Celtics Made The Correct Decision Hiring Stevens.
There is no debating that the sports fans in Boston were worried when Danny Ainge, General Manager of the Boston Celtics, traded away Doc Rivers, Head Coach of the Boston Celtics from 2004–2013. Rivers led the team to two NBA finals appearances, winning one in the 2007–2008 season. After Trading Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers, Ainge needed to find a new coach. He found a young coach by the name of Brad Stevens, who previously coached the Butler Bulldogs. In his six-year campaign for Butler he built an impressive resume. His overall record was 166–49, a .772 W-L%. He led the team to 5 tournament appearances, two of which he took all the way to the final four. There is no doubt he was a successful coach in college, and his players loved playing for him, but he needed to win over the Boston fans after such a successful coaching job done by Rivers.
Brad Stevens took over the Head coaching job for the Celtics in 2013. His first season showed no signs of success with a team clearly in rebuild mode as they finished the year 25–57. This was expected, but people started to see the way Stevens coached the team, and realized that they were not intentionally losing these games. The players were playing hard, and Stevens pushed them to perform to the best of their ability. The 2014–2015 season served as a huge shock to the Celtics fans and the NBA. As the Celtics were again supposed to finish the year poorly, with there highest paid player being Gerald Wallace, a player towards the end of his career lucky to play a few minutes a game. The Celtics finished the season with a 40–42 record and made the playoffs as the seventh seed in the east. Anyone could see that the Celtics were a young team with plenty of heart and not afraid to back down from any team. Even though they were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, they were not getting blown out of those games, and were ready for these high intensity games. This was definitely due to Brad Stevens’ coaching. Coming out of time outs, you could see beautifully drawn up play designs that led to easy scores. Stevens was earning great respect, not only in Boston, but also around the entire league. This season, Stevens and the Boston Celtics have improved even more. Still without a star, the Celtics are currently 39–27, 3rd place in the Eastern Conference. Sure they acquired a couple more assets over the summer to help the team win, but this improvement is drastic from the previous seasons, and you still see the players playing with high energy every game. Stevens is not afraid to play a deep bench. He consistently plays the majority of the active players in most games, which is especially beneficial to the younger guys looking to gain experience. His players are ready when their number is called. We have watched the Celtics overcome large deficits, win close games at the end, and they are currently one of the only teams with multiple loses by fewer then five points. They do not get beat by a lot often. Stevens has done a tremendous job in Boston to start his young NBA coaching career, and he is earing much respect around the league. Players want to play for him, and Boston is hoping this leads to a big free agents interest to come play for the Celtics and help the city win another championship. The Celtics knew what they were doing, and made the right choice in hiring Brad Stevens.