Are We There Yet With Brad Stevens?

[PhoSita]

@Dangercart:


"It is absolutely appropriate for people to be questioning Brad Stevens right now."


"He wasted a quarter of the season with a 60% Gordon and Jaylen w/ one hand in the starting lineup.

He has stuck with Rozier while he almost single-handedly plays us into the 5-seed.

He hasn’t recognized Mook’s regression.

Everyone is unhappy all the time."


Thoughts?

I've been a Brad defender and resisted going there through the struggles so far this year, but it's hard to argue at this point.

[Chris22]

We need Baynes.

[PhoSita]

We need Baynes.

If Aron baynes makes that large a difference, doesn't that say more about the rest of the team?

[ozgod]

IMO, the reason that people should be questioning Brad has less to do with his sometimes questionable game management (where he certainly could do better) and more to do with the fact that it looks like the team has checked out of trying to get the No.3 seed. They can't get the 1st or 2nd, they had a chance at the third but I think they're ok with being fourth or fifth and not having home court against Philly or Indiana in the first round, and possibly Toronto and Milwaukee in the rounds after.

It's obvious after seeing them play well against playoff teams like Mil, Phi, GS etc then follow up with dismal performances against lottery teams where they start well and then fade during the game that it's a mental/effort issue with them.

I think they've gotten to the point where they don't care if they lose these gimme games because they expect to beat whoever it is they have to play against in the playoffs, home court advantage or no. That's really where Brad needs to do a better job and needs to be held accountable, because his job is to make sure the team is prepared to play each game, no matter who it's against.

[LarBrd33]

I support shaking up the rotation and roles.

I want to live and die by Gordon Hayward at this point.  I want us to ride a big 3 of kyrie, Tatum and Hayward with everyone else secondary.

[TheReaLPuba]

I support shaking up the rotation and roles.

I want to live and die by Gordon Hayward at this point.  I want us to ride a big 3 of kyrie, Tatum and Hayward with everyone else secondary.

We may have to do this to salvage the season.

Throw in Horford too as he's been playing immense lately on both sides of the ball.

We need out Vets to play hard and efficient.

At this point we have to get Hayward right in order to be a peak efficiency come playoffs time.

[Green-18]

@Dangercart:


"It is absolutely appropriate for people to be questioning Brad Stevens right now."


"He wasted a quarter of the season with a 60% Gordon and Jaylen w/ one hand in the starting lineup.

He has stuck with Rozier while he almost single-handedly plays us into the 5-seed.

He hasn’t recognized Mook’s regression.

Everyone is unhappy all the time."


Thoughts?

I've been a Brad defender and resisted going there through the struggles so far this year, but it's hard to argue at this point.

Even the most adamant supporters of Brad, myself included, should be questioning his performance this season.  This is the first time that he's faced real adversity during a regular season.  Brad's consistent approach is equally his biggest strength and weakness.  He clearly struggles to make proper adjustments with this particular group of players. 

Where I draw the line is making the assumption that Brad is incapable of coaching a team full of stars.  He was presented with a unique set of challenges and he clearly has the self awareness to grow from this.  The hard part is finding growth during the middle of an NBA season. 

The other side of this argument is that "Superstar" teams often coast through the regular season.  We can't give this group the benefit of the doubt because they have no track record.  However, I certainly wouldn't rule out the potential for them to flip a switch.  The narrative on Brad changes quite a bit if that's the case.

[10610786d]

I support shaking up the rotation and roles.

I want to live and die by Gordon Hayward at this point.  I want us to ride a big 3 of kyrie, Tatum and Hayward with everyone else secondary.

Jaylen and Horford are also emerging to be among our best players.

[BlackCeltic]

I support shaking up the rotation and roles.

I want to live and die by Gordon Hayward at this point.  I want us to ride a big 3 of kyrie, Tatum and Hayward with everyone else secondary.

Jaylen and Horford are also emerging to be among our best players.

Agreed.

[jambr380]

I support shaking up the rotation and roles.

I want to live and die by Gordon Hayward at this point.  I want us to ride a big 3 of kyrie, Tatum and Hayward with everyone else secondary.

Jaylen and Horford are also emerging to be among our best players.

Agreed.

Yeah, I would go back to the original starting 5 to start the season and let Morris, Smart, and Rozier do their thing off the bench. I would even be in favor of starting Baynes if that's what is needed. We sure did well with him starting last season.

Either starting or off the bench, Brown should be over 30mpg at this point. He is young and in incredibly good shape. I said this before, but it's almost as if we are trying to hide him from NOP in a trade for Davis. There is no other reason this guy should be consistently playing in the low 20s in minutes per night.

[KGBirdBias]

Go back to Kyrie, Brown, Tatum, Horford and Baynes.

We need more rebounding and Brown has been a good soldier and played well. He deserves to be put back in.

Now how can we get Stevens to call more timeouts or call someone out during these runs. How can we get Stevens to figure out a way to play harder against inferior teams. He obviously doesn't have the pulse of the team.

[mctyson]

I support shaking up the rotation and roles.

I want to live and die by Gordon Hayward at this point.  I want us to ride a big 3 of kyrie, Tatum and Hayward with everyone else secondary.

Agree here.

[Phantom255x]

I don't know what Stevens is doing during these breaks and halftime, but it baffles me how cold this team comes out of it. No energy, no hustle, no desire. After timeout plays were his specialty and they still are, but after that one play it seems everything goes to hell. Yesterday, we let CHI start the 2nd on an 18-3 run. Then down 13 at halftime, we let CHI start the 3rd quarter on an 8-2 run. Last year's team seemed to welcome adversity and answered the call, but this year's team seems to be winging it and simply hoping for the best sometimes.

And frankly I'd love to see more Wannamaker out there now. He showed us good flashes in the times he was out there and Rozier's been killing us lately. I wonder if Wannamaker could thrive in a bit of a larger role, and if Rozier doesn't like it, then let him understand that he needs to play better and more engaged when he gets his chances.

The timeouts are still an issue and I've said all season they are. Brad waits way too long to call one in a bad stretch while you look at other teams give up 2 or 3 straight buckets and they immediately call it. Brad meanwhile seems to wait until a 6-0 run becomes a 14-0 one before calling it 

Yes, basketball is a game of runs, but in the grand scheme of things giving up those 1-2 massive runs in a game is what determines the outcome and unfortunately we've been on the bad side of that usually.

[Chris22]

We need Baynes.

If Aron baynes makes that large a difference, doesn't that say more about the rest of the team?

We need interior strength.

[Triplenickle]

We need Baynes.

If Aron baynes makes that large a difference, doesn't that say more about the rest of the team?

We need interior strength.

Because they're too busy chasing wings...we already have interior strength.

I don't know who thought position-less ball was some wave of the future, but they're seriously mistaken.

And I just think Kerr just sat back and let his players play to their strengths of THAT TEAM. Something he learned from Phil, Mike and Scottie.