Is it safe to say we have the second or third best coach in the league?

[Clench123]

I guess you can say this is my tribute to Brad Stevens.  I was sitting here wondering what superstar we have on the team.  Big Al of course is a big deal but Brad Stevens is still our superstar and he's been our superstar for 3 years straight.  He has turned thought-to-be worthless talents to something watchable, made diamonds outta the roughs,...just his overall impact on the team.  Imagine if he had Golden State talents or Cavs talents or Spurs.  Forget them...this is a man who was able to do so much with so little.  Wouldn't want any other coach in that driver seat (not even Pop).  I can't wait for this coming season.

[Stig]

Not yet, but he definitely has the potential.

He's done a great job but exactly how great he is will be defined when we are contending.

Stevens hasn't had to deal with high expectations, or difficult super star relationships, or long term injuries to major players. Also he *could* be one of those coaches that are great at making a bad team good, but can't make the next leap.

I like coach Stevens, it's good enough that he's one of the best coaches, he doesn't have to be the top 3 or something. I just don't want to get too attached to him before he bring this team to the finals.

[mgent]

He's probably the only person on our team who could one day make the Hall of Fame.

[Moranis]

Pop is 1.  I think Ricky C is 2.  Then I think you could make an argument, though I think Stevens is probably more in the 7-10 range at this point.  He really needs to make a deep playoff run or two before you can realistically start putting him up there with the elite coaches.  Results do matter.

[dannyboy35]

We'd stink without IT. I'm sure Stevens is a good coach. But it's waaaay more Danny and the players he gets. Without IT we'd be getting our tails kicked in the last 2 years. Stevens is replaceable.

[BlackCeltic]

We'd stink without IT. I'm sure Stevens is a good coach. But it's waaaay more Danny and the players he gets. Without IT we'd be getting our tails kicked in the last 2 years. Stevens is replaceable.

Sure Stevens is replaceable, and so is IT. The thing is, you just dont know what results youd get in such an exchange.

[Bobshot]

I think he's one of the top game coaches in the game. No doubt he is responsible for the Celtics seemingly overachieving last year. I don't think he has the personnel yet to take them over the top. The team isn't close to what Doc had in the Championship year. When you watch that team in NBA TV replays, they had almost perfect chemistry. They had everything. More like a typical Celtics championship team.

[Eddie20]

Sporting News ranked the 16 playoff coaches prior to the playoffs and Stevens finished 5th. Ahead of him where (in order) Pop, Carlisle, Kerr, and Doc.

[bdm860]

I think NBA coaching is a lot like the 2016 NBA Draft.

You usually have Pop considered as a clear cut #1, and depending on who you ask there could also be a clear cut #2 (like how Moranis just said Carlisle, others might say Kerr, etc).  And then you have a whole bunch of guys who you could go anywhere from 3-8 depending on whose drafting.

Everybody has warts when you look at them closely (Stevens never winning a playoff series, Carlisle not making it out of the 1st round in 5 years, Spoelstra under-performing with Miami's big 3, Kerr not winning a ring this year, etc.).  But I think it's safe to say Stevens is a desirable coach to have for your team, some people might rank him 3, others 5, some will say 10, but regardless of what number you give him everyone will say he's a very good coach who players also like.

[ballin]

Sporting News ranked the 16 playoff coaches prior to the playoffs and Stevens finished 5th. Ahead of him where (in order) Pop, Carlisle, Kerr, and Doc.

It's absolutely hilarious that Doc is ranked over Stevens.

Doc is a good manager of egos, and good at out of bounds plays. Other than that, he's just average. Give him great players, and he'll get solid results. Give him bad players, and he'll get poor results.

Stevens on the other hand gets the team to overperform.

[dannyboy35]

I think Stevens gets a tad too much credit. A little overrated. He's lucky we have a team of guys that are almost all unselfish Bulldogs. I don't think they'd be much different elsewhere. We have Danny to thank for that. We win a ton in the regular season but been a dud in playoffs last year. That's fine. Stuff takes time but again, no IT we'd be at near the bottom of the league.

[jpotter33]

Sporting News ranked the 16 playoff coaches prior to the playoffs and Stevens finished 5th. Ahead of him where (in order) Pop, Carlisle, Kerr, and Doc.

I don't like Kerr being in the conversation. He's legitimately had the most talented team the last two years, and how much of it was due to his coaching is unknown.

It's really hard to do actual rankings, because it's hard to gauge how much impact each has had with the varying contexts. I think it should be in tiers:

Tier 1 Best Coach: Pop

Tier 2 Elite Coaches: Carlisle, Doc, Stevens, Budenholzer, Kerr, Stotts, Casey, Clifford, Van Gundy, Thibodeau

Tier 3: Good Coaches: Snyder, Lue, Malone, D'Antoni, Walton, Spoelstra, Kidd, Gentry, Donovan, Vogel, Brown, Joerger, Brooks

Tier 4: Average or First Time Coaches: Atkinson, McMillan, Hoiberg, Fizdale, Hornacek, Watson

I think Stevens is top-5 in the league, but he's certainly settled in the elite coaches category. There's actually quite a few really good/elite coaches in the NBA today constituting 1/3 of the league.

[SHAQATTACK]

I think we ll see

Pop - Duncan = Average

What as pop before Duncan ?

[Fafnir]

I think he has to show more, but I think he's one of the best based on what he's done so far.

Coaching is a year to year thing, each team is different. You can be a great coach for on team and just okay for another. So being a great coach is about being able to either adjust to your team or mold your team to what you need.

So far Stevens has been pretty great at adjusting to his teams each year in my view. But the more talent you get the more results you should get as well. Expectations on the team due to last year's record, an all star appearance, and a big FA acquisition are going to be a new challenge for Stevens.

[PhoSita]

I think there's a case to be made for him, but it's tough to have too strong a claim near the very top when your playoff record is 2-8.

Pop and Carlisle still take the top two spots for me.

Apart from Stevens, I would say that Stotts, Budenholzer, Spoelstra, and Clifford all have claims to a place in the second tier of coaches.