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Brad Stevens to Celtics
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ivet Offline
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Post: #81
RE: Brad Stevens to Celtics
(07-09-2013 09:01 AM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  He might go back to college, but why would anyone assume that?

Like some of the great college coaches before him. Specifically Pitino and Cal. I'm not sure his personality can handle a lot of these NBA players with their $40 mill contracts.
07-09-2013 09:29 AM
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Melky Cabrera Offline
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Post: #82
RE: Brad Stevens to Celtics
(07-09-2013 09:29 AM)ivet Wrote:  
(07-09-2013 09:01 AM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  He might go back to college, but why would anyone assume that?

Like some of the great college coaches before him. Specifically Pitino and Cal. I'm not sure his personality can handle a lot of these NBA players with their $40 mill contracts.

Actually his personality may well be a far better fit for the NBA than egomaniacs like Pitino and Calipari. They went back to the college game where the coaches are the stars.

The NBA is a players' league and Stevens' low key approach may well be the perfect fit. Furthermore, Stevens does not have the power and authority over his team's operations that Pitino and Calipari had over theirs. That's probably a good thing. Pitino's failure was engineered as much be GM Pitino as by any deficiencies in Coach Pitino. He was actually a very good coach with the Knicks when he wasn't also serving as GM and president, or whatever he was with the Celtics.

Stevens has the full support and backing of management and ownership, as demonstrated by the 6 year contract. Temperamentally, he is very much like Danny Ainge. It's no surprise that Ainge is the guy to be attracted to Stevens' low key style and cerebral approach to the game. The Celtics have made it clear that if there is a clash between coach and player, they're backing Coach Stevens and not the player. Most NBA coaches don't have that kind of backing. That's what will give him the upper hand with the players. The Celtics didn't throw $22 million at him just so they could flush it down the toilet.

The biggest challenge on the Celtics is Rajon Rondo. What's the best personality to deal with a player like that? Well, it certainly wasn't Doc rivers, as great a coach as he is. By all reports, Rondo is a big part of the reason why Rivers left. Stevens' personality has a lot more in common with Phil Jackson than almost any other NBA coach. Jackson didn't do too badly as an NBA coach.
07-09-2013 09:44 AM
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The Cutter of Bish Offline
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Post: #83
RE: Brad Stevens to Celtics
(07-09-2013 08:17 AM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  You're right. Gonzaga does have the better national brand although for the life of me I can't understand why.

If Butler can even remotely "mirror" the success of Stevens under a different coach (or over several coaches), that argument can be made. Not necessarily make Final 4's, but consistently earn good seeding well past Stevens' recruits' careers.

With Gonzaga, it's that consistent place they hold in the sport. A decade ago, they weren't getting big guys, fast guys, or even big AND fast guys, but still had their routine of playing a challenging non-conference, winning its fair share of good games, not losing bad games, and earning respect from tournament selection committees. I'm convinced that based on their work outside of the conference, they'd still get into the tournament most of the years they did regardless of where they played. Considering how bad the PAC has been, or how inconsistent the MWC could be, I think it's a fair assumption.

These days, Gonzaga's talent is better than their coaching, honestly. They have the guys who can fight below the rim and make the easy shots...but they still play like they're glass, and try beating you from behind the arc. It's actually frustrating to watch them, because they have become a national program (international, considering their recruiting methods), and they play like a 16-seed fighting for the lives. That's a confidence issue...and that's on their coach.

Stevens > Few, but GU > Butler. The latter is easily adjustable once Butler is consistently facing programs like Marquette, Georgetown, and Villanova, who have guys who tower over the kids at Butler. I care nothing about how Butler fares against Xavier or Creighton. They're already at that level.
(This post was last modified: 07-09-2013 09:54 AM by The Cutter of Bish.)
07-09-2013 09:53 AM
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Melky Cabrera Offline
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Post: #84
RE: Brad Stevens to Celtics
It's nice that Gonzaga goes out and wins some OOC games. But the bottom line is that they consistently get to the tournament by winning a midmajor conference. They're the darling of the tournament because they're Cinderella, not because they have great success in the tournament any more.

Gonzaga established its name by getting to an Elite 8 and then reinforcing that with back-to-back Seet 16's the next 2 years, proving that the Elite 8 wasn't a fluke. But that was 1999-2001 and was a long time ago. What have they done since then? Losing in the 2nd round to a 9 seed when they had the #1 ranking this year was a major blow to their reputation IMO.
07-09-2013 10:05 AM
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The Cutter of Bish Offline
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Post: #85
RE: Brad Stevens to Celtics
(07-09-2013 10:05 AM)Melky Cabrera Wrote:  It's nice that Gonzaga goes out and wins some OOC games. But the bottom line is that they consistently get to the tournament by winning a midmajor conference. They're the darling of the tournament because they're Cinderella, not because they have great success in the tournament any more.

Put them in the PAC as of late, and they're doing about as well as Cal, I'd suspect. They'll never be UCLA or Olson-era Arizona, but the drop-off in programs past those two puts Gonzaga comfortably and consistently near the top.

Quote:Losing in the 2nd round to a 9 seed when they had the #1 ranking this year was a major blow to their reputation IMO.

Few squared up against Winthrop's old coach in that game. Give Marshall some credit, and put the blame on Few, not Gonzaga's program. Those two scrapped before in the tournament...in '05...and Winthrop gave Few all he could handle then, too.
07-09-2013 10:24 AM
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C2__ Offline
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Post: #86
RE: Brad Stevens to Celtics
Gonzaga choked some in the Wichita game this year (as usual) but that was more about Wichita's late barrage of 3's than anything else. It was stupefying to see how consistently they were going in.
07-09-2013 07:08 PM
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