Brad Stevens: Coach of the Year?

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

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.

Good point—I didn't realize how Vegas had placed us. I still think that, compared to all other top teams in both conferences, Brad has done the most with the least amount of raw talent.

[Ogaju]

Yes.
The Butler Celtics have played over their heads.

I prefer Celtics Butlers .....they run a tight ship.

[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.

Good point—I didn't realize how Vegas had placed us. I still think that, compared to all other top teams in both conferences, Brad has done the most with the least amount of raw talent.

He's done a great job. But how much better did he do than Quindell Snyder, for instance? That's a similarly flawed team that added 10+ wins to its total. 50 wins in the West is probably more impressive than 53 in the East.

I think one of the barriers for Stevens is his own track record. Getting this team to 53 wins seems in line with expectations, but that's only because he got a 25 win team to 40 wins two seasons ago (when he should have won COTY), and 48 last season.

[footey]

If we finish 1st, and Miami doesn't make the play-offs, I believe that Brad will win. It will be a compelling case. 

[bdm860]

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.

Good point—I didn't realize how Vegas had placed us. I still think that, compared to all other top teams in both conferences, Brad has done the most with the least amount of raw talent.

He's done a great job. But how much better did he do than Quindell Snyder, for instance? That's a similarly flawed team that added 10+ wins to its total. 50 wins in the West is probably more impressive than 53 in the East.

I think one of the barriers for Stevens is his own track record. Getting this team to 53 wins seems in line with expectations, but that's only because he got a 25 win team to 40 wins two seasons ago (when he should have won COTY), and 48 last season.

Quindell? 

[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.

Good point—I didn't realize how Vegas had placed us. I still think that, compared to all other top teams in both conferences, Brad has done the most with the least amount of raw talent.

He's done a great job. But how much better did he do than Quindell Snyder, for instance? That's a similarly flawed team that added 10+ wins to its total. 50 wins in the West is probably more impressive than 53 in the East.

I think one of the barriers for Stevens is his own track record. Getting this team to 53 wins seems in line with expectations, but that's only because he got a 25 win team to 40 wins two seasons ago (when he should have won COTY), and 48 last season.

Quindell? 

Auto-correct.

[BitterJim]

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.

How much of that 51.5 wins was due to Brad's coaching, though? Could a league-average coach have even gotten us above last year's win total?

I think you really need to look at how the team would do with an average coach vs. with the current coach to decide who gets COTY.  That would have meant Kerr's award last year went to someone more deserving (we literally saw how they did with another coach and they were just as good), and would mean that the NBA needed to rename the award to the "Gregg Popovich Coach of the Year Award" (since he would have won nearly every one since 1998, this year included).

[Ilikesports17]

1. Popovich
2. D'Antoni
3. Brooks

[jpotter33]

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.

I'm sorry, but this is completely inaccurate. They didn't "take the last week of the season off;" they legitimately tried hard, and failed, to secure the one seed before giving it up in the last two games (one a back to back) in favor of rest.

You act like they weren't even trying for the number one seed when they clearly were and were on the record even saying they were. They just failed to do so in appropriate time, and when it appeared likely they would lose it, they decided to prioritize rest over a potentially futile chase for the number one seed with a much more difficult schedule.

[jpotter33]

1. Popovich
2. D'Antoni
3. Brooks

I get the first two, but why Brooks?

Yeah, they've been excellent since the new year, but they were also hot garbage before that. Brooks was Coach for both of those segments. The same argument can be used with Spo.

And Washington probably has just as much if not more overall talent than us, yet we have the better record. So how does Brooks get it before Brad? The fact that Wittman last year completely had that team effed up isn't necessarily a mark for Brooks for improving the team.

[Ilikesports17]

1. Popovich
2. D'Antoni
3. Brooks

I get the first two, but why Brooks?

Yeah, they've been excellent since the new year, but they were also hot garbage before that. Brooks was Coach for both of those segments. The same argument can be used with Spo.

And Washington probably has just as much if not more overall talent than us, yet we have the better record. So how does Brooks get it before Brad? The fact that Wittman last year completely had that team effed up isn't necessarily a mark for Brooks for improving the team.

I think we are more talented than Washington.

plus he had to un-eff up the team.

Brad is right there with him.

Really in my book its
1. Pop
2. D'Antoni


3. Brad/Spo/Brooks/Snyder.

[saltlover]

1. Popovich
2. D'Antoni
3. Brooks

I get the first two, but why Brooks?

Yeah, they've been excellent since the new year, but they were also hot garbage before that. Brooks was Coach for both of those segments. The same argument can be used with Spo.

And Washington probably has just as much if not more overall talent than us, yet we have the better record. So how does Brooks get it before Brad? The fact that Wittman last year completely had that team effed up isn't necessarily a mark for Brooks for improving the team.

Washington has been hands-down the healthiest team all year.  Any adversity they encountered this season was self-created.

[2short]

I also feel popovich should pretty much win every year and people take him for granted.  Stevens should be in running with pop but to me erik spoelstra should win it.  He's kept that team competitive and they AREN'T that talented.

[Roy H.]

1. Popovich
2. D'Antoni
3. Brooks

I get the first two, but why Brooks?

Yeah, they've been excellent since the new year, but they were also hot garbage before that. Brooks was Coach for both of those segments. The same argument can be used with Spo.

And Washington probably has just as much if not more overall talent than us, yet we have the better record. So how does Brooks get it before Brad? The fact that Wittman last year completely had that team effed up isn't necessarily a mark for Brooks for improving the team.

Washington has been hands-down the healthiest team all year.  Any adversity they encountered this season was self-created.

The one thing I'll say about Brooks: he got the best out of both Wall and Beal, two guys who don't like each other much.

[Bobshot]

I would say Stevens is seriously in the running for Coach of the Year. Nobody expected the Celtics to win the East.

A good argument for Stevens is he did it without any help at the trade deadline, while everybody else in contention was trying to add players.