Famous NBA gambler Expands on Respect for Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens

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Famous NBA gambler expands on respect for Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens





FILE: Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens, center, gives his team instruction during a time out in the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New York Knicks, Friday, March 27, 2015, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Print Email Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com

on April 10, 2015 at 8:15 AM, updated April 10, 2015 at 8:18 AM





A couple of weeks ago, famous NBA gambler Haralabos Voulgaris -- whose Twitter feed is a must-follow partly due to his well-informed critiques of basketball coaches -- called Brad Stevens the NBA's best in-game coach.

While chatting on a recent podcast with Grantland's Bill Simmons, Voulgaris expanded on his thoughts.

"For actual in-game stuff, and preparing a team to play, he's right up there at the very top," he said. "It's just the stuff that they do. I don't think I've ever watched a game where I've been frustrated with something that he's done because I think it's (not right). I get that a lot, like four or five times a game with some coaches. With him, I was just thinking, I don't think there's been any instances this season.

"There's been times I've been watching where he's done something that is game theory correct, but it's been terrible for my bet. But that's just me being biased, right? Like, the idea that they just keep on fouling forever can be a little bit frustrating when you have the Celtics +7.5, and they're down eight, and they score a basket with like two seconds left and still foul. That can be a little irritating, but it's not bad coaching by any stretch. So yeah, he's up there right at the very, very top.

"The team just plays really well. Like, they know what types of plays to run against a certain team. It's more of an offensive thing than a defensive thing. I haven't been entirely impressed with his defense, but then you look at, he's playing, like, Kelly Olynyk, Jared Sullinger, Brandon Bass. They don't have a center at all. Not just a center, but they don't have anyone of their bigs that can actually play defense and protect the paint. And yet they still do OK defensively because they play a good scheme.

"I mean, imagine playing - they had a stretch where they played Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley together, and then they had whoever in the middle, and their center was Brandon Bass, or their center was Jared Sullinger, and he was the biggest player on the court with Jae Crowder playing the 4 and maybe Evan Turner playing the 3. And yet they play good defensively. That's almost amazing in some ways."

Simmons proceeded to say he thinks the Celtics meeting Cleveland in Round 1 would be "just an impossible task," but he thinks Boston could potentially - under the right circumstances - give the Hawks trouble. Simmons listed a scenario that included Paul Millsap struggling with his banged-up shoulder and Thabo Sefolosha missing some of the playoffs (editor's note: Sefolosha has since been ruled out) before asking, "There's a scenario here where that could be a little bit of a scary series for Atlanta. Or am I insane?"

"I don't think anyone really thinks Atlanta's that great," Haralabos began his reply. "Yeah, I don't think you're insane, I guess, would be the quick way to answer that question."

Go listen to the podcast. http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=12656025, for the rest of Voulgaris' thoughts on the Hawks (around the 11-minute mark) and a long list of other NBA topics.




bob



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The picture looks like a hair fashion show.

Sam