Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
Still six months shy of his 40th birthday and having just completed his third season with the Boston Celtics, Stevens is now tied for the sixth-longest tenure as an NBA coach after the Indiana Pacers elected this week not to bring back Frank Vogel.
The only coaches with more time with their current team than Stevens are San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich (20 seasons), Dallas’ Rick Carlisle (8), Miami’s Eric Spoelstra (8), Toronto’s Dwane Casey (5) and Portland’s Terry Stotts (4).
That’s the crazy part of the article. Crazy. And think about how tenuous Casey’s position would’ve been if the Pacers had won that series.
This part of the article emphasizes why other jobs may not be interesting to Stevens:
“This is the way that I approach every day: I’m really a process guy, and a day-to-day guy. I truly believe, especially because I’m coaching the Boston Celtics, there’s only one goal,” Stevens said. “That goal never changes. Now, you want to get there sooner rather than later; you don’t want early exits in the playoffs. But there’s 17 banners in our practice facility, so there’s no other reasonable goal around here.”
Now you can say that every team’s goal is to win a championship. If you asked any GM or coach in the league if that was their goal, they’d all say yes–and most of them would say so immediately and with the same sort of convincing expressions and tones of voice that got them hired in the first place.
But when you look at how those organizations operate, is that how they’re conducting business? Look at the Sixers and the Knicks–two teams who ostensibly want to win a title sooner rather than later. Josh Harris wants to win–and in order to do so he has hired three GMs in four years, and apparently with little or no planning going into any of those hires. Meanwhile James Dolan hires Phil Jackson because to Dolan, winning a title with the Knicks a million years ago plus coaching mercurial players with some success qualifies you to run a team. And where has that gotten the Knicks? Their team has no coach, yet PJ was recently in Sioux City on vacation (trust me! I know the place… It is, well, I guess you could say it has a nice personality.)
It’s all fine and good to say you want to win a championship, but when the rubber meets the road, is the organization doing what championship winning organizations do?
Page 2: Where Terry Rozier just wants to play
“I really want to keep playing. I’ll be honest — I have a lot of energy. I know the older guys need some time off, but I want to play. Unfortunately, things come to an end. But next season we’ll be better and I’ll be better, and that’s the most important thing.”
“The older guys” — geez. Who’s he talking about? Amir Johnson?
Are you a scrappy guy who loves to play basketball? The Boston Celtics are looking for you. If there is any consistent trait from 1 to 15 on the Celtics roster, it’s an appreciation for the game itself. Even guys like Sully, for whom conditioning was a problem in the past (guy was healthy all year; he may have some serious drawbacks, but it’s time to put the conditioning complaints to bed). There aren’t guys with talent well in excess of their interest in the game (Bynum and Howard–to name two rather large examples). These are the guys you want as a supporting cast on a championship team.
Finally: Kevin McHale realizes that coaching the Kings would involve coaching the Kings.
Sources told ESPN.com that McHale, who had recently engaged in exploratory conversations with the Kings, has informed them that he no longer wishes to pursue the post.
This one kind of slipped through the cracks. The story broke Thursday afternoon.
The rest of the links
NESN: Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler On Celtics’ Offseason Target Short List
Boston.com: Danny Ainge on Celtics offseason: ‘Nobody is untouchable’
CSNNE: Rozier believes he can build off postseason opportunity | What is the best pitch to give Durant to join Celtics?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
