Is Stevens a candidate for Executive of the Year?

[aefgogreen]

He traded away Jrue with his salary-heavy contract without having to give anything of value up. I was sure they'd have to incentivize a team to take him. He then traded KP, who has been out for extended periods of time.  Then he added Hugo, Minot, and Garza, who are all meeting or beating expectations. No, he didn't make any blockbuster moves, but they have no bad contracts control over all but two first round picks.  And they're doing better than just about everyone thought.

[Roy H.]

To me, not really.  I don't see anything really exceptional in his performance so far this season.

[keevsnick]

I don't think we should be giving out executive of the year awards because an exec managed to get off questionable contracts. The award is for building a good team, not saving money. '

I think you can praise stevens for finding some unlikely hits like Minott and Garza, or for good drafting with Walsh and Hugo. But to me the Celtics success this year is mostly a development story which is more a product of good coaching. To me Joe has more to do with it than Stevens does.

[aefgogreen]

I don't think we should be giving out executive of the year awards because an exec managed to get off questionable contracts. The award is for building a good team, not saving money. '

I think you can praise stevens for finding some unlikely hits like Minott and Garza, or for good drafting with Walsh and Hugo. But to me the Celtics success this year is mostly a development story which is more a product of good coaching. To me Joe has more to do with it than Stevens does.

Respectfully disagree. Part of being a good executive is navigating an increasingly tricky salary cap.  I do agree that Mazz deserves credit as well.

[keevsnick]

I don't think we should be giving out executive of the year awards because an exec managed to get off questionable contracts. The award is for building a good team, not saving money. '

I think you can praise stevens for finding some unlikely hits like Minott and Garza, or for good drafting with Walsh and Hugo. But to me the Celtics success this year is mostly a development story which is more a product of good coaching. To me Joe has more to do with it than Stevens does.

Respectfully disagree. Part of being a good executive is navigating an increasingly tricky salary cap.  I do agree that Mazz deserves credit as well.

I get it man, what he did is impressive in its own way. He's a great executive. I don't think anything he did should really put him in EOTY conversation.

[Roy H.]

I don't think we should be giving out executive of the year awards because an exec managed to get off questionable contracts. The award is for building a good team, not saving money. '

I think you can praise stevens for finding some unlikely hits like Minott and Garza, or for good drafting with Walsh and Hugo. But to me the Celtics success this year is mostly a development story which is more a product of good coaching. To me Joe has more to do with it than Stevens does.

Respectfully disagree. Part of being a good executive is navigating an increasingly tricky salary cap.  I do agree that Mazz deserves credit as well.

There's a difference between a good executive and the top executive in the league, though.  Finding contributors to the rotation off the scrap heap is a job well done, but I'm not sure that it's the *best* job of anybody.

[slamtheking]

I don't think we should be giving out executive of the year awards because an exec managed to get off questionable contracts. The award is for building a good team, not saving money. '

I think you can praise stevens for finding some unlikely hits like Minott and Garza, or for good drafting with Walsh and Hugo. But to me the Celtics success this year is mostly a development story which is more a product of good coaching. To me Joe has more to do with it than Stevens does.

Respectfully disagree. Part of being a good executive is navigating an increasingly tricky salary cap.  I do agree that Mazz deserves credit as well.

There's a difference between a good executive and the top executive in the league, though.  Finding contributors to the rotation off the scrap heap is a job well done, but I'm not sure that it's the *best* job of anybody.

agreed.   

Exec of the Year will be someone who made some bold moves to put together a top contender.  Not seeing anyone who fits the bill this year considering there's no surprise contenders or top teams that required fitting together players they didn't previously have.

[Who]

No ... but Mazzula is a top candidate for COY.

The success this season is more about Mazzula than it is about Stevens.

[Silas]

I don't think we should be giving out executive of the year awards because an exec managed to get off questionable contracts. The award is for building a good team, not saving money. '

I think you can praise stevens for finding some unlikely hits like Minott and Garza, or for good drafting with Walsh and Hugo. But to me the Celtics success this year is mostly a development story which is more a product of good coaching. To me Joe has more to do with it than Stevens does.

Respectfully disagree. Part of being a good executive is navigating an increasingly tricky salary cap.  I do agree that Mazz deserves credit as well.

There's a difference between a good executive and the top executive in the league, though.  Finding contributors to the rotation off the scrap heap is a job well done, but I'm not sure that it's the *best* job of anybody.

agreed.   

Exec of the Year will be someone who made some bold moves to put together a top contender.  Not seeing anyone who fits the bill this year considering there's no surprise contenders or top teams that required fitting together players they didn't previously have.

This sounds like the Celtics and I think Stevens will be in the running by the end of the year.

[Donoghus]

DK doesn't have odds posted for Executive of the Year but, FWIW, these are the current odds for Coach of the Year.

Bickerstaff +175
Johnson +330
Mazzulla +450
Ott +600
Daigneault +1500
Brown +1800

Everyone else is +2000 or beyond.

[Vermont Green]

In the running?  Sure, but I would not have him as a favorite.  I don't see the voters rewarding a GM who executed strategic austerity measures.  Trade Deadline activities will be a big part of the equitation for this though, for Stevens and all the other GMs.  At this point, I don't know who the front runner would be so there are a lot of GMs in the running.  Who ever wins the trade deadline may win the award.

[Atzar]

Nah.

I think our players have been playing their asses off and I also think Mazzulla is coaching his ass off.  If you're looking for somebody to praise, I think you start there.

Two years ago, when Stevens won the award for making ballsy franchise-altering moves and putting together a champion?  He deserved that one.  This year he did his job shedding salary, and his bargain bin additions have been decent overall, but that's not the kind of action I'm handing out awards for. 

[Moranis]

I think the Holiday trade was pretty good value and getting younger and healthier is never a bad thing.  I mean Jrue has played just 12 games for the Blazers.  I mean for a 35 year old in year 17, I'm not sure you could expect health, so I really liked that move. 

Given KP's health issues, moving off of him was also a good move, it was just the salary dump parts of that trade I didn't like.  Like sending Mann and 22 to the Nets and then later trading Niang and 2 seconds for RJ Luis. I understand why those trades were made for cap purposes, but I'd have rather kept and used 22.

Aside from Simons, the only new players in the rotation are Minott, Garza, and Gonzalez.  Everyone else was on the team. And for well as those guys have played they aren't better than even Kornet (not Simons, the other 3), let alone Horford, or obviously KP and Jrue (you know when they play).

So Brad probably isn't even in the top 10 as execs go given just how little he actually did.  This season is much more about the job Mazz has done with less talent and very little big man depth.  I do worry about injuries. That is the concern at this point as the team does lack depth, especially high level depth.  Honestly I have Mazz at the top of my imaginary coach of the year bracket.  I expected this team to be fighting for the play-in and they are the 3 seed right now.  Masterful job by Mazz getting the most out of everyone.

[jpotter33]

No ... but Mazzula is a top candidate for COY.

The success this season is more about Mazzula than it is about Stevens.

Agreed. Even not liking Joe, that he?s been able to keep the guys bought in and competitive this year with all the talent downgrades is nothing short of a miracle.

[Muzzy66]

I think another big factor is ball control. 

Our starting backcourt of Pritchard and White is averaging a combined 10.4 assists to only 3.2 turnovers.  That's a combined average of 3.25 assists per turnovers, which is mind-blowingly efficient. 

To put that into perspective, Chris Paul has a career average of 4 AST:TO, and he's one of the all-time leaders in this stat. 

I would suggest that this high level of efficiency from our primary playmakers is a big reason why the team has been so consistent this year - it's very hard to beat a team that doesn't make mistakes. 

I also really like Simons as a 6th man.  While White and Pritchard bring that steady reliability to the starting lineup, Simons can come in right off the bench and give that consistent offensive spark, without his defensive/efficiency shortfalls being overly exposed.