Brad Stevens Had One Stipulation Before Accepting Celtics’ Head Coaching Job

https://nesn.com/2018/05/brad-stevens-had-one-stipulation-before-accepting-celtics-head-coaching-job/



Brad Stevens Had One Stipulation Before Accepting Celtics’ Head Coaching Job



by Lauren Campbell on Fri, May 11, 2018 at 5:52PM




Photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images



After Brad Stevens led the Butler Bulldogs to consecutive NCAA Div. 1 Championship games, Danny Ainge knew he was something special.

So special, in fact, the Boston Celtics president of basketball operations referred to Stevens as the best coach in college basketball in 2010 to co-owner Steve Pagliuca, per Boston.com’s Nicole Yang.

After the head coach spot became vacant after the 2013 season, Ainge, Pagliuca, along with assistant general manager Mike Zarren and team owner Wyc Grousbeck, went to Indiana to visit Stevens at his home.

He told the four of them he loved Boston for its “extensive basketball history” and voiced confidence he could be a difference-maker for the team.

There was, however, one stipulation Stevens wanted to make sure was a go if he were to be offered the job:

“The one thing he wouldn’t do going forward was try to lose a game, or you know, ‘tank,’” Pagliuca said via Yang. “So if we were going to have a strategy, maybe like ‘The Process,’ he was not going to participate in that.

“We said, ‘No, we’re always trying to win. We’re going to try to win on the fly and rebuild on the fly.’ Who knows if we can do that or not, but that was certainly going to be the strategy. Tanking is different than developing talent. We try to keep all the good talent.”

After Stevens was assured tanking wasn’t part of Boston’s plan, the 36-year-old inked a six-year, $22 million deal to coach the Celtics.

And the rest is history.



bob
MY NOTE:  And both sides kept their promises.  As Hannibal Smith used to say "I love it when a plan comes together".


.

The Celtics and Brad Stevens just got lucky.

Danny Ainge made moves that put the Celtics at where they are right now.

Evidence that the Celts should've been in the lottery in 2014-15, was when Ainge desperately tried to get Winslow by offering Charlotte multiple picks for the 9th pick.

It worked out well for the Celts because they ended up with Rozier with the 16th pick.

fierce wrote:The Celtics and Brad Stevens just got lucky.

Danny Ainge made moves that put the Celtics at where they are right now.

Evidence that the Celts should've been in the lottery in 2014-15, was when Ainge desperately tried to get Winslow by offering Charlotte multiple picks for the 9th pick.
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It worked out well for the Celts because they ended up with Rozier with the 16th pick.

Thank God that didn’t work out. Where would we be now. Don’t even want to think about it

so next year is the final year of Brad's deal?

perhaps we should be talking as much about that as Roziers' coming RFA'y.

kdp59 wrote:so next year is the final year of Brad's deal?

perhaps we should be talking as much about that as Roziers' coming RFA'y.

They extended him and Ainge in the 2016 offseason

Celtics give extensions to Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/15876998/boston-celtics-give-extensions-president-danny-ainge-coach-brad-stevens

From June 1, 2016:

Terms were not released and both Ainge and Stevens declined to elaborate on the length and value of their new deals.
Stevens, who was only halfway through his original six-year, $22 million contract, did suggest that it wasn't important to him to be among the highest-paid coaches in the league.

Storyline: Brad Stevens Contract

https://hoopshype.com/storyline/brad-stevens-contract/

The Celtics signed Stevens to a six-year, $22 million contract when they hired him in 2013, and gave Stevens a three-year extension in 2016.

My comments:  No worries here.  Stevens signed the original 6 year contract plus 3 more years = 9 years total

gyso

Stevens has said recently how much he loves it here in Boston. That he is part of the Boston culture now, a Patriots and Red Sox fan, and I am sure to some degree even the Bruins. I picture Stevens being like Pop, staying with the same team and keep rebuilding as members of the team move on. He is an important piece of our puzzle