How good a coach is Stevens?

[Vox_Populi]

Stevens is a 9, and I'd challenge anyone who disagrees to pay close attention to everything he does: from rotations, to OOB plays, to style. He gets everyone playing hard all the time, and playing within themselves. His pressers are great:

"So, you just blew out someone by 20+ points in a quarter, is your team awesome?"
"We still need to get better."

What a heist of an offseason this turned out to be. Ainge for Executive of the Year.

I will be flamed but I would have liked to seen him coach PP, RA and KG.   Is it just me or do we board now and still get back on D?

Agreed with this sentiment. One of the most interesting "what if?" scenarios for the team, I think.

if stevens gets this team to .500 this year, he should be a coach of the year candidate.

I was thinking he'd be a good candidate even if he achieves a significantly more modest goal  - like winning the Atlantic division title.

TP for this. 

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Stevens is a 9, and I'd challenge anyone who disagrees to pay close attention to everything he does: from rotations, to OOB plays, to style. He gets everyone playing hard all the time, and playing within themselves. His pressers are great:

"So, you just blew out someone by 20+ points in a quarter, is your team awesome?"
"We still need to get better."

What a heist of an offseason this turned out to be. Ainge for Executive of the Year.

I will be flamed but I would have liked to seen him coach PP, RA and KG.   Is it just me or do we board now and still get back on D?

Agreed with this sentiment. One of the most interesting "what if?" scenarios for the team, I think.

if stevens gets this team to .500 this year, he should be a coach of the year candidate.

glenn rivers only got us 1 game over .500 last year with two HOFers and rondo.

speaks volumes. it really does.

BTW, did you ever fulfill your obligation and give me all the TP's you owed me when you lost that bet with me last year? I don't believe so.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

he is good
but far from what Doc Rivers
brought here

*sippin*

 

[ManUp]

Better than Doc, yeah I said it.

Doc's the type to try and fit a square peg into a round hole, then be surprised when it doesn't fit. I enjoy Stevens adaptability and the players seem to love and thrive within the freedom of his offense.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

he is good
but far from what Doc Rivers
brought here

*sippin*

 

I'm not even going to waste my time laying everything out again.

[thirstyboots18]

Better than Doc, yeah I said it.

Doc's the type to try and fit a square peg into a round hole, then be surprised when it doesn't fit. I enjoy Stevens adaptability and the players seem to love and thrive within the freedom of his offense.

I am liking Stevens more with each game, and starting to trust his system.  BUT, really, snap judgments are just that...snap judgements.  Doc was the coach when we won a championship.  Before you elevate Stevens too high and set him up for failure, give him a chance to show what he can do.  So far he as coached only 22 NBA games.

[SHAQATTACK]

Doc one of the best NBA snake oil salesman.

Stevens is a real coach.

[D.o.s.]

In Doc's first season as the coach of the Magic, he coached the '99 Orlando Magic to a 41-41 record.

In Doc's first 22 games as the coach of the Magic, he coached the '99 Orlando Magic to a 11-11 record.

In Doc's first season as the coach of the Magic, his starting five looked like this:

Darrell Armstrong
Tariq Abdul-Whadad
Monty Williams
Bo Outlaw
John Amaechi


Just sayin'.

[PhoSita]

Stevens is a 9, and I'd challenge anyone who disagrees to pay close attention to everything he does: from rotations, to OOB plays, to style. He gets everyone playing hard all the time, and playing within themselves. His pressers are great:

"So, you just blew out someone by 20+ points in a quarter, is your team awesome?"
"We still need to get better."

What a heist of an offseason this turned out to be. Ainge for Executive of the Year.

I will be flamed but I would have liked to seen him coach PP, RA and KG.   Is it just me or do we board now and still get back on D?

Agreed with this sentiment. One of the most interesting "what if?" scenarios for the team, I think.

if stevens gets this team to .500 this year, he should be a coach of the year candidate.

I was thinking he'd be a good candidate even if he achieves a significantly more modest goal  - like winning the Atlantic division title.

Coach of the Year awards aren't typically awarded to coaches who lead their team to a mere 35 or so wins (probably all that'll be needed to win the Atlantic this season).

[D.o.s.]

Doc also won the coach of the year award in '99-'00

So in order to say that Stevens is a better coach than Doc---which is a foolish attempt to quantify something that's almost impossible to do so with any control--he needs to lead the Celtics to a .500 record and win Coach of the Year.

He's also got the Rondo handicap, who is much better than anyone on that Magic roster.

[billysan]

I am not Doc Rivers biggest fan but I respect his accomplishment. He did re-establish a winning culture in Boston during his time here. No easy feat with the pieces he had to start with.

I like what Brad Stevens is doing, but he is benefitting from some of the players Doc developed starting with Rondo, Bradley, Jeff Green and to an extent Bass and Lee.

Lets see where he goes with them. 

[Section301]

I was very pleased with the Stevens signing, thought it was a nice out-of-the-box move by Ainge.  I have great hope for his tenure. 

That said, I don't believe Stevens has exceeded expectations - yet.  Unlike many, I felt like this squad should have been a .500 team this year, and that's kind of where they are.  Granted they've done it without Rondo, but the East is even more loaded with crap teams than I (and most people, I think) anticipated. So it kind of balances out.  I'd rate him a solid 7 and rising. 

[manl_lui]

I am not Doc Rivers biggest fan but I respect his accomplishment. He did re-establish a winning culture in Boston during his time here. No easy feat with the pieces he had to start with.

I like what Brad Stevens is doing, but he is benefitting from some of the players Doc developed starting with Rondo, Bradley, Jeff Green and to an extent Bass and Lee.

Lets see where he goes with them. 

I agree up to a part where you mentioned Bass and Lee. I think he is making Bass into a good rebounder/defender. And making Lee a lot more efficient. Last year Lee did not do jack when given minutes. This year, with limited minutes he is contributing.

I also like his player management. He went with Bradley as pg beginning of the year to pulling him out of pg duty and giving Crawford those minutes. This guy experiments and is not afraid to pull the plug. Absolutely love him.

[GreenWarrior]

thus far I don't have anything to complain about with stevens. but his nba career is still young so i'll reserve judgement for later.


I will say this though. as much as it seems like things are good right now - we still have a losing record. I think that is one thing that's getting overlooked in all this "tank" or "not to tank" talk. we're all worried we're too good when the fact of the matter is we still have a losing record & the only reason why we are talking playoffs is because of the eastern conference being as bad as it is.

[kozlodoev]

I loved the hire, I thought Butler always played better than their talent level.   I think he was overwhelmed initially but recovered nicely.   I think our guys play above talent level too.

I will be flamed but I would have liked to seen him coach PP, RA and KG.   Is it just me or do we board now and still get back on D?

no, it is not you. he gets more offensive boards, and is trying harder to get points in the paint(tons of cutters, sully posting up, crawfor dribble drives and dishes) yet allows them to shoot the jumper when said person is hot.

The Pierce/Garnett/Allen teams got tons of points in the paint, too, and Garnett was posting up with regularity. Likewise, good shooters were equally encouraged to take good shots. Bradley seemingly scored on cuts and cuts only.

Sure, this team gets more offensive rebounds, but is also 17th in fast break points given up (for comparison, most of those Garnett teams were top of the league).

edit: Though, in fairness, we are still bottom-feeders in rebounding, as measured by offensive, defensive, and total rebounding rates (bottom 10 of the league).