Celtics would have benefited from Brad Stevens leading USA Basketball
COMMENTARY
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was named the next coach for Team USA basketball on Friday, leaving him to take the Olympic reins from the absurdly successful Mike Krzyzewski in 2017 thru 2020.
And that’s an incredible shame for the Celtics and their fans.
Why? Because the job didn’t go to C’s bench boss Brad Stevens.
Now, to be clear, there was no surprise in USA Basketball going with Popovich. It would have been an upset had the five-time NBA champ not received the opportunity. Even Stevens said as much last Wednesday when noting ‘You say ‘yes’ before they get the question out of their mouths,’’ while adding, “I would hire somebody else, because I think there’s a lot better coaches than I am.’’
Among the reasons it would have been a boon to the Celtics and their fans is the optimism, albeit without guarantee, it’d have provided. See, Stevens is already incredibly well regarded around the NBA as one of the league’s top young coaches (he turned 39 last week) after only two seasons.
An NBA.com 2015-16 GM survey released last week credited Stevens among the vote-getters for having the best in-game adjustments, running the top offense, and offering the best defensive schemes in the league. Popovich, by the way, was named by general managers as the best head coach, manager/motivator of people, the man who makes the best in-game adjustments, and also the coach of the best defense. His offense ranked second.
As recently as last spring, when the Cavaliers swept the Celtics out of the playoffs, superstar LeBron James said, “I highly respect their coaching staff and especially their head coach. A very well-coached team, he put those guys out there every night and put them in position to win the game and I think Brad Stevens is a very good young coach in our league.’’
Good guy to have advocating for you.
What many current and former Celts players – like Marcus Smart, among others – know and rave about is still just hearsay to many of the NBA’s greats. That’s why Stevens getting an opportunity leading USA basketball would have been so beneficial. Not only would the chance to coach the top players on an international stage have benefited him significantly as a young and growing basketball technician, it would have also spread the gospel of his strengths to the game’s next generation of Hall of Famers first-hand.
Just imagine how much that may have helped the C’s in recruiting free agents to Boston – or, as we know it, doing the unthinkable – provided of course Stevens were still calling the Hub home a handful of years from now.
As we’ve learned over the years, the NBA’s top players base their decisions in free agency on a number of factors, from the contract offers, the city calling for their services, and an ability to win. But, often, relationships play as big a factor as any, which is how super teams have been formed in the past. Sure, South Beach is attractive, but Miami’s old Big Three featuring, James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, formed in 2010, was born out of their experience together at the Olympics in 2008.
Admittedly, there are no guarantees. Before Duke’s Coach K took charge and led them to back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012 and FIBA World Cup golds in 2010 and 2014, Larry Brown was the last to lead USA Basketball in 2004. The Americans lost in the semifinal round to Argentina and eventually captured the bronze, but it was widely deemed an embarrassing showing for the U.S. and Brown, then coaching the Pistons, didn’t receive any benefit in Detroit or in subsequent spots in New York and Charlotte for his time leading the league’s elite youths.
This isn’t to say Stevens – already with international experience after serving as an assistant for Team USA during the 2011 World University Games, when he was still a fresh face at Butler – won’t get his opportunity down the line. Popovich served on the coaching staff for the U.S. national team in 2002, 2003, and 2004 and undoubtedly gained valuable experience and play-making strategies he was able to bring back stateside. The Spurs have won four championships since, though having Tim Duncan and a few other future Springfield honorees doesn’t hurt.
It’s entirely possible that Stevens will be among the assistants to join Popovich for the 2020 Tokyo Games or the 2019 FIBA World Cup. But that isn’t the same as being the man in charge, game-planning, managing a rotation, designing plays out of timeouts, and so on. It is, however, a chance to be a voice in the room, which is still hugely beneficial with regard to building relationships with players he and Boston will no doubt hope to recruit to the NBA’s all-time winningest franchise down the road.
Perhaps Stevens will be the next to get the nod if and when the job reopens in five years, when Popovich is 71.
Photos: Meet the 2015-16 Boston Celtics
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