Brad Stevens: Coach of the Year?

[slightly biased bias fan]

After three quarters of the season Brad Stevens would have been an outsider for Coach of the Year but given we are one win away from winning the Eastern Conference and BS has much less talent then the other top seeds, along with having to deal with many injuries, I'd say he should be a favourite for the award. Pop has actually had a fantastic season again this season with less than usual talent but he still has multiple All-Star level players and Kawhi, D'Antoni has had a renaissance with Houston but Harden has been a main instigator unlike Thomas being more of a principle scorer in Stevens system.

What do you all think?

[Chris22]

Yes.
The Butler Celtics have played over their heads.

[saltlover]

Pop is owed like 5 coach of the year awards because people just expect it at this point.  He has my vote. I'd probably put Stevens second, or D'Antoni.

[hodgy03038]

For some reason he is not even in consideration when the experts talk about it just like IT isn't in the conversation really outside of Boston for MVP. No respect. Let's make them pay for the disrespect.

[KGBirdBias]

I think it will be
D'Antoni
Stevens

[bdm860]

I hate the rationale that Stevens should win COY if the C's finish 1st in the East.

If the C's finish 1st it's only be default because nobody else in the East showed up and the Cavs decided to take the last week of the season off. 52-53 wins, for a team most expected to win in the low 50's while finishing #2-#4 doesn't get you a vote in my book.

Hypothetically, let's say the C's have the same record, but the Cavs and/or Raptors finish with 54 wins?  Does Stevens still get your COY vote?  You're not giving it to Lue or Casey (both underperforming expectations this year), and it's still the same fine coaching job by Stevens, right?

Don't get me wrong, Stevens deserves consideration, but it's like Russell Westbrook stat-padding for his triple doubles, he shouldn't get your MVP vote because he averaged a triple double, he should get it only if you think he outperformed everybody else.  Stevens shouldn't win COY because he finished 1st in the East, he should win COY if you think he outperformed all the other coaches.

One thing you can give Stevens credit for is the teams Pythagorean W-L record, which currently stands at 47-34, putting the C's actual record at +5 games over that mark.  By comparison OKC is +4, WAS is +3, SAS is +2, CLE is +2, HOU is +0, GS is +0, TOR is -1, UTA is -2, MIA is -3.  Now this can be interpreted a few ways, but the most positive way to spin it is that the C's have won more games than they should and this is due to Stevens coaching.

[Miranda-Kerr]

Danny Ainge should win General Manager of the decade

[action781]

Very close race this year between DAntoni, Pops, and Stevens.  Any of them would be a deserving winner. 

Quinn Snyder gets overlooked too.  Look how much as he done this season with a pretty underwhelming roster and 4 of his top 5 players (Hayward, George Hill, Favors, Hood) have missed time due to injuries.

[tstorey_97]

I think Stevens should get the "DMWL" (did more with less) award if nothing else. I know we love our own players, but, honestly how many starting Celtics start on other NBA teams? My observation and a dime will get you a phone call in 1968, but, beyond IT cracking a bunch of of starting line ups and Horford being a "solid NBA starter", just what do we have here?

Smart is the sixth man of sixth men. AB starts for a lot of teams, but, does he turn them into contenders?

My guess is Crowder is not the prototypical starting wing on a championship team. Solid player though. You know you aren't a superstar when the primary chatter about your value is how great a "deal" your contract is.

Amir doesn't jump unless specifically instructed to by the coaching staff. Truly a solid team player though. Celts are better with him on the floor, just doesn't play much in the second half because his ankles hurt.

What about the bench? KO is what he is sometimes and others he can't hit a barn. Brown will be a starter some day, but is still learning. Jerebko is solid and...?

Stevens gets the "Butler Celtics" award for making it happen with assorted "solid players" and IT who has had the season for all seasons. The guy has been lights out.

I guess the next debate is what happens when Brad Stevens actually has a really good basketball team? He will "beat" a lot of other coaches and  he will win COY. He might win a lot of them.
 

[LGC88]

I don't get it, why D'antoni should be in the conversation?
The guy couldn't run the Lakers.
Just because he connect well with Harden, doesn't mean he's the best coach.

Same goes to Spoelstra. If the heat started with 24-5 and end up 11-30, nobody will ever talk about him as COY. So because they finish strong, he should be COY? Impressively wrong. A good coach doesn't allow a decent team start 11-30, period. That's a 40 game stretch, not a minor 10 games incident.

Brad Stevens and Pop are doing extremely well regardless of the players they have. Each year they have to adapt with new players and their team remains at least as good as the previous year.
COY should go to Pop because he's simply better than Stevens for the moment.

But giving it to Pop each year is boring for the audience. However he deserves it.

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

Like some others here, I have no idea why D'Antoni is even in the conversation. Why are some people picking him? Because he made the obvious decision to let Harden have the ball in his hands all the time? That was no stroke of genius. We all know that D'Antoni's system works great in the regular season (usually); we also know that it stinks come playoff time.

And I'll admit to being a homer, but how many people thought Stevens would take the Celtics even to the No. 2 seed this season, much less the No. 1 seed? Most people still rank Pop as the top coach, but Stevens is usually in the conversation for top 3. D'Antoni? Never. So how could Stevens be considered "one of the best" yet lose out to a guy who's never in that conversation?

[Roy H.]

And I'll admit to being a homer, but how many people thought Stevens would take the Celtics even to the No. 2 seed this season, much less the No. 1 seed?

It's not so much the seed as the wins total. Would people predict 52 or 53 wins, after 48 last year? Vegas had us at 51.5, #2 in the East, so my guess is yes.

If COTY is "which team overachieved the most", then I don't think it's Stevens.

[Smokeeye123]

I would vote for Jason Kidd or Spoelstra over Brad.

[manl_lui]

And I'll admit to being a homer, but how many people thought Stevens would take the Celtics even to the No. 2 seed this season, much less the No. 1 seed?

It's not so much the seed as the wins total. Would people predict 52 or 53 wins, after 48 last year? Vegas had us at 51.5, #2 in the East, so my guess is yes.

If COTY is "which team overachieved the most", then I don't think it's Stevens.

i admit, I thought that with Al Horford, the Cs would be a top 4 team, in no particular order, Cavs/Toronto and us being the top 3. I definitely did not see getting #1 as a remote possibility, and I never saw Washington being this hot this season

it's kind of exciting and i think Brad does deserve COTY consideration given how we improved year by year

[guava_wrench]

I did not think #1 seed was possible, but I also didn't think that Clev could be such a mess.