What do people read from this Stevens quote?

[cltc5]

I think next year's team will "fit" much better.

Blame still falls on Stevens and somewhat Ainge.  You’re a coach.  You should be good enough to make adjustments if your a good coach.  Ainge kept him on hoping he’d figure it out and he didn’t, so Ainge either needs to get a guy that can figure it out or the pieces to fit his guy.  A shame so much talent was not better utilized.

[Silky]

Yet again I will post this statistic.

Last season with Kyrie and without Hayward the team was 40-19 with a .678 record.

This season, add in Hayward and the team had a record of 37-30 for a .552 record.

That is the issue.

Kyrie and Hayward cannot co-exist. And if I have to keep 1 of them, I will pick the guy who won in the finals, the guy who has a better chance of taking over a game, the guy who did not miss an entire season due to injury, the guy who is younger, the guy who has great players who want to play with him, and the guy who has shown he can win with THIS team.

[Green-18]

I'm not ready to blast Stevens for his handling of personalities until we see how he responds in the future.  This was a very weird season for everyone involved. 

Here's a question that we don't know the answer to.  Did Kyrie's contract situation prevent Brad from holding individual players accountable?  Do we believe that Stevens was allowed to speak freely to Kyrie behind closed doors?  I'm sure that Stevens expressed his frustrations to Ainge at various points during the season.  Ainge likely told him to remain patient and stay the course, with the hope that Irving would figure this out in the playoffs. 

We can criticize on court strategy all we want, but Ainge and Brad need to be lumped together when it comes to managing the personalities on the team.

 

[gouki88]

Yet again I will post this statistic.

Last season with Kyrie and without Hayward the team was 40-19 with a .678 record.

This season, add in Hayward and the team had a record of 37-30 for a .552 record.

That is the issue.

Kyrie and Hayward cannot co-exist. And if I have to keep 1 of them, I will pick the guy who won in the finals, the guy who has a better chance of taking over a game, the guy who did not miss an entire season due to injury, the guy who is younger, the guy who has great players who want to play with him, and the guy who has shown he can win with THIS team.

Incredible oversimplification. By this logic, we're vastly better without Kyrie as we went 12-3 without him this season (if I recall correctly)

[timpiker]

I'm not ready to blast Stevens for his handling of personalities until we see how he responds in the future.  This was a very weird season for everyone involved. 

Here's a question that we don't know the answer to.  Did Kyrie's contract situation prevent Brad from holding individual players accountable?  Do we believe that Stevens was allowed to speak freely to Kyrie behind closed doors?  I'm sure that Stevens expressed his frustrations to Ainge at various points during the season.  Ainge likely told him to remain patient and stay the course, with the hope that Irving would figure this out in the playoffs. 

We can criticize on court strategy all we want, but Ainge and Brad need to be lumped together when it comes to managing the personalities on the team.

 

This.  None of us know what was said behind closed doors but I am 100% confident that the whole team was walking on eggshells with Cryee for the last year because of the contract situation.  I think it might have been Jalen Rose and a lot of you that have said this team just isn't built right.  Its a team of passers and scrappers and team players - your typical C's team then James Harden was added - give me the [dang] ball and let me shoot 'til I wear out my elbow.  I don't know about you but I can't stand watching teams like the Harden-led Rockets.  I want to see typical C's basketball not ball hog basketball.
By far, this has been the most miserable season to watch in 50 years.

[Bobshot]

Two things bother me.

The first is it looks to me the team stopped playing for the coach. So why did that happen? That's a question Ainge has to answer. Some blame it on the coach. Others blame it on the team. Is this a chicken-egg thing?

The second is about Irving. The NY dominated sports media (ESPN, Yahoo, Roto, and the rest) have been on a free agent tampering campaign the last six months to get stars to the Knicks--and more recently to the Nets. The NY media is famous for helping the locals with trades and free agents, serving as a useful tampering tool, and the free-talking Irving has been given the bum's rush the past few months. So now, he's ticketed to NY because of Celtics failures? We'll see. The Celtics have a big re-sign advantage vs other teams on Irving, and it's more likely to be their call. Expect the Knicks to make a big push for him, as well as Durant and Anthony Davis if they get the top draft pick. There is huge media pressure in NY to rebuild the Knicks.

Ainge has a lot on his plate. He has to make some big decisions on the future direction of the Celtics in the next month or two. I wish him good health.

[angryguy77]

The issue is being made more complex that what it is.

1-In the playoffs and limited reg season games I've seen over the last few years, they have been consistently inconsistent with shooting the 3. I've never really notice an offensive scheme that is organized, but rather it looked like we had 5 guys playing street ball against a professional team. I've seen them shoot their ways out of games and exacerbate the other team's run with poor decision making. That..is......on.....the...coach. It is his responsibility to make sure these guys do their job and keep composure. Yet we never saw any of that. The only exception to this was the 1st series against the pacers.

2-This team melts and has melted most every time they faced a d that ratcheted itself up. Last year the second the Cavs turned up the heat it threw the offense into a state of chaos. Again, that falls on the coach.

3-At the beginning of the year there was a worry that maybe we had too much talent and it might not work out. I at the time thought that was nonsense because how can there be such a thing? Well there can be when you don't have a coach who makes sure these guys understand their place on the team.


The root of the problem is the coach, and has been for a few years. Coaches can and do make a difference. The only way this team wins it all is if it has enough talent to overcome the flawed coach it has.

[Jamilmac99]

Stevens is a highly overrated coach in every sense of the word. How many times have we had to watch the other team go on 18-2 runs before even a timeout is taken. Just standing there with his hands in his pockets. I'm declaring that the hot seat is officially at a 7.6 out of 10. Ainge always defends him so it seems he will be here next year. As Bill Simmons would say "prove to me you're a good coach..."

[cman88]

I think Brad is a good coach when handling an underdog team. Thats what he was at Butler, and that is what he was the last few years. Getting the teams with IT/Crowder and last years team to over-perform expectations.

 But he may not be a good coach in handling personalities. In his first year given talent he failed miserably. This is the exact opposite of Doc Rivers who may not have been a great coach but was able to get guys like KG/PP/Ray allen to buy in. Brad seemingly was never able to get the team as a whole to buy into his system this year, and never really seemed to punish/bench guys like Rozier whom didnt buy in.

part of the blame lies at Danny's feet. at the Allstar deadline he shouldve realized that it wasnt going to work-out and shouldve unloaded some guys like Rozier. If anything, it wouldve freed up shots for other guys and gets someone in the role who is willing to play his role.

but Danny was also playing a game of having his cake and eating it too. wanting to hang onto all his assets as he has his eyes on AD

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

it means kyries an asshat.

[Silky]

Yet again I will post this statistic.

Last season with Kyrie and without Hayward the team was 40-19 with a .678 record.

This season, add in Hayward and the team had a record of 37-30 for a .552 record.

That is the issue.

Kyrie and Hayward cannot co-exist. And if I have to keep 1 of them, I will pick the guy who won in the finals, the guy who has a better chance of taking over a game, the guy who did not miss an entire season due to injury, the guy who is younger, the guy who has great players who want to play with him, and the guy who has shown he can win with THIS team.

Incredible oversimplification. By this logic, we're vastly better without Kyrie as we went 12-3 without him this season (if I recall correctly)

I will take 60 games as a reference over 15.

[Kuberski33]

I'm willing to bet that this was the first team Stevens has coached at any level that's quit on him. It's also the first team that had legitimate championship aspirations (granted this would have been the case last season but Hayward got hurt).

I've been a huge Brad fan since his Butler days. But I have questions about his ability to handle stars and accomplished veterans with big egos. I'm not sure he's got the personality for it.

In another era he might be termed 'a players coach'. Maybe what was required this season was something he couldn't deliver - a guy unafraid of confrontation when maybe a couple of under performing players could have used a kick in the pants.

[flybono]

University of North Dakota looking for a men’s basketball coach