Brad Stevens Elevated to Head of Basketball Ops for the Celtics

[flyingdutchdevil]

Fair enough.

Regardless, the fact that the players didn't care about this gesture doesn't suggest to me that the players were checked out or didn't care about the season. It tells me it wasn't a big deal.

Or maybe the players were so checked out and pissed off at Stevens/Ainge that they didn’t care/have any passion towards the franchise.

Anywho, this completely changes Stevens’s aura. The fact that Kemba Walker - a very likable guy and great teammate - wanted out from Stevens is incredibly telling. Stevens will get another gig, but he burned a lot of bridges.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Or maybe the players were so checked out and pissed off at Stevens/Ainge that they didn’t care/have any passion towards the franchise.

Anywho, this completely changes Stevens’s aura. The fact that Kemba Walker - a very likable guy and great teammate - wanted out from Stevens is incredibly telling. Stevens will get another gig, but he burned a lot of bridges.

Pretty sure Stevens isn't looking for another gig at the moment.

[MChambers]

Pretty sure Stevens isn't looking for another gig at the moment.

Because he’ll be the Duke coach after Scheyer?

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Because he’ll be the Duke coach after Scheyer?

The oracles have foreseen it.

[Indoor66]

It seems to that this guy was deified aroud here waaaayyyy too early in his career. Anyone else agree?

[DoubleBlue]

It seems to that this guy was deified aroud here waaaayyyy too early in his career. Anyone else agree?

Agreed if these latest articles are accurate about his players' opinions of his coaching ability. Maybe Kemba Walker could be sour grapes, but others also chimed in.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

It seems to that this guy was deified aroud here waaaayyyy too early in his career. Anyone else agree?

I think he was admittedly impressive in getting Butler to back-to-back championship games. It's rare to do that in a power conference, much less as a mid major.

But... yes. He immediately became everyone's hot new thing. If he had parlayed that into a run at a bigger college, I feel it would have justified more hype.

Having said all that, I certainly don't fault him for skipping several rungs on the job ladder to get to a dream job in the sport.

[uh_no]

Fair enough.

Regardless, the fact that the players didn't care about this gesture doesn't suggest to me that the players were checked out or didn't care about the season. It tells me it wasn't a big deal.

yes, but what did they post about it on twitter or instagram??? /s

[Steven43]

It seems to that this guy was deified aroud here waaaayyyy too early in his career. Anyone else agree?

No, I do not agree. Stevens has proven — on both the college and pro level — that he is a damn good basketball coach. I’m confident he would have done exceedingly well at Duke.

[Steven43]

Maybe the dysfunction extended beyond Kyrie with the Celtics...

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/06/19/ce...walker-tension

If Celtics players were OK with Kyrie stomping the logo that says a lot.

This “article” is nothing more than gossip and innuendo from a few disgruntled players who are looking to deflect blame for their own shortcomings and failure to perform up to expectations.

So what else is new in today’s NBA? This is far from unique to the Celtics. In fact it’s nothing short of a league-wide epidemic.

[Steven43]

Fair enough.

Regardless, the fact that the players didn't care about this gesture doesn't suggest to me that the players were checked out or didn't care about the season. It tells me it wasn't a big deal.

Exactly. It strikes me as beyond laughable that some people are assigning great meaning to the fact that the Celtics players didn’t challenge Kyrie to a fight or attack his character and integrity via the media simply because he put his foot down on a cartoonish image on the basketball court.

[budwom]

This “article” is nothing more than gossip and innuendo from a few disgruntled players who are looking to deflect blame for their own shortcomings and failure to perform up to expectations.

So what else is new in today’s NBA? This is far from unique to the Celtics. In fact it’s nothing short of a league-wide epidemic.

I was going to say something similar. There are (easily bruised) egos everywhere in the NBA (and pro sports in general). Lots of competitive people...I don't see anything substantive here...every team has guys who are not fully gruntled.

[ice-9]

This “article” is nothing more than gossip and innuendo from a few disgruntled players who are looking to deflect blame for their own shortcomings and failure to perform up to expectations.

So what else is new in today’s NBA? This is far from unique to the Celtics. In fact it’s nothing short of a league-wide epidemic.

It's the same gossip and innuendo that painted Kyrie as a locker room cancer.

But clearly it's organizational cancer.

[ice-9]

Fair enough.

Regardless, the fact that the players didn't care about this gesture doesn't suggest to me that the players were checked out or didn't care about the season. It tells me it wasn't a big deal.

My take is that players empathized with Kyrie on the real reason(s) he left the Celtics.

Or maybe it was a punk move but Tatum didn’t want to call out a member of The Brotherhood so others followed suit

Celtics players and Brown in particular have not been shy to respond to Kyrie or call him out.

[Steven43]

But clearly it's organizational cancer.

The only thing clear is that you’re simply guessing.

And for the record, it’s not the same organization anymore because Danny Ainge —the man who had been Executive Director of Basketball Operations since 2003 — is now gone.

[ice-9]

It is an informed guess. Ainge is gone, Stevens is no longer the coach, reports of player tension -- these indicate an organizational problem. Anyway for Tatum's sake I hope it gets resolved.

[Phredd3]

Because he’ll be the Duke coach after Scheyer?

Is he still going to want to coach when he's 85?

[rsvman]

Is he still going to want to coach when he's 85?

Apparently not, since it seems that he doesn't even want to coach now.

[CDu]

Apparently not, since it seems that he doesn't even want to coach now.

I don't think his "promotion" is evidence that he doesn't want to coach. My read on that is that the Celtics didn't want to pay him to not work, and were firing Ainge, so they "promoted" him to get him out of the coach's chair.

[flyingdutchdevil]

I don't think his "promotion" is evidence that he doesn't want to coach. My read on that is that the Celtics didn't want to pay him to not work, and were firing Ainge, so they "promoted" him to get him out of the coach's chair.

Yeah. This sounds right. Ainge was going to get fired, Stevens underperformed and likely had a few falling outs with players, and ownership wanted to right the ship. So why not get rid of Ainge, put Stevens in a non-coaching role with the opportunity to go back to coaching in a year or so, and bring in a player's coach.

Celtics have two young All-Star wings. One of those may be a 1st/2nd team All-NBA in a year or so. They have nice pieces in Time Lord, Smart, Moses, and Fournier. Can they do a soft reset?