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“I thought I was too gradual last year,” Stevens said after the Celtics’ first practice of the season on Tuesday. “We’re going to be a lot quicker in that but at the same time, at the appropriate time, after a couple of days, we’ll stop and hopefully break it down, kind of that whole-part-whole idea.”

It’s all part of Stevens’ plan for the Celtics to play with a better pace, a better tempo regardless of what the opposing team is doing.

“A very consistent pace we need to play with all the time both in the half court when we are attacking against a set defense and then when we get out on the break in primary transition,” Stevens said.

CSNNE:  Stevens looks to pick up the pace this season

It’s the classic formula for success in basketball:  When you don’t have as much talent as the other team, try to be in better shape and run them into the ground.  You don’t need talent to be in better physical condition, you just need to work your ass off and be able to last longer than the next guy.

So the Celtics will make an attempt to not only take advantage of their youthful energy and relatively small drop-off in talent between most starters and the bench to rotate a bunch of guys in more quickly and get out more in transition.  It doesn’t matter who the Celtics elect to run out at point in Rondo’s absence, since Evan Turner is the oldest of them all and he’s still only 25 years old.

Rondo is probably the fastest of the entire group, but he’s also the most deliberate, so he’ll need to trust his teammates to properly fill lanes and read situations properly.  What slows Rondo down the most in transition is desire to find the perfect pass and his confidence that he’ll find the right pass against set defenses.  If he doesn’t see anything develop early, he tends to back out, as if to say “ok, if we run this play well, I can get the guy the ball in a better place to score rather than force it right now.”

And that seems fine because the point guard’s job is to set up his team, but I think this year Rondo should look to push a few beats longer than normal.  I think it’s more important to get his team running and to try to reward their efforts on the break.  Even if they’re not where they’re supposed to be, I still think Rondo should give a guy the ball and let him fail simply as a teaching tool to get it right the next time.  For this team, I think that’ll be more effective than “this is why I didn’t give you the ball.”  I think the lessons will be learned more quickly, and it emphasizes the more uptempo style of play Stevens is pushing.

Rondo and Stevens, despite what you might have heard, are growing as a coach/star player tandem.  

“He’s actually the guy I call to work out with,” Rondo said Monday. “It’s kind of unusual for a head coach to be the guy that you work out with, but I guess he’s trying to test and see what shape I’m in. He has pretty good workouts.”

For that, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge called the 37-year-old Stevens unique.

“Like Rajon said, ‘How many head coaches are out on the floor with the players, 1-on-1, working on things?’ ” Ainge asked. “Brad has relentless energy; he’s a very young coach. He knows the game, he knows exactly what he wants, and how he sees Rajon playing. They’ve watched film together. And I think they have a really good relationship that’s really developed this offseason.”

This type of rapport is going to help the Celtics really mature as team because Rondo and Stevens have the mutual respect to listen to one another without egos getting in the way.  It helps that Stevens is also a basketball wunderkind whose brain works in similarly mysterious ways as Rondo’s.  Rondo benefited from having a former point guard as his first coach, now he’s got a fellow nerd as current coach (said with the utmost respect, of course. I wish I was that kind of basketball nerd).

So with this relationship blossoming, the Celtics desire to pick up the pace should go ahead as Stevens hopes.  And for fans of a 30-something win team this year, we can at least look forward to the possibility of some more entertaining games.

We hope.

Related links:  Herald:  Stevens spurs on offense  |  ESPN Boston:  Stevens can finally move forward  |  WEEI:  Stevens ready for more aggressive approach  |  MassLive:  Stevens focusing on “pace and space”  |  Stevens: Celtics should be more aggressive on offense this season  |  Rondo leaned on Stevens to get into best shape of his life

Page 2: James Young really looks up to Jeff Green

“Hard to project, but here’s what gives him the best chance of being impactful this year — he’s a guy who stretches the floor and makes shots,” Stevens said. “He has an offensive savviness for someone his age. He’s in a position where he’s going to have to guard players at the 2 and the 3, and the game is going to move faster than it’s ever moved for him.”

As a nice introduction to NBA speed, he guarded Jeff Green yesterday in practice. Young plans to absorb a lot from teammates like Green this season.

“I get a lot of advice from him, and I get to follow his every move,” Young said. “I want to do that for the rest of the season.”

Herald:  19 year-old James Young is all eyes

When it comes to NBA role models, you can do a lot worse than Jeff Green.  Green has always been a model citizen, he’s been an inspiration in his return from a serious heart condition, and he’s a tremendously hard worker.  Stevens has already admired Green’s conditioning this week, and that sets a strong example for a young rookie who was BORN IN 1995!!! AAHHHH  (sorry, old man brain spasm.  It won’t happen again.)

I think Young can teach Green something too.  James Young is one of the most confident kids I’ve seen, and I have a hard time believing he lets bad plays or bad stretches linger quite like Green does.  If anything Jeff Green should have been in this commercial with Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen.

Still, I think the Young/Green dynamic will be a good one for both the guys.  And honestly, if Young develops into a Jeff Green type, I wouldn’t be upset by that at all.  By then the Celtics will have (hopefully) added some star players, and that level of play will be huge for a role player.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself.  I still wonder if Young will spend some time in Portland (despite his adamant rejection of that idea at media day).  Young seems like the kind of kid who would really benefit from playing actual basketball more often than whatever run he’s going to get in practices.  I think that’s the general consensus right now, but we’ll see if that changes as camp rolls on.

Related links: Enterprise News:  Teenager James Young eager to learn

And Finally…

Speaking of Jeff Green…

On Media day, he said this:

Jeff Green on being labeled inconsistent: “it’s tough to block it all out but you just say ‘blogs suck’ and move on”

— Jay O (@MrTrpleDouble10) September 29, 2014

The fine folks at Boston.com asked me to respond yesterday… so I did

I will admit that these things are partly true. It really doesn’t take much to sign up for WordPress or Typepad, and lot of these site templates look pretty good. With very little tweaking, any loudmouth can give him or herself a forum to let it fly. In this world of the loudest, most outrageous voice getting a lion’s share of the attention, it’s not hard to find an angry jerk of a fan with a following.

This, however, should not characterize the entire blogging community any more than Kim Kardashian should be used to characterize Meryl Streep, or Michael Felger should be used to characterize Adrian Wojnarowski. “Blogs suck” paints with the same broad brush used to say “Jeff Green sucks.”

We don’t. And neither does he.

I go into the blogging, and intense spotlight under which athletes live nowadays, and, because I’m me, a Simpsons reference to button it all up. Feel free to check it out.

The rest of the links:  Herald:  Without Rondo, Evan Turner makes point  |  Rondo: I want to stay a Celtic beyond this season  |  Globe: In pointed decision, Avery Bradley now a shooting guard  |  CSNNE:  Evan Turner in the mix at PG with Rondo out  | Scalabrine:  Who can run point with Rondo out  |  Rondo doesn’t rule out opening night return  |  Ainge on what a typical day as GM is like  |  Thornton expects plenty of shots alongside Rondo  |  Green aiming for a stronger year   |  Zeller to provide Celtics with presence in the paint  |  Bradley not feeling pressure after new deal  |  ESPN Boston:  Turner the new Crawford?  |  Boston.com:  Turner will compete for minutes with Rondo sidelined  |  MassLive:  In Rondo’s absense, Turner, Pressey, Smart competing for PG minutes  |  Rondo says shower fall came while singing Luther Vandross  |  NBA.com (video):  Marcus Smart: Welcome to Boston

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