, Brown and Kemba) - at least one of those guys is on the borderline of true superstar status. 
* We have three role players who are exceptionally good at their role in Fournier (scoring), Thompson (rebounding) and Smart (defence)
* We have two solid prospects who have shown a great deal of promise (Rob Williams and Payton Pritchard)
 
It's actually a pretty good roster on paper.  The roster is either good enough to contend, or else it's pretty [dang] close to it.  And many of the players on that roster are far from reaching their prime, meaning the roster (in its current form) can only get better.

Now granted, we didn't have Fournier or Parker most the year, and our top 3 guys (Brown, Tatum and Kemba) have all missed significant games to injury or Covid.  It does need to be acknowledged that this plays a significant part. 

Rob Williams also didn't really start to emerge until later in the year, and he also missed quite a few games.  Normally I'd say all of this offers a good explanation for a team struggling...but in this case I don't.  The reason I don't is because of WHO they struggled against.  This team lost to a LOT of really bad teams, in many cases it was by way of blowouts. I don't believe those opponents had more talent on the floor then the Celtics with their depleted rosters, so I find it difficult to blame talent or health. 

If they beat the bad treams and lost to good teams, different story.  When you get blown out by 20+ by a bottom 5 team that's NOT a talent problem.  That seemed ot happen far to often for Boston this year .

And this is the problem with the team, unrealistic fan expectations not rooted in reality.  Boston has a good team and Boston had a good season.  Boston does not have a great or elite team and shouldn't be expected to have a great or elite season.  Boston, quite simply, is no where near contender status because the roster is no where near good enough to be near contender status.  Until the fanbase really comes to that conclusion, you are left with posts like this and threads like this, that have no semblance of reality.

Takes that constantly downplay our talent that just contended for the NBA title a season ago are the truly unrealistic ones

Boston didn't contend for a NBA title a season ago. 

Boston doesn't even have a top 10 player on the roster, let alone a top 5 one.  Until that happens, threads like these will continue to pop and will continue to be ridiculous.  Talent wins in the NBA and Boston just lacks talent and all the health in the world, a new coach, or countless other changes made aren't going to magically make Boston a contender until the team just adds more top end talent.

As I've been saying for years, Tatum has the potential to be that guy, but he isn't yet.  He has it in him (play-in game, game 3, etc.), but he isn't quite there yet and can't maintain that level of play night in and night out (which really does set apart the true top 5 guys).  Until Tatum reaches that level, the team will never be a contender and frankly, if the team isn't careful it might waste Tatum as a top 5 player and end up more like the Bucks the last few seasons (before adding Holiday), then winning a title.

[KeepBigAl]

Always liked Stevens, but the endless switching with vulnerable personel in this series and last year vs Miami have eliminated any disappointment I would have had with Brad leaving.

We shouldn't have to watch entire games of KD/Harden burning big men, after last year watching Bam and Butler  bully Kemba, etc....play after play after play after play....