With Spurs As One Role Model, Brad Stevens Feels 'Really Good' About Where The Celtics Are Headed

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With San Antonio Spurs as one role model, Brad Stevens feels 'really good' about where Boston Celtics are headed
BRAD_STEVENS_76ers.jpg
Brad Stevens hopes year two will be better for his Boston Celtics. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)
Print Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com
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on June 17, 2014 at 2:30 PM





BOSTON – Brad Stevens looked around at his Butler Bulldogs, so many of them so young, and vowed that if they did everything he asked, if they did everything together, if they focused on improving every day, they would win the Horizon League and qualify for the NCAA tournament. With three freshmen starters, Stevens wanted to send a message: He believed Butler could make its third straight NCAA tournament appearance.

“I just tried to inspire them and give them something to look forward to,” he said Friday morning, when he spoke at Fenway Park as a panelist for the Positive Coaching Alliance.

Stevens’ players listened well enough to rip off 19 wins in their first 20 games, the only loss to an Ohio State team that boasted future No. 2 pick Evan Turner. The Bulldogs did what Stevens asked. They came together. The freshmen starters flourished as stars, developed into the nucleus of the team that came one shot away from an NCAA title the following season. But in the end, Stevens regretted his opening chat.

“We won the league, and we went back to the NCAA tournament," said Stevens, who finished his rookie season with the Celtics at 25-57. "(We lost) right away, first game, with the same starting five that ended up the next year going to the national championship game and getting beat by Duke. We were young, and maybe that was just part of the path, but I also really feel like I set a ceiling for us.

"It’s funny, because you come back, and I take this job (with the Celtics), it’s in quote ‘rebuilding mode.’ Even before the season, all you want to talk about – especially publicly and to your team – is you believe you can win your next game. I think that’s the most important thing. I just don’t think you can set ceilings for your team. Because then you’ll get there, and there’s nothing worse than not climbing over that if you can.”

Stevens' second year in Boston is coming soon, and expectations are not much higher yet. Perhaps Danny Ainge can provide optimism with a big trade, but if the Celtics enter next season with a similar roster, nobody outside the organization will consider a long playoff run possible. There just isn't enough talent.

Yet Stevens believes seeds are being planted. Sometimes to the team's detriment during the past season, the Celtics placed a huge focus on individual improvement. For example, Jared Sullinger did not hit enough threes to consider that shot part of his repertoire. But Stevens envisions a day when his power forward can space the court and make opposing big men pay for trying to protect the paint. Even as Sullinger stumbled toward 26.9 percent 3-point shooting, the Celtics never abandoned their quest to turn him into a viable outside threat.

He has not yet become that, but the offseason – clear of games and practices that cut into individual work – provides the best opportunity for improvement. Sullinger and several of his teammates, including Rajon Rondo, Chris Babb, Chris Johnson, Kelly Olynyk and Phil Pressey, have spent time at the Celtics practice facility, going through daily workouts with the coaching staff and strength-and-conditioning crew.

Stevens has been involved in everything, hands-on both with his players and the draft prospects who have visited Boston. Forever preaching a culture that focuses on daily growth, he has vowed to be available for help whenever his players need him.

"I'm out there every day," he said recently. "The last couple weeks, a typical day has been 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. our guys come in individually and in small groups, and then we have the draft workout right after. I feel like I have big kids camp going on. And it’s fun. It’s a lot of fun to be out there.

"As you know, I first got the job in July, your head is spinning. And we’ve got a new team with a lot of rookies, some guys that were traded from Brooklyn, and now you’re trying not only to piece it together, you’re trying to get all of them together a little bit before the season starts if they’re willing. We have a bunch of young guys, and I have a year under my belt where I feel a lot more comfortable with how the schedule works, both in these voluntary workouts and then once we get into the season in late September.”

Like everybody else in the NBA, Stevens took note of what the Spurs accomplished this season, what they have accomplished ever since naming Gregg Popovich their head coach. Stevens looks to San Antonio as a role model, the franchise that best values individual improvement as an enhancer of team play.

The Spurs have not beaten time. Nobody can do that. But they have maximized their championship window by impersonating time better than anybody else. Tick by tick, they move forward by the second, never standing still because that would be the easiest way for the rest of the league to catch up. What began as a low-post-pounding team evolved into the most beautiful spread offense the NBA offers. The Spurs target players with the willingness to work and to submit themselves fully to the team concept. They did not foresee Kawhi Leonard becoming the Finals MVP at 22 years old. But before pulling the trigger on a risky draft-day move, they considered him an athletic player with the physical and mental traits to develop into a vital piece.

Stevens sees the symbiotic relationship the Spurs have forged with so many players throughout the years. Just as Leonard helps the Spurs, they help him.

"I think he's a very worthy (Finals) MVP candidate and an outstanding player," Stevens said after Monday's pre-draft workout in Waltham. "But I think that's enhanced by the people he's around. It's the system, it's the culture, it's the players in there. it's the fact that when he wins the MVP, the whole team goes nuts on him. And those are established guys who, if they have egos, you can't see them. That is a big, big part of it. But he's an outstanding player."

"I just think everybody (on the Spurs) is so locked in to who they are, their role, and trying to be the best teammate they can be," Stevens added. "You see some games where those guys play, some games where they don't play. They're very supportive of one another. They're clearly (on) one mission. Against us, they didn't have three of their starters the second time they came here and they drilled us. I think that's who they've been all year. They've been able to sit guys, rest guys, do all that stuff and never miss a beat. The way that they played and the way that their young guys have increased their roles and the way that their old guys have continued to play great and accept those young guys has been, at the end of the day, a great thing to emulate."

Internal growth helped Patty Mills become a valuable backup point guard. It allowed Danny Green to blossom into one of the NBA's best shooters. It let Boris Diaw reinvent himself as a combo-forward who could defend an opponent's best player while facilitating ball movement on every offensive possession. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have all been great for so long, but every year they change a bit to adapt to a new team.

Everything added up to another championship, Duncan's fifth. With an old roster expected to take a step back after 2013's Finals heartbreak, the Spurs instead finished 62-20 in the loaded Western Conference while resting their stars as much as possible, then rattled off a playoff run that included 12 wins of 15-plus points and the best net margin of victory in NBA Finals history.

"It's clear we're all chasing them," Stevens said.

But really, he just wants the Celtics to reach their potential, whatever that might be.

"I’ve now been through it," he said. "It’s such a different game and it’s such a different schedule. In retrospect, looking back, I had no idea what I was getting into even though like everybody else I had watched it, I’d been a part of it and everything else. Now I have a great feel for how best to manage my time, and set a progression of helping the young guys get better – helping everybody get better – and at the same time getting our team ready when the team gets together in training camp.”

Two months after the season, Stevens is "still mad at every time we let one get away."

"We went through that, we researched it, we’ve looked at it, we’ve analyzed it, we feel like we’ve broken it down," he said. "I feel really good about where we’re headed."




bob




.

Like I said to someone (Sam?) on another thread, I think Stevens is a guy who is naturally inclined to use a distributed offensive model like what the Spurs have done. Now to get the rest of the pieces to fill all the roles.

am I the only one that can see the Celtics with Kelly at Center, Sully at PF and Gordon at SF as a very solid front line?

I think their talents compliment each other well.

Kelly the high post big man with great passing skills and mid range shot. High BB IQ

Sully as the banger down low, rebounding and scoring inside .

Gordon as the athletic , defensive stopper who can guard almost anyone, high BB IQ and good passer as well.

could it be that we don't really need that "old Style" defensive stopper at center after all?

could we instead sign a player like Stiemsma as a BU to fill that roll at times in games instead?

kdp,

You may not be the only one, but you might be in the minority.  Nothing wrong with that because it can make you feel all the better when you're proven correct.

But where I see that concept falling short is the supposition that you can get along with one defensive stopper who can only guard one position at a time—and that position is seldom, if ever, likely to include the center spot.

In the same manner, signing a backup to be a defensive stopper (and I'm not at all sure Stiemsma could fill that roll although he can block shots) only helps if he's on the floor more often than not.  That's definitely not Stiemsma.

Defense is a full-time job, regardless of whether it's anchored by an intimidating center or a center-forward tandem such as Duncan and Diaw or all five positions playing great individual defense.  It doesn't work to say, "Okay that guy's our designated defender, even if he covers only one of five positions or plays only a few minutes per game."

A major role of the defensive stopper at center is to have the backs of all four of his mates on the floor defensively.   If the defensive stopper (and that's not necessarily an "old style" concept) isn't present at the center position, the burden shifts to every player on the floor to be more of an individual defensive force.  I haven't seen that kind of defensive ability on this roster, as the two players who are arguably the team's best individual defenders (Bradley and Rondo) seem to be investing much more of their energy on offense over the passage of time.

Provisions have to be made to have a defensive presence at every position constantly.  That's not the same as saying every player has to be a great one-on-one defender.  There have been Celtics championship teams on which certain players weren't great one-on-one defenders but they could play a productive role in the team defense because they were backed up by the intimidator in the middle.  For example, Bob Cousy wasn't that good an individual defender, but he could afford to cheat into the passing lanes because Russell was behind him, and I'm quite certain The Cooz led the league in steals (which weren't officially recorded at the time).  His defensive role was to be a free safety rather than a good individual defender.

There are numerous formulas for putting a good defense together, and the trick is for a coach to develop a given defensive strategy that best fits the abilities on the team.  Obviously, Pop has found a formula that works.  Unfortunately, I can't see the Celtics following the same formula with a foundation of the players currently on the roster or even by adding a good defensive SF from the draft.

That's why I want a defensive intimidator in the middle, and that's why I prefer Asik over Gortat.

Sam

When I used the "old style" term i was refering more ot thw ay the NBA used to be.

how many big men are down low scoring machines now in the NBA?
the game under todays rules is more about mid range and 3 pt scoring/floor spacing to me.

if so, then the defense having an inside intimidator isn't such a high priority as in the past. Instead you need players who can guard all over the floor.

well, thats the way I see it, but I could very well be wrong.

when can trades start?

kdp,

1. Who, on the present Celtics team, could do a decent job of covering any of the centers mentioned below for an entire game?

Hibbert
Howard,
Either Lopez
Cousins
Drummond
Jefferson
Noah
Marc Gasol
Bogut (if healthy)
Anthony Davis
Duncan (not technically a center but often functions in the center role)
Bosh (I hate to include him, but he's better than any center the Celtics have)

2. Teams ran layup drills against the Celtics last season.  It's not only the centers that Mr. Right will have to cover.  It will also be his responsibility to deter other opponents from cruising down the lane at will.

3. As a team develops, to have any hope of becoming contenders over time, they have to take dead aim on the leading teams, not just the average teams.  It's far better to have them all growing together than to wait a few years to introduce a center to a team that's been learning to operate without one.

Sam

kdp,

The 82 games website says that:

46% of the shots attempted in the NBA this past season were taken in the paint.
32% were two-point jumpers
21% were three-point attempts.

Moreover, the completion percentage on shots taken in the paint was 64%.  No other type of shot had more than a 50% completion rate (a straightaway jumper).

There's no question that mid-range shooting and floor spacing are important, as are ball movement and player movement.  However, a shot from the lane is still the single most prolific type of shot and also the most dangerous.  To quota a portion of the analysis from 82 games, "...the money zone is basically in the "deep paint" right underneath the hoop."

And I'd be willing to bet plenty that the percentage of shots taken in the paint against the Celtics this past season was far about the average of 46% for the league.

Sam

Sam

Not only that but where are you most likely to draw fouls and get to the line?

It ain't from three!

Without looking I'm willing to bet teams took a lot more foul shots against us than we took against them.

And getting the other team in the bonus and perhaps a player or two in foul trouble are added bonuses. A good player might have to sit a lot longer or earlier than planned.

beat

Beat,

Good points.

And you're right.  During the past season, the Celtics took an average of 20.8 free throws per game compared with 24.3 for opponents.

Sam

sam wrote:Beat,

Good points.

And you're right.  During the past season, the Celtics took an average of 20.8 free throws per game compared with 24.3 for opponents.

Sam

What's a long time defensive saying......Never foul a jump shooter.

actually finally looked for and found the foul shooting stats and was surprised to see the team that took the LEAST foul shots per game was San Antonio. But they also allowed one of the fewest FSA against them also.

Surprised that the difference for the C's was not more pronounced. Having Rondo back for a full season would hopefully bring our total foul shooting attempts up a bit. But on the same token if he plays his matador defense.......well you know where I'm heading.

beat

kdp59 wrote:am I the only one that can see the Celtics with Kelly at Center, Sully at PF and Gordon at SF as a very solid front line?

Offensively, perhaps. Defensively, no. Olynyk is not an NBA center at the defensive end. There may not be many actual NBA centers around the league to guard, but having a decent dose of rim protection and rebounding allows a defense to extend out from a strong core instead of collapsing back in to protect a weak core (sorry if I've repeated that idea ad nauseum).

If you look at the Spurs, they seem like a less than intimidating lineup defensively in the middle because Duncan is old, Splitter isn't a rim protector, and Leonard isn't that big. But Duncan is really, really long -- he was measured pre-draft as 6-11 without shoes, and they didn't measure wingspan then, but he has an impressive one -- and combine that with his defensive mentality and all around high basketball IQ, and he is still effective in that rim protector/rebounder role. He had 1.9 blocks per game (5th in the league) and 9.7 rebounds (12th), and he did that while playing just under 30 minutes per game. They can use scramble mode to cover the post when Duncan isn't in, but they only have to do that for a third of the game, not all of it. Using scramble mode for an entire game, every game, is a tough task.

With Olynyk, Sullinger, and Gordon, I don't see any rim protection.