BOSTON — Three days after the Celtics’ early playoff elimination, Brad Stevens sat down in entrance of the media for his longest press convention of the yr, concerning a slew of questions starting from the group’s offensive play type, reviews that Jaylen Brown is sad with the group, Jayson Tatum’s Sport 7 sidelining, and far more.
Right here’s the crux of what Brad Stevens needed to say — and a few of my on the spot reactions to his feedback.
On Tracy McGrady’s current feedback about Jaylen Brown:
Tracy McGrady made headlines late Tuesday evening when he shared on his podcast that Jaylen Brown is pissed off with the Boston Celtics.
“His frustration lies deeply within the group that we don’t have the small print to,” McGrady stated. “There’s simply been a variety of stuff that I’ve been listening to, simply happening with the Boston group with JB.”
McGrady, a former NBA famous person, is a outstanding member of the media and an NBC analyst. However he’s additionally lengthy been a mentor and shut buddy of Brown’s, so his phrases carry extra weight than most.
Whereas he didn’t provide specifics, his feedback raised eyebrows, significantly in that they got here on the heels of a Jaylen Brown saying this was his favorite-ever Celtic season on a Twitch stream on the day following the group’s elimination.
As such, the primary query Stevens fielded was about T-Mac’s feedback concerning Brown’s grievances.
“I talked to Jaylen Monday a little bit bit after — actual rapidly, and it was nothing however optimistic,” Stevens stated. “He has not expressed these frustrations to me. We’ve been right here 10 years collectively. Clearly, I like JB, and everyone round right here loves JB, and identical to any of our different guys, as we get to the top of the season, I’ll be right here, and my door is at all times open, and if anyone ever needs to return in and discuss it — and discuss their group, their place, regardless of the case could also be, I’m all ears. And that might be 1-16, not simply Jaylen, not simply Jayson, not simply the fellows which have been right here. I feel it’s actually necessary to be accessible. So I actually am, and none of that has been expressed to me.”
My response: Would Stevens air out non-public conversations of frustration from his star participant? Most likely not. So, whereas I used to be glad this query was requested, Stevens’ reply didn’t present assurance that the group and Brown are on good footing. I don’t have perception into Brown’s frustrations, however between the Twitch stream and T-Mac’s feedback, there could also be one thing there. I think about we’ll study extra within the weeks to return.
On the Celtics’ first-round loss to the 76ers:
The Celtics blew a 3-1 lead for the primary time in franchise historical past, however they had been additionally only a few fourth-quarter pictures away from advancing in Sport 7.
How did Stevens reckon with that duality?
He took it upon himself to handle the sequence loss earlier than even taking any questions.
“I assumed we actually struggled to generate beauty towards Philly,” he stated. “I assumed they deserved to win. I assumed on the opposite finish, they made it actually exhausting on us, and actually sort of felt in management in a variety of methods, particularly as Embiid obtained his legs underneath him. I assumed that most likely one of many defining issues that they did to us in video games 5 by means of seven was they cleaned up the glass, which had been an actual increase for us. Our first-shot offense wasn’t superb the entire sequence, however we actually obtained a variety of beauty on second possibilities and off the glass, and I assumed they did a extremely good job. So I feel total, clearly, we had possibilities to win, and I’m certain there’ll be particular questions on that, however I assumed total, Philly deserved to win, and performed an awesome sequence and made it exhausting on us.”
My response: I used to be a little bit bit stunned at how candid Stevens was in regards to the group’s first-round shortcomings — he clearly felt like Philadelphia was the higher group, and that the Celtics didn’t simply miss pictures — they struggled to generate beauty. That’s a key distinction from what Joe Mazzulla maintained after Sport 7.
On the Celtics’ play-style and three-point-heavy offense:
Are the Celtics too reliant on three-point taking pictures? That’s been the million-dollar query for years now, and this yr’s postseason efficiency re-surfaced these conversations. Stevens fielded no less than 4 questions on the subject, and right here’s what he needed to say.
Do the Celtics shoot too many threes?
“I take a look at extra of every shot individually, and my basic feeling watching us play, in actually every of the final two playoffs, within the second-round towards New York, even towards Orlando within the first spherical, was, we had a tough time producing actually beauty on that first shot,” he stated. “So, we obtained to determine a approach to do higher in that. And I feel that that’s once more, one of many issues that we’ve obtained to determine is the best way to have extra of an influence on the rim. And I feel we do want so as to add to our group to do this. Everyone performs a task in that. However, on the finish of that recreation, Embiid is standing on the rim on all these possessions, or a variety of these possessions, proper? And so I assumed the pictures we took, excluding Jaylen’s top-of-the-key-three and the one the place you get in the course of the lane, after which Payton’s open shot, I assumed they had been rather well defended. I assumed we struggled to get to the place we needed to go on offense a variety of the sequence, however it was significantly in these final 4 video games, when these 4 perimeter defenders who’re all superb, had Embiid standing behind them.”
Requested about three-point taking pictures once more, he double-downed:
“The most important factor is: can we generate appears to be like on the rim?” Stevens stated. “Yeah, everyone needs to do this, and each one in every of us would like a dunk over that, over a 3. Each single one in every of us. These are exhausting to get, and we battle to generate them, and so, yeah, we actually shot some unhealthy ones. I’m not telling you we didn’t. There’s no query about that. However I additionally thought we shot some actually exhausting pictures on the rim, actually exhausting pictures within the midrange too, and I don’t essentially fault anybody for that, aside from credit score to Philly’s protection, and we’ve obtained to do a superb job as we construct out the roster to have extra choices.”
My response: In Brad Stevens’ eyes, this isn’t a problem of creating or lacking pictures. He doesn’t imagine the Celtics have been in a position to sufficiently generate beauty of their first-shot offense, and clearly stated that’s been a problem of their final three playoff serieses. On the similar time, it’s evident to me he feels prefer it’s a mirrored image of roster shortcomings: “We have to add to our group to do this.” This line of questioning, greater than something, made me really feel like Stevens feels that the roster wants vital upgrades.
On Jayson Tatum coming again after which lacking Sport 7:
Jayson Tatum returned to the lineup 10 months after rupturing his Achilles tendon, was glorious to shut the common season, and was within the midst of an excellent first-round sequence towards the 76ers earlier than he injured his knee and needed to miss Sport 7.
Stevens fielded a number of questions in regards to the left knee stiffness that held him out of the largest recreation of the yr, offering context on what Tatum was coping with.
“You most likely might see it on the finish of Sport 6,” Stevens stated. “We thought that it might dissipate and be okay the following day. He didn’t do very a lot on Friday, simply rested, after which got here in on Saturday morning and tried to do a exercise. I watched it, and [he] clearly didn’t really feel proper. I feel it’s not like an extended, long-term concern, however it actually didn’t look proper when he was figuring out, and didn’t really feel proper. So, it made sense to be good about that. The plain reply is, anytime you’re getting back from an harm like he was coming from, there’s a bent to overcompensate, and there’s most likely a little bit little bit of that there.”
He was additionally requested about Tatum’s heavy minutes within the weeks main as much as Sport 7, and about whether or not that might have contributed to his sidelining.
“We did attempt to ramp him up for extra playoff load and playoff minutes in the direction of the top of the common season, together with a few the video games there late the place we saved him in, regardless that the video games weren’t essentially shut, simply to get his minutes up,” he stated. “And that’s part of this type of load administration period that we’ve got a variety of discussions about, as a result of I feel Phil Coles and his group do an awesome job. And an enormous a part of that’s they are saying you need to be able to play these sorts of significant minutes in these sorts of significant moments. Do we predict that that had an influence on his knee stiffness and the harm in Sport 6? Exhausting to inform, however you possibly can’t cross it off. So we’ve got to take a look at that. I do know that they may, however I really feel actually snug that they labored their butts off to attempt to get everyone on the courtroom, and so they did a tremendous job with JT, and he did a tremendous job all yr, and to have the ability to play lots if wanted.”
My response: This was at all times a danger, and it’s unlucky that Tatum needed to miss the largest recreation of the yr. However, I don’t suppose he or the group has any regrets about the way in which his return-to-play was dealt with, and finally, there was no actual hurt finished: Tatum didn’t get severely damage, proved to himself he’s nonetheless the man he was earlier than the harm, and must be good to go and absolutely rested to start subsequent season.
On Joe Mazzulla’s future with the Celtics:
Stevens was requested in regards to the job that Joe Mazzulla has finished over the previous 4 years and what his future holds.
“Initially, I understand how exhausting that job is, and I do know all that goes into it,” he stated. “And I do know he and his workers are placing the whole lot they’ll into it. And after I say that we battle to get by — I feel that’s, once more, that’s — we have to add to our group. So, I feel our teaching workers, like all of us, can proceed to enhance and get higher. That stated, I feel they’re superb. And we have to proceed to offer them the sources to develop, and to get higher, and to proceed to be the most effective that we may be. I don’t suppose we are able to ignore, and definitely, once more, can’t ignore something, the great and the unhealthy. However there was a variety of progress this yr, and I assumed that there [were] a variety of issues that we are able to construct off of, regardless that that ending was disappointing.”
My response: I don’t suppose Joe Mazzulla is on the speedy scorching seat, and Stevens stated a number of occasions that the teaching workers did a superb job. That being stated, this was not a ringing, resounding endorsement (he might have gone additional in discussing Joe’s teaching tenure positively), and it’s clear that Stevens expects Mazzulla — like everybody — will get higher.
