Players Confident In Stevens Second Season

http://www.csnne.com/blog/celtics-talk/players-confident-stevens-second-season










WALTHAM, Mass. — There were so many moments Jared Sullinger would care to forget about last season for the Boston Celtics.

But when asked about the team's growth under Brad Stevens, there's one moment that stands out.

Sullinger recalls the Celtics' first preseason game which was Stevens' first game as an NBA head coach.

"He (Stevens) had called a 20-second timeout," Sullinger recalled during an exclusive interview with CSNNE.com on Thursday. "He went to draw up a play. And he was just thinking, and thinking and thinking."

As the season went on, Sullinger noticed those moments of extended contemplation during time-outs became shorter and shorter, ushering in better play for the team and maybe just as important, tangible signs of Stevens' growth as NBA coach having spent his entire coaching career prior to last season in the college ranks.

"We got more crisp and he learned a lot through this past year," Sullinger said of Stevens. "It's only going to get better."

Few coaches - veterans or newbies - get as much love from former and current players as Stevens when it comes to his coaching acumen.

Boston center Tyler Zeller, whose brother Luke was heavily recruited by Stevens coming out of high school, has yet to play a game for Stevens since Boston acquired him from Cleveland during the offseason.

But Zeller is already among the pom-pom waiving brigade to praise Stevens' basketball I.Q.

"I'm very excited because of his basketball IQ and how brilliant of a coach he is," Zeller said earlier this week. "I knew Gordon Hayward played for him (at Butler). He was always excited about his basketball I.Q. I'm very excited about that."

And just like players whose breakthroughs in the NBA come about after they just play and stop thinking as much about how to play, similar strides exists when it comes to coaches, too.

"To know Brad is to know he's an ultra preparer," Celtics president Rich Gotham told CSNNE.com. "So the more time he has to prepare and the more opportunity he has to get ready for what's in front of him whether it's an individual opponent or the grind of an 82-game season or the way he wants his guys to play offense or the way he wants his guys to play defense, the more time he has to work on that the better he's going to be."

Gotham added, "He's the right guy for us for that reason and many others."




bob
MY NOTE:  Nothing like continuity to breed success (or chronic failure).  What Brad lacked in "go with the gut" experience last year he made up with preparation.  Every year, the "gut" will start to take over as his preparation and experience back his gut up.  Last year the veteran core was made up of Wallace, Rondo, Hump, Green, Bass, Lee and, to a lesser extent, Bradley and Crawford (lesser, as in, less veteran).  Hump never so much as burped last year, that's just him, but now he's singing Brad's praises, and he doesn't have to do that.  Wallace and Bass and Green were largely silent on Brad, but then I don't remember Bass or Green ever saying anything either way about Doc either.  Lee griped a bit about minutes and got his wish.  Bogans griped about minutes and didn't.  Rondo, Bradley and Crawford are all big fans of Brad.  My concern was that the young coach would be great for newbies and young'uns but not so good for grizzled veterans and, unless we want to be in rebuild mode for 6 years, that could be a problem.  I'm becoming much less concerned about that, entering year 2 of the rebuild.



.

As soon as I saw the headline, I knew who had written the article.  The players seemed to like Brad last season.  The players seem to like him this summer.  Chances are, the players will like him during the coming season. That should be worth at least a couple more articles by A.S.B.

Sam

sam wrote:As soon as I saw the headline, I knew who had written the article.  The players seemed to like Brad last season.  The players seem to like him this summer.  Chances are, the players will like him during the coming season. That should be worth at least a couple more articles by A.S.B.

Sam

"Nearing Season's End: The Players Are Still Confident In Stevens' Coaching" by A. Sherrod Blakely.



KJ