A Love Letter To Brad Stevens
Last night Brad Stevens won his 250th game as Head Coach of the Boston Celtics making him the 5th coach ever to reach that milestone and have the most wins ever by a Celtics coach in my lifetime not named Doc Rivers. Given this accomplishment it only felt right to let him know how I feel
Dear Brad,
I feel like I can call you Brad given the fact that I am on record saying I would take a bullet for you. When I tell that to people they think I’m weird, that it’s not all that normal to take a bullet for a complete stranger who doesn’t know you exist, but I’ve learned not to question my heart. I’ll never forget where I was when I learned you would be taking over and running this team for the foreseeable future. I was in my North End apartment when I saw the BREAKING NEWS update come on the screen. Given the history with the Celtics and breaking news, I was nervous. What could it be I thought? The day was July 3rd, 2013 and I was still upset over the Celtics losing once again to that asshole LeBron and the Miami Heat (fuckin LeBron amirite?) and it felt like the window was closing. Our Big 3 wasn’t getting any younger, the Celts had just gone 41-40, and deep down we all knew it was coming to an end. But then the TV told me what I’m convinced are the most beautiful collection of words in the English language.
“The Boston Celtics and Brad Stevens have reached an agreement for him to become the 17th coach in franchise history”
At least I think that’s what it said. I remember seeing Celtics and Brad Stevens on the screen and I blacked out. My heart filled with hope. I remember shrieking and running all over my apartment, it even woke up my sweet old Saint Bernard Larry (RIPIP) which he was not a fan of until I told him what happened. You see pundits said it wasn’t going to work because college coaches never work in the NBA. Hell even the Celtics had already tried this with Rick Pitino (fuck you), and others like Reggie Theus, John Calipari, Tim Floyd all failed miserably. But something told me this would be different, and that was before you were tabbed as a Boy Wonder, a coach who could do no wrong and an ATO genius. About 9 days later the Celtics pulled off the BKN trade which completely gutted them of talent. We learned that you knew this plan all along and were not afraid of a rebuild like that coward Doc Rivers. You came on board to build this thing the right way and tackle the rebuild head on by getting back to playing Celtics basketball. The fact that you were willing to take that risk and lose right away given the history of college coaches will always impress me. You didn’t care about the record, you saw the vision and you bought in. With that, so did I.
It was a rough start for sure, that first year was one of the most trying times I’ve ever experienced as someone who lives and dies with this basketball team. But we knew that to get to the top of the mountain we had to tank, and 25 wins did the trick. You made me believe in guys I had no business believing in, and that’s just one of your wonderful strengths. I convinced myself Jordan Crawford could really help, that maybe Greg Steimsma was Bill Russell, the list goes on and on. Even with the losing and many of us down in the dumps you never changed your focus. You never got too high or too low which honestly was very Belichickian. It’s almost as if you knew the key to our hearts was to emulate our lord and savior. You knew you didn’t have the talent but you never made excuses.
As the years have gone by, we’ve seen you get better every single season. From 25 wins to 40, to 48, to 53, to 55. You made the playoffs when no one thought you could, you won multiple rounds and even made the Conference Finals. Sure you got blown the fuck out but it was still impressive. Let me explain what a big deal that is. In my entire life, I’ve seen the Celtics reach the Conference Finals just 5 times. When it happened with the Big 3, it was expected given the talent those teams had. Doc didn’t really have to do much outside of manage egos. You, well you did it on the backs of Isaiah Thomas and Kelly Olynyk. You actually started Gerald Green in an ECF game and played Tyler Zeller and Jordan Mickey double digit minutes. To see you take that collection of role players and take them that far told me we made the right choice. Watching you now, with your clever Dad jokes, beautiful ATOs, and coyness when it comes to announcing your lineup it’s no secret why you’ve had this amount of success while working mostly with dogshit. Sorry for cursing so much I know you don’t like that but it’s true.
Things are a little different now, the team has a bunch of talent because YOU are someone players want to play for. You brought us Hayward, you brought us Al, and you’re going to be a big part of why Kyrie stays. It’s been an up and down year and it’s been hard on you I get that, but never once have I lost faith. You see, if you average 50 wins over the next 3ish years, you’ll catch Doc Rivers. The only coach to ever bring me a championship. That’ll be your 9th season in Boston, the same as Doc and you’ll only be like 45 years old. There’s a strong possibility when it’s all said and done that you are the second winningest coach in franchise history, for a franchise that knows a thing or two about winning. Sure maybe sometimes you’re slow with your timeouts, and sure sometimes maybe your rotations are maddening, but to me those are just weird funny quirks. We all deal with those when it comes to our loved ones. It’s been a wild ride thee past 6 years, but I can say with confidence there is no other coach I would want manning this ship.
So congratulations Brad on the achievement I’m sure you’ll say you don’t give a shit about. That we have bigger fish to fry and that it’s about coming to work day in and day out and getting better so you can be the best version of yourself. I just want you to know that me and a ton of fellow Celtics fans are happy you came into our lives and will follow you into the depths of hell no matter what. Maybe we’ll finally see you crack a smile when we raise Banner 18 together, a day I truly cannot wait to experience.
Love you always,
Greenie
P.S.
Please figure out how to get this year’s team to be consistent before I put a goddamn bullet in my brain.