Mike Budenholzer won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, but did Brad Stevens do more with less?
Tanking is widely prevalent in the NBA. It’s not an opinion anymore- it’s a fact.
Philadelphia, Minnesota, New York, Denver, and many other non-playoff teams are guilty of trying to position themselves for better draft choices. Even a playoff team this year was guilty of tanking: the Boston Celtics.
Prior to the trade deadline in February, Danny Ainge dealt away, arguably, the team’s top two players in Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green. Since the trade that sent Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn, the rebuild in Beantown has been about acquiring young talent and first round picks. Little did the front office know, however, Brad Stevens was able to create a Butler Bulldogs-esque effect with the newly created Celtics squad, and led them straight into the playoffs as the the seventh seed.
The Celtics squad looks like a roster full of seventh-men, but it hasn’t stopped them from competing with some of the top teams in the league:
G- Isaiah Thomas, Evan Turner, Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Phil Pressey, James Young
F- Jae Crowder, Jared Sullinger, Brandon Bass, Jared Jerebko, Luigi Datome, Gerald Wallace
C- Kelly Olynyk, Tyler Zeller
Looking at the roster does not strike fear in opponents, but its this underdog squad that has taken mighty Cleveland down to the wire in two straight playoff road games. The team is reminiscent of Stevens’ Butler teams, led by future NBA players Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack, and scrappy big man Matt Howard; but, the team Stevens built at the NCAA level was not supposed to compete with the Big-Five schools for national titles.
Continuting his methodology, Stevens is again getting the most out of his players, including guys who could hardly get off the bench in previous spots. He is creatively finding looks for Thomas, who has emerged as the team’s best scorer from the perimeter. He is using Turner in ways he is most comfortable, which was far from the case in Indiana. Marcus Smart is allowed to make mistakes, and his on-ball defense has been continually improving.
Since March 4th, Boston has posted a 17-7 record, and are allowing 97.3 points per game during that stretch. These may not be championship-level numbers, but they are a massive improvement over the first two-thirds of the year, when Boston posted a 23-35 mark.
Throughout the first two playoff games, eight Celtics are averaging at least 7.5 points per game, showcasing the team’s depth. Led by Isaiah Thomas with 22 points per game, Boston is averaging 99.5 points against the Cavs. Evan Turner, Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart are in double-digits per game as well.
Mike Budenholzer obviously deserves the NBA Coach of the Year award. What he did with the 2014-15 Hawks was nothing short of impressive, and his team is among the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Did he do more than the former face of the Butler Bulldogs?
Stevens did not place in the top-three in the Coach of the Year voting, but his time is coming. Boston is amongst the best–positioned teams to add top-level young talent over the next three years, and it has collected some nice pieces that could help land a budding star.
Budenholzer and Steve Kerr deserved to be the first and second place finishers in the Coach of the Year race. Given the seasons Atlanta and Golden State had, I won’t debate that. But Brad Stevens may already be the best coach in the league, and even though the Celtics are a longshot to take four of the next five from Cleveland, Boston is not going away anytime soon.
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