Brad Stevens Gave Us All A Clinic On How To Win A Breakup

Of the long list of disasters that made up the 2018-19 Celtics season, somewhere near the top of that list has to be the performance of Brad Stevens. It pained me to type that sentence as it is well known I will follow this man to the depths of hell, but let’s call a spade a spade, he really really really struggled pretty much the whole year. His rotations were a problem early which may have been the root of a lot of the drama, I’m still not convinced he’s 100% sure when to call a timeout to stop a 30-0 run, and in his first opportunity to manage star level egos he failed big time.

But what I love about Brad is he knows how to stay on brand and level headed. Doesn’t matter if he wins by 30 or loses 4 in a row in the second round like a chump, he gives you the same demeanor. So with all the talk this summer about all the drama and bad vibes surrounding his team, what did Brad have to say about it yesterday in Vegas?

With everything involving any member of this front office when they open their mouth on a topic, you have to read between the lines. Having spent the last few years decoding Brad Steven’s Belichick impression you can see he gave us some nuggets.

You get the sense that the Celtics knew about Kyrie long before the April/May timeline Ainge talked about. Personally I think Brad was as mentally checked out about the whole thing as Kyrie was. That statement right there is Breakup 101 mentality. The best way to get over someone is to replace them with someone new and that’s exactly what they’ve done. You want to win the breakup? Let the person know you aren’t even thinking about them anymore. Look at his very next statement, how it’s been a great vibe in their building with a great group of workers. What was the one thing that was clear as day in terms of how the Celts approached this offseason? Chemistry and the right attitude was the #1 priority. Him saying that is no accident, it’s all about resetting the culture and getting back to that mentality that we didn’t see last year.

The way he smiled when he talked about turning the page, it’s no secret he and Kyrie had beef. It’s not a secret that he definitely hated how the team had to suck his dick at all times (cough cough the All Star Break) in hopes he would stay, and you look at his face and he seems both relieved and excited that shit is over. I will say I loved how quickly he shut down that question about next year’s potential, that’s a man that has learned from their mistakes. Even though deep down you know he agrees 100%, I love how he’s underplaying the excitement of a team that actually likes each other.

The facts are, next year is just as big for Brad to prove himself after a down year as it is for the players on his roster. The bad attitude guys are gone and they’ve been replaced with high character guys, but there’s still the Jaylen/Tatum/Hayward logjam to figure out. Someone isn’t going to start and we need to see Brad be a billion times better at managing everyone’s expectations and how they buy into his system. We’ll see if he can pull it off in just a few more months.