Page 6 of 6 FirstFirst ... 456
Results 101 to 113 of 113
  1. #101
    Quote Originally Posted by flyingdutchdevil View Post
    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?
    Well, Van Gundy is available...

  2. #102
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington DC
    I listened to a few of the Ringer podcasts on the Boston subject. Simmons, Russillo, Jackie McMullen, Kevin OConnor all have Boston roots and intel. It sounds like Ainge had a bad last couple of years, with Kyrie, not being able to pull off a the home run trade, and knew his time was limited. He also hoped to hand the GM job off to his son, but the last few years prevented that too.

    The biggest issue was Ainge would trade anybody at any time and that hurt him with players, especially luring free agents. Ainge also fleeced Philly in the Fultz deal and Cleveland in the Isaiah deal. No one wanted to trade with him.

    Finally, Stevens' kids are the age where he didnt want 6 months of travel each year. He was burned out.

    They all expected some roster turnover and thought Kemba is untradeable. They assumed Marcus Smart and some prospects would get dealt. Clearing Kemba allows them to re-sign Fournier.

    Chauncy Billups and Darvin Ham are getting looks for the coaching position which signals a change towards a former player (player friendly?) type who can connect better. Based on what I have seen, they will hire an outsider who is on another team's bench currently.

  3. #103
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    Quote Originally Posted by superdave View Post
    Chauncy Billups and Darvin Ham are getting looks for the coaching position which signals a change towards a former player (player friendly?) type who can connect better. Based on what I have seen, they will hire an outsider who is on another team's bench currently.
    This turned out to be correct. The Celtics appear to have hired Nets assistant coach Ime Udoka.

    WOJSPN: Boston Celtics finalizing coaching deal with Brooklyn Nets' Ime Udoka, sources say

    Udoka, 43, separated himself quickly in the search process, sources said, and his candidacy was boosted with strong recommendations from key Celtics stars -- including Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart -- who played for Udoka on Team USA in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
    Twitter reaction has been positive, but mostly focused on actress Nia Long, Udoka's fiancée and better half.

    celticsfirstcouple.jpg

  4. #104
    Stevens may be a better GM than NBA head coach. He has always come across as more analytic than fiery or charismatic- making business decisions may suit him better than the day to day management and motivation of NBA players.

  5. #105
    Quote Originally Posted by Skydog View Post
    Stevens may be a better GM than NBA head coach. He has always come across as more analytic than fiery or charismatic- making business decisions may suit him better than the day to day management and motivation of NBA players.
    Your assessment seems fair, I think.

    However, don’t minimize the fact that Stevens coached his teams to two NCAA National Championship games (the vast majority of coaches never even get to one) as well as three NBA Conference Finals — with young, incomplete rosters hampered by oft-injured star players, no less — in a short period of time.

    The man can flat-out coach and could easily land a plum NBA head coaching job in a couple of years if he so chooses.

  6. #106
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    This turned out to be correct. The Celtics appear to have hired Nets assistant coach Ime Udoka.

    WOJSPN: Boston Celtics finalizing coaching deal with Brooklyn Nets' Ime Udoka, sources say



    Twitter reaction has been positive, but mostly focused on actress Nia Long, Udoka's fiancée and better half.

    celticsfirstcouple.jpg
    As a Celtics☘️ fan I’m very excited about the hiring of Udoka. It just feels right. Smart move, GM Stevens! 👍🏻

  7. #107
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven43 View Post
    Your assessment seems fair, I think.

    However, don’t minimize the fact that Stevens coached his teams to two NCAA National Championship games (the vast majority of coaches never even get to one) as well as three NBA Conference Finals — with young, incomplete rosters hampered by oft-injured star players, no less — in a short period of time.

    The man can flat-out coach and could easily land a plum NBA head coaching job in a couple of years if he so chooses.
    As HC at Butler, be both put together the team and coached it. His success with those teams were a mix of front office and coaching.

    He started off well in Boston on the coaching front, but results tapered off. The front office fell off.

    This change makes sense, to see whether he is a better fit as GM than as coach.

  8. #108
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven43 View Post
    Your assessment seems fair, I think.

    However, don’t minimize the fact that Stevens coached his teams to two NCAA National Championship games (the vast majority of coaches never even get to one) as well as three NBA Conference Finals — with young, incomplete rosters hampered by oft-injured star players, no less — in a short period of time.

    The man can flat-out coach and could easily land a plum NBA head coaching job in a couple of years if he so chooses.
    I understand what he did in college. Recruited well, ran a great program and coached great. But NBA coaching is a different animal. Often not X’s and O’s - its as much or more about managing big personalities. Stevens could probably out-coach Phil Jackson in college but NBA is as much about handling big egos and getting players to buy in to what you are selling, year after year. And sounds like Brad had lost some of the locker room.

  9. Coaching college kids and professional NBA stars are two completely different things. Stevens may have been a great coaching mind, but that didn't necessarily mean he could successfully manage player egos.

  10. #110
    As Im writing that about NBA personalities, here is John Collins describing himself in the Hawks postgame interview - “I’m a freak athlete in my own right.” That is some ego!

  11. #111
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Texas
    Quote Originally Posted by Skydog View Post
    As Im writing that about NBA personalities, here is John Collins describing himself in the Hawks postgame interview - “I’m a freak athlete in my own right.” That is some ego!
    That's part of being one of the best in any sport... confidence in your abilities, sometimes even arrogance. Its the mental part that separates the great from the good.

  12. #112
    Quote Originally Posted by DoubleBlue View Post
    That's part of being one of the best in any sport... confidence in your abilities, sometimes even arrogance. Its the mental part that separates the great from the good.
    Agree about the need for some arrogance to be at the top of a sport. I just don't remember any athlete describing themselves that way. Well Ali probably did. But I doubt LeBron, MJ or Shaq (who actually belong in the category) ever resorted to the "I'm just a freak athlete" explanation of a play in a post-game interview, unless it was in a joking way. I'm sure they think it - they just know the descriptor sounds better coming from others.

  13. #113
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    New Bern, NC unless it's a home football game then I'm grilling on Devil's Alley
    Quote Originally Posted by Skydog View Post
    As Im writing that about NBA personalities, here is John Collins describing himself in the Hawks postgame interview - “I’m a freak athlete in my own right.” That is some ego!
    Well at least half of that sentence is guaranteed to be true.
    Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."

Similar Threads

  1. Brad Stevens
    By nmduke2001 in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 42
    Last Post: 05-28-2015, 10:37 AM
  2. Brad Stevens to the Celtics
    By Duvall in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 69
    Last Post: 07-16-2013, 03:52 PM
  3. Brad Stevens Thread
    By diveonthefloor in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 57
    Last Post: 03-27-2011, 07:36 PM
  4. OSU's former head basketball coach Sean Sutton sentenced
    By 4decadedukie in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-14-2010, 04:52 AM
  5. Clemson names new head coach - Brad Brownell
    By Dukegbw3 in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 04-14-2010, 04:48 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •