Boston Celtics: The fans should be supporting Brad Stevens

When Brad Stevens first became the head coach of the Boston Celtics in 2013, there was much hope and optimism surrounding the team with him at the helm. As we watched an inexperienced NBA head coach take young and imbalanced teams to the playoffs over the last seven years, many Celtics fans began to believe Stevens is the coach of the future in Boston. However, a lot has changed since 2013.

Boston Celtics fans are up in arms over head coach Brad Stevens when they should be in support of their coach.

As the regular season nears its end, there seems to be an obvious disconnect between Stevens and the Celtic die-hards. However, it’s worth mentioning that the disconnect started in 2018 when the overall experiment with Kyrie Irving went south. The way I look at the Irving trial is that he ultimately spoke too soon to the Celtics’ season ticket holders before realizing that he didn’t want to be in Boston long term anymore. How that’s on Stevens’ shoulders is unfathomable to me.

Now with a roster full of young talent, the Celtics are most likely going to be competing in the play-in tournament. Which will determine the outcome of their season and that doesn’t sit well with many of the fans. In fact, Celtics fans are up in arms about Stevens and are calling for him to be fired despite advancing to the playoffs in all but his first season with the team. Not to mention, Stevens coached the Boston Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in three out of the last four years.

The makeup of the overall roster is made by Celtics president and general manager, Danny Ainge. The variety of teams that Ainge has constructed during the Stevens coaching era have been average at best. However, due to great coaching, Stevens has been able to exceed expectations and get the most out of the players on his rosters. That said, Stevens has had his best luck as a coach with the young and rising players the Celtics have brought in, as well as a handful of veteran players along the way.

There comes a time when the fans need to realize that the Celtics have many issues that are out of Stevens’ control. A prime example being the lack of depth on the roster due to the way the Celtics were constructed this season. Not to mention the return on the Gordon Hayward investment was delayed in part of Ainge being too greedy during the trade negotiations.

Another decision that has negatively impacted the team is the trade of Daniel Theis, who was one of the more consistent and defensive big men on the roster. It’s worth mentioning that the overall trade of Theis was shocking because of the variety of things he provided for the Celtics, especially over the last two seasons on both ends of the court. But even more so during a five-year span where the center position was one of the main soft spots on the Boston Celtics until Theis solidified his role as Boston’s big man.

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The one knock that has been surrounding Stevens as an NBA head coach is his ability to take control of the team. Many people believe Stevens has lost the team and that the players don’t respect the commands or knowledge that the coach brings to the Boston Celtics. To which, I’m unsure if that’s fully on Stevens or if it’s partly due to the different types of younger players that are being brought onto the Celtics roster.

We’ve seen firsthand how well Stevens can lead an average team. I mean, he did have great success and went all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals with a starting team that featured Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford, and Jae Crowder in 2017. It’s fair to say that this current Celtics team is much more talented than any other in the Stevens coaching era with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kemba Walker, at least when healthy.

With that being said, if this team really is more talented than any other in the last seven years under Stevens’ tutelage, then why do they continue to struggle down the stretch to the point where they’ve dug themselves in a hole too deep to get out of? There are many variables at play here, but the main one that’s affected Boston is the lack of positional depth on the roster which has been laid waste by injuries. It’s Ainge’s job to assure the team is built well and properly, not Stevens.

The major variable affecting the Boston Celtics are nagging injuries throughout the season. As a result, the starting core has only played 10 games together as a full unit. This will not change as Jaylen Brown had season-ending wrist surgery on Wednesday. Having the core group of players constantly in and out of the lineup due to injury has held the Celtics back from reaching their full potential.

All in all, Stevens did the best he could with what he had to work with this year. Fans should finally acknowledge that.

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