Boston Celtics: 3 decisions Brad Stevens is going to have to make quickly

The world changed quickly for the Boston Celtics over the past 24 hours. They met their expected fate in Game 5 against the Brooklyn Nets, ending their season, and then went about the unanticipated work (to everybody outside of Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens, at least) of completely overhauling their front office and coaching ranks.

As the dust settled on Day 1 of the next chapter in Celtics history, Ainge has retired as the team’s top exec, and Stevens has stepped up into the executive suite to become president of basketball operations.

Brad Stevens is now the president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics, and he’s taking over just as the job is set to be at its hardest

Now that Stevens is the top exec for the Celtics, he’s taking over at a momentous time in the history of the franchise. They’ve sniffed greatness, going to multiple Eastern Conference Finals in the past handful of years, but never able to capitalize on their opportunities.

The Celtics are coming off a disappointing season where they finished seventh in the East and had to battle their way into the NBA playoffs via the play-in tournament, and it’s going to be incumbent on Stevens to ensure that this mediocrity does not become a regular matter of course for the proud franchise.

Some of their issues can be chalked up to rotten luck. Kemba Walker was basically never healthy, Jaylen Brown‘s breakout season was cut short, Jayson Tatum got COVID and needed an inhaler for months as a result and Marcus Smart missed much of the season with an injury. Stevens couldn’t do much about those problems, but he going to be responsible for making sure the Celtics don’t end up back here again.

Let’s take a look at the three things that will immediately require his attention going forward.