The Brad Stevens Thread

[SHAQATTACK]

He loves the underdog role .   

Going into the first round playoff without Hayward and Irving is  challenging misson .

Somehow I feel better about the Celtics chances with Brad at the helm.

[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?

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.

Who said anything about Stevens being the only coach to have to deal with injuries or adversity? The notion is silly....because its made up....by you. Of course other coaches have to deal with adversity and injuries.

But let's not act like what Stevens has had to deal with hasn't been significant, as significant as your examples of other coaches if not more so. And how many of those other coaches you mentioned had to fill the gaps with 7 rookies on their roster and 9 players with less than three years experience? How many started the year returning just 4 players from the year before? And how many of those have won 51 games already because all the teams you gave as examples of injury prone teams have all won 43?

Yeah, lots of good coaching this year. Its just my opinion that Stevens has done just about the best job out there and I doubt this is just a glasses tinted green type of opinion. My guess is he gets loads of coach of the year credit across the country. Like top 2 or 3 most if not the most.

[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.

Who said anything about Stevens being the only coach to have to deal with injuries or adversity? The notion is silly....because its made up....by you. Of course other coaches have to deal with adversity and injuries.

But let's not act like what Stevens has had to deal with hasn't been significant, as significant as your examples of other coaches if not more so. And how many of those other coaches you mentioned had to fill the gaps with 7 rookies on their roster and 9 players with less than three years experience? How many started the year returning just 4 players from the year before? And how many of those have won 51 games already because all the teams you gave as examples of injury prone teams have all won 43?

Yeah, lots of good coaching this year. Its just my opinion that Stevens has done just about the best job out there and I doubt this is just a glasses tinted green type of opinion. My guess is he gets loads of coach of the year credit across the country. Like top 2 or 3 most if not the most.

and I never said he wouldn't.  In fact I pretty clearly said he would finish in the top 5, and do think top 3 is most likely, but that doesn't mean he will.  There have been a lot of great coaching jobs this year.

[Ilikesports17]

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.

Who said anything about Stevens being the only coach to have to deal with injuries or adversity? The notion is silly....because its made up....by you. Of course other coaches have to deal with adversity and injuries.

But let's not act like what Stevens has had to deal with hasn't been significant, as significant as your examples of other coaches if not more so. And how many of those other coaches you mentioned had to fill the gaps with 7 rookies on their roster and 9 players with less than three years experience? How many started the year returning just 4 players from the year before? And how many of those have won 51 games already because all the teams you gave as examples of injury prone teams have all won 43?

Yeah, lots of good coaching this year. Its just my opinion that Stevens has done just about the best job out there and I doubt this is just a glasses tinted green type of opinion. My guess is he gets loads of coach of the year credit across the country. Like top 2 or 3 most if not the most.

and I never said he wouldn't.  In fact I pretty clearly said he would finish in the top 5, and do think top 3 is most likely, but that doesn't mean he will.  There have been a lot of great coaching jobs this year.

Moranis, where do you believe Brad's performance ranks among coaches this NBA season?

[tstorey_97]

I looked up some March W/L numbers for Stevens. His first year was awful, but, I dare any of you to list 5 starters from March 2014. I won't even go back and look they were so bad.

2014--3-11
2015--10-8
2016--7-7
2017--11-5
2018--7-4

He is the leader of the team. It isn't Red letting Russell/Cowens run it. Not Doc letting KG call the floor. Brad Stevens is the man and it is because he's earned it. The players are playing for him and they do.

He literally outcoaches the opposing coach on a regular basis, which is useful since this is the first year he's been close to having some good players...whom are hurt now.




 

[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.

Who said anything about Stevens being the only coach to have to deal with injuries or adversity? The notion is silly....because its made up....by you. Of course other coaches have to deal with adversity and injuries.

But let's not act like what Stevens has had to deal with hasn't been significant, as significant as your examples of other coaches if not more so. And how many of those other coaches you mentioned had to fill the gaps with 7 rookies on their roster and 9 players with less than three years experience? How many started the year returning just 4 players from the year before? And how many of those have won 51 games already because all the teams you gave as examples of injury prone teams have all won 43?

Yeah, lots of good coaching this year. Its just my opinion that Stevens has done just about the best job out there and I doubt this is just a glasses tinted green type of opinion. My guess is he gets loads of coach of the year credit across the country. Like top 2 or 3 most if not the most.

and I never said he wouldn't.  In fact I pretty clearly said he would finish in the top 5, and do think top 3 is most likely, but that doesn't mean he will.  There have been a lot of great coaching jobs this year.

Moranis, where do you believe Brad's performance ranks among coaches this NBA season?

I'd probably have him behind Gentry and Snyder.  Not sure on Pop or McMillan.  so probably anywhere from 3 to 5.