Pho, I've said this before but basically the only reason I was ok with our run (despite the fact that the final two weeks of the season cost us Winslow or perhaps Porzingus) was that it theoretically kept Stevens content. There was growing buzz last season that Stevens would jump ship for a big time College program ... and I wanted to keep Stevens here. He's obviously a great coach.
I said this in another thread, but I'll say it here, too.
If Stevens is gonna jump ship because Danny Ainge trades away journeyman role players in order to continue to position the team to make moves to secure legitimate core talent, then I don't want him here.
Brad has shown himself to be a very good coach, it's true, and I like the positive buzz surrounding the team because of him. At the same time, he tinkers with rotations to an extreme and I have some concerns long term about the coach being the biggest star on the team, getting much of the credit when they succeed and taking little of the blame when they don't. That's a problematic dynamic at the professional level (see: Chip Kelly).
If Brad is really here to take the team deep in the playoffs, then he'll be able to appreciate the big picture. He'll give Danny Ainge a reasonable window of time to build the team up.
The Celts have only been rebuilding for a couple years now. Brad couldn't possibly have been under the impression that the team would have a set group in place, with a win-now mentality from management, within two seasons. It was obvious from the start this process would take longer than that.
If Brad couldn't see that, he's either a fool, or a hypocrite for signing on for this job ostensibly with the purpose of being a part of the process of rebuilding the Celtics into a contender even though his patience for losing was limited to a season or two. Doc Rivers comes to mind.
