The Brad Stevens Thread

[Big333223]

I would say the Celtics have overachieved every season Brad has been coach, including his first season when they only won 25 games (a team with Jeff Green as its best player shouldn't win more than 20 games).

I feel like after Hayward went down and the C's reeled off that 16 game win streak, everyone was ready to give Brad COY. And then the season wore on attentions wandered and people starting talking themselves in Casey and Stotts and even D'Antoni again. But with Kyrie going down, if the C's finish strong I feel like that would have to be the icing on the cake.

[2short]

I think Stevens is much like Pop in that EVERY year he should be in top 3 for coach of year but that simply isn't how it works (much like MVP)
I also wonder how many votes Eric Spoelstra will get, he per usual has done a nice job.

[footey]

Casey wins unless we somehow overtake them for 1st place.

[jpotter33]

Yeah, Brad has his weak areas, as does every coach, but I just don't see how he cannot be considered the frontrunner for COTY award given the amount of injuries that we've dealt with and overcome this year.

[jpotter33]

Wrong thread.

[jambr380]

No issue from me.  Beating some top Western Conference playoff teams the Thunder and the Blazers in consecutive games, on the road, SHORT-HANDED, is enough proof that he is an elite coach.

OKC was at home, FYI.

Here’s hoping Brad gets the love he deserves for CotY.

NBA will find a way to rig it and give it to Brett Brown for leading his 76ers to the playoffs after multiple years of tank job. 

But CBS deserves the CotY no doubt.

While I agree Stevens deserves it I got the funny feeling Terry Stotts, Dwayne Casey or Brett Brown get it, which, IMHO would be complete crap

I bet Casey runs away with it. He is the most improved coach in the NBA this year, but there's no way he's better than Brad.

Why is he the most improved coach in the league this year? Because his roster was almost completely healthy? They are only a couple games up on a team that has Nader and Ojeleye playing major minutes.

Stevens has been amazing this year - not only in working with the talent that he has had (or hasn't had), but also in keeping the team's spirits up. Players watching all of their teammates go down to fairly significant injuries has to be a little unsettling.

[SparzWizard]

No issue from me.  Beating some top Western Conference playoff teams the Thunder and the Blazers in consecutive games, on the road, SHORT-HANDED, is enough proof that he is an elite coach.

OKC was at home, FYI.

Here’s hoping Brad gets the love he deserves for CotY.

NBA will find a way to rig it and give it to Brett Brown for leading his 76ers to the playoffs after multiple years of tank job. 

But CBS deserves the CotY no doubt.

While I agree Stevens deserves it I got the funny feeling Terry Stotts, Dwayne Casey or Brett Brown get it, which, IMHO would be complete crap

I bet Casey runs away with it. He is the most improved coach in the NBA this year, but there's no way he's better than Brad.

Why is he the most improved coach in the league this year? Because his roster was almost completely healthy? They are only a couple games up on a team that has Nader and Ojeleye playing major minutes.

Stevens has been amazing this year - not only in working with the talent that he has had (or hasn't had), but also in keeping the team's spirits up. Players watching all of their teammates go down to fairly significant injuries has to be a little unsettling.

That 16-game winning streak after the loss of Gordon Hayward 5 minutes into the season should be the biggest factor of Brad winning COTY. Then you have CBS winning games with benchwarmers and 2nd stringers starting games in place of injured starters later in that same season.

If they give it to Dwayne Casey...it's probably because they overtook the #1 seed from Boston.

[azzenfrost]

No other coach could have taken the C's as far as they have this season.

[Moranis]

Stevens could easily win, but you could make a reasonable case that he doesn't even finish in the top 10 (I think he will finish in the top 5, so don't misunderstand that point).  Take, Pop.  Great coach and dealing with the Kawhi mess.  Or how about Doc (who I can't stand).  The fact that the Clippers are 5 games over .500 this year is amazing.  Walton getting the Lakers to 32 wins at this point has been a great year.  Gentry, loses Boogie and has the Pelicans rolling.  Donovan has OKC as the 4 seed with that circus and no bench, great season.  Brown having Philly at 13 games over .500 with such a young team and dealing with the Fultz mess, great job.  McMillan having the Pacers at 12 games over .500 is astonishing and they should end with their best record in 4 years despite losing PG.  Snyder loses Hayward in the off season and yet the Jazz are sitting at 10 games over .500 with a rookie as their best offensive player.  How about Stotts having the Blazers as the 3 seed out west.  And that doesn't even account for Spoelstra, D'Antoni, Kerr, or Casey.  Heck even Lue has dealt with a fiasco, though he isn't there now to finish the mess cleaning.  Brooks has been without Wall and has the Wizards in a good spot.

This is the year of the coach.  There have been so many great coaching jobs, it will be hard to pick the best one, or frankly, even a top 3. 

And I think Stevens is a great coach, but ultimately coaches are judged on the post season and right now Stevens is 11-17 in the post season and 2-3 in playoff series (and just 3-12 in the losses).  Stevens will need to prove his worth in the post season over the next 3 seasons to truly earn the praise we have been giving him.

[nickagneta]

And I think Stevens is a great coach, but ultimately coaches are judged on the post season and right now Stevens is 11-17 in the post season and 2-3 in playoff series (and just 3-12 in the losses).  Stevens will need to prove his worth in the post season over the next 3 seasons to truly earn the praise we have been giving him.

And yet Mike D'Antoni won last year even though he is a terrible post season coach. This is a regular season award and though there have been some great coaching jobs this year, Stevens is the top choice in my mind based on all he has had to overcome....

- Returning just 4 players
- 2nd best player goes out 5 minutes into season
- Having one of the youngest teams in the league as, counting two way players, they have 7 rookies and 11 players with 3 or less years experience
- Horrid front loaded schedule due to London trip
- Massive amount of injuries in 2nd half of year at one point having 5 of your top 9 players out on injury for an extended time.

All that and Stevens still wins 55 or so games finishing top 2 in the East and having an 8-5 record versus GSW, HOU, OKC, POR, TOR and CLE.

Is there really a better 2018 regular season resume than that?

[RockinRyA]

Stevens could easily win, but you could make a reasonable case that he doesn't even finish in the top 10 (I think he will finish in the top 5, so don't misunderstand that point).  Take, Pop.  Great coach and dealing with the Kawhi mess.  Or how about Doc (who I can't stand).  The fact that the Clippers are 5 games over .500 this year is amazing.  Walton getting the Lakers to 32 wins at this point has been a great year.  Gentry, loses Boogie and has the Pelicans rolling.  Donovan has OKC as the 4 seed with that circus and no bench, great season.  Brown having Philly at 13 games over .500 with such a young team and dealing with the Fultz mess, great job.  McMillan having the Pacers at 12 games over .500 is astonishing and they should end with their best record in 4 years despite losing PG.  Snyder loses Hayward in the off season and yet the Jazz are sitting at 10 games over .500 with a rookie as their best offensive player.  How about Stotts having the Blazers as the 3 seed out west.  And that doesn't even account for Spoelstra, D'Antoni, Kerr, or Casey.  Heck even Lue has dealt with a fiasco, though he isn't there now to finish the mess cleaning.  Brooks has been without Wall and has the Wizards in a good spot.

This is the year of the coach.  There have been so many great coaching jobs, it will be hard to pick the best one, or frankly, even a top 3. 

And I think Stevens is a great coach, but ultimately coaches are judged on the post season and right now Stevens is 11-17 in the post season and 2-3 in playoff series (and just 3-12 in the losses).  Stevens will need to prove his worth in the post season over the next 3 seasons to truly earn the praise we have been giving him.

It must really pain you to give Celtics credit over other teams.

[Androslav]

Stevens could easily win, but you could make a reasonable case that he doesn't even finish in the top 10 (I think he will finish in the top 5, so don't misunderstand that point).  Take, Pop.  Great coach and dealing with the Kawhi mess.  Or how about Doc (who I can't stand).  The fact that the Clippers are 5 games over .500 this year is amazing.  Walton getting the Lakers to 32 wins at this point has been a great year.  Gentry, loses Boogie and has the Pelicans rolling.  Donovan has OKC as the 4 seed with that circus and no bench, great season.  Brown having Philly at 13 games over .500 with such a young team and dealing with the Fultz mess, great job.  McMillan having the Pacers at 12 games over .500 is astonishing and they should end with their best record in 4 years despite losing PG.  Snyder loses Hayward in the off season and yet the Jazz are sitting at 10 games over .500 with a rookie as their best offensive player.  How about Stotts having the Blazers as the 3 seed out west.  And that doesn't even account for Spoelstra, D'Antoni, Kerr, or Casey.  Heck even Lue has dealt with a fiasco, though he isn't there now to finish the mess cleaning.  Brooks has been without Wall and has the Wizards in a good spot.

This is the year of the coach.  There have been so many great coaching jobs, it will be hard to pick the best one, or frankly, even a top 3. 

And I think Stevens is a great coach, but ultimately coaches are judged on the post season and right now Stevens is 11-17 in the post season and 2-3 in playoff series (and just 3-12 in the losses).  Stevens will need to prove his worth in the post season over the next 3 seasons to truly earn the praise we have been giving him.

It must really pain you to give Celtics credit over other teams.

Yes Moranis, as IT said to that fan the other day:"Be a student of the game, don't just look at the numbers."
Or at least admit that LBJ is the biggest underachiever ever.

[Moranis]

And I think Stevens is a great coach, but ultimately coaches are judged on the post season and right now Stevens is 11-17 in the post season and 2-3 in playoff series (and just 3-12 in the losses).  Stevens will need to prove his worth in the post season over the next 3 seasons to truly earn the praise we have been giving him.

And yet Mike D'Antoni won last year even though he is a terrible post season coach. This is a regular season award and though there have been some great coaching jobs this year, Stevens is the top choice in my mind based on all he has had to overcome....

- Returning just 4 players
- 2nd best player goes out 5 minutes into season
- Having one of the youngest teams in the league as, counting two way players, they have 7 rookies and 11 players with 3 or less years experience
- Horrid front loaded schedule due to London trip
- Massive amount of injuries in 2nd half of year at one point having 5 of your top 9 players out on injury for an extended time.

All that and Stevens still wins 55 or so games finishing top 2 in the East and having an 8-5 record versus GSW, HOU, OKC, POR, TOR and CLE.

Is there really a better 2018 regular season resume than that?

As I said, I think you could easily make cases for any number of coaches based on expectations entering the season, injuries, etc. 

Just take Pop and San Antonio.  Kawhi has played in 9 games (and has been a big distraction when not playing).  Green 62, Manu 58, Gay 49, Parker 47, and even Aldridge and Anderson both have missed more than 5 games.  Bryn Forbes and David Bertans have been regular rotation players as a result of all the injuries (and Brandon Paul, Jofrey Lauvergne have also played in more than 50 games each).  The Spurs are 12 games over .500 in the much tougher West. 

Or maybe Gentry and the Pelicans, who are also 12 games over .500 in the West.  The only 3 players who haven't missed at least a handful of games are Jrue Holiday, Darius Miller, and E'Twaun Moore.  Cousins is gone for the year at 48 games.  Rondo is at 58 games and currently hurt.  They incorporated Mirotic midstream, who is currently hurt.  They lost Ajinca before the season started and even Davis has missed 7 games.    They are on pace for their best season in a decade.

The Pacers were projected as a low to mid 30's win team.  They are currently at 43 wins.  Myles Turner has missed nearly 20 games.  Collison has missed around 15 games.  Sabonis has missed 8.  Even Oladipo has missed 6.  They have a collection of young players and journeyman, yet there they are as the 5th seed in the East, despite trading away their best player over the summer (and getting a package that was widely regarded as terribly weak).  Masterful coaching job by Nate McMillan this year. 

As my other post said, you could make very strong cases for Rivers, Snyder, Brown, Stotts, Donovan, and Walton.  Not to mention the usual suspects like Casey, Spoelstra, D'Antoni, and Kerr.

This notion that Stevens has been the only coach to suffer adversity or coach through injuries is just silly.  There have been a lot of very strong regular season coaching performances this season. 

[jaketwice]

I mean. Brad Stevens. Coach Brad Stevens.

[bdm860]

And I think Stevens is a great coach, but ultimately coaches are judged on the post season and right now Stevens is 11-17 in the post season and 2-3 in playoff series (and just 3-12 in the losses).  Stevens will need to prove his worth in the post season over the next 3 seasons to truly earn the praise we have been giving him.

And yet Mike D'Antoni won last year even though he is a terrible post season coach. This is a regular season award and though there have been some great coaching jobs this year, Stevens is the top choice in my mind based on all he has had to overcome....

- Returning just 4 players
- 2nd best player goes out 5 minutes into season
- Having one of the youngest teams in the league as, counting two way players, they have 7 rookies and 11 players with 3 or less years experience
- Horrid front loaded schedule due to London trip
- Massive amount of injuries in 2nd half of year at one point having 5 of your top 9 players out on injury for an extended time.

All that and Stevens still wins 55 or so games finishing top 2 in the East and having an 8-5 record versus GSW, HOU, OKC, POR, TOR and CLE.

Is there really a better 2018 regular season resume than that?

As I said, I think you could easily make cases for any number of coaches based on expectations entering the season, injuries, etc. 

Just take Pop and San Antonio.  Kawhi has played in 9 games (and has been a big distraction when not playing).  Green 62, Manu 58, Gay 49, Parker 47, and even Aldridge and Anderson both have missed more than 5 games.  Bryn Forbes and David Bertans have been regular rotation players as a result of all the injuries (and Brandon Paul, Jofrey Lauvergne have also played in more than 50 games each).  The Spurs are 12 games over .500 in the much tougher West. 

Or maybe Gentry and the Pelicans, who are also 12 games over .500 in the West.  The only 3 players who haven't missed at least a handful of games are Jrue Holiday, Darius Miller, and E'Twaun Moore.  Cousins is gone for the year at 48 games.  Rondo is at 58 games and currently hurt.  They incorporated Mirotic midstream, who is currently hurt.  They lost Ajinca before the season started and even Davis has missed 7 games.    They are on pace for their best season in a decade.

The Pacers were projected as a low to mid 30's win team.  They are currently at 43 wins.  Myles Turner has missed nearly 20 games.  Collison has missed around 15 games.  Sabonis has missed 8.  Even Oladipo has missed 6.  They have a collection of young players and journeyman, yet there they are as the 5th seed in the East, despite trading away their best player over the summer (and getting a package that was widely regarded as terribly weak).  Masterful coaching job by Nate McMillan this year. 

As my other post said, you could make very strong cases for Rivers, Snyder, Brown, Stotts, Donovan, and Walton.  Not to mention the usual suspects like Casey, Spoelstra, D'Antoni, and Kerr.

This notion that Stevens has been the only coach to suffer adversity or coach through injuries is just silly.  There have been a lot of very strong regular season coaching performances this season.

In an 82 game season, I disagree with your "games over .500" definition.  If both the Spurs and Pelicans go 8-0 the rest of the season, they'd only finish only 10 games over .500.  If they continue to win at a 58% pace, they'll finish at 7 games over .500.

Agree though, seems to be year of the coach, I don't recall ever seeing so many good coaching jobs, so many teams beating expectations.

Personally, I think Casey, D'Antoni, and Stevens (of course I'm biased) are Tier 1 this year, while McMillan, Stotts, and Snyder are Tier 2.  Guys like Pop and Doc are Tier 3.

If D'Antoni wins this year, he'd be the first coach ever to win COY in back-to-back years (Pop and Don Nelson have both won it twice in 3 years).

If Stevens wins this year, then he could be a strong contender next year to be the first back-to-back COY when the C's go on to challenge for 73 wins in '19 (okay  maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, but not unreasonable to think the C's could have a great year in 2019 with good health).