There’s no denying that Brad Stevens wasted little time establishing himself as one of the best strategically minded coaches in the NBA. Now, amid rampant Anthony Davis discussion and speculation that Kyrie Irving will renege on his verbal commitment to re-sign with the Celtics, Stevens is getting a taste of a big league coach’s other responsibility: managing melodrama.
Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes that even though the Celtics have been winning games at an elite rate (nine of their past 10), Stevens will need to manage the personalities in his locker room more carefully than he ever had to during his time coaching in the NCAA.
Deveney writes that it’s been said that Stevens “tends to handle his players with too much emphasis on Xs-and-Os and not enough TLC.” The fate of this Celtics team could depend on him striking a balance.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Pressure is mounting on the Raptors to click and establish themselves as the legitimate title contenders that stakeholders hoped they would be after the acquisition of Kawhi Leonard. As Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star writes, if Leonard does choose to leave the organization, the stakes will be lower than they’ve been in years. That ought to make the time leading up to the decision particularly tense.
- Recent comments from Anthony Davis‘ father have cast new light on one of the teams most commonly linked to the superstar. Thomas Lott of Sporting News writes about Davis’ father slamming the Celtics organization for their treatment of former star Isaiah Thomas during the summer of 2017. Davis’ father says that although he would not want his son to play for the franchise, that’s not necessarily how the youngest Davis feels.
- Rookie guard Dzanan Musa will remain with the Nets‘ G League affiliate in Long Island for the foreseeable future, Brian Lewis of the New York Post tweets. The 19-year-old will stay with the minor league squad to get minutes. Musa is recovering from a shoulder injury that sidelined him in December.
1980’s piston isiah thomas tells a different story about battling and competing against legends – go figure
I agree with AD the father.
I mean IT did play through the tragedy of his sister during the playoff, he shouldn’t had family comes first, playoffs come every year.
Next he played through his injury which he shouldn’t had, that has cost him his health long term, again Grant Hill comes to mind.
So basically IT when beyond & back for Boston… his reward was getting dumped by the team, real nice piece of loyalty.
I mean maybe Boston didn’t have to max him, maybe he could have gotten less to improve the team overall.
Anyway you can see why Boston is not a magnet for FA’s, last example they had to overpay by double to get Hayward to come, you need to build a reputation as much as a winning team.
Thomas said several times that he wanted max money. If the Celtics made a mistake, it was in believing him. Players get traded all the time, and Boston would not have been doing right by its fans to pass up a chance to get a better player.
Look, I hate the C’s, but come on cesc. They did not pay double to Hayward to get him to come. He had similar offers, but got the chance to play for a coach he knew and worked well with. the contract only looks bad because of the injury and his struggle to bounce back from it.
As for IT, what he went through with his sister’s passing is terrible, but there are many guys that would have played through that. Playing through, lots of guys do that too.
That’s not to take away from IT, I like the guy, but it ain’t like the C’s owe him a lifetime contract and statue because of his exploits two years ago. Also, regardless of the events leading up to the 2017 offseason, you telling me you wouldn’t rather have Irving than IT?
Fan favourites and franchise pillars get dealt, IT isn’t unique in that.
I didn’t see the Lakers bending over backwards to sign IT to a max contract.
Look at James Harden. Dealt to Houston from OKC a few years back because Thunder did not have the money to pay Westbrook, Durant, and Harden.
Raps fan here. I don’t see them getting to the east finals. I want them too but they seem to beat all the teams they are supposed to but struggle to even show up against the big teams. Will help a lot when jonas gets back but they need to figure out three point shooting to get past celts bucks or even sixes.