Brad Stevens says this Celtics group ‘has a chance to be special’
"I think so much has to go right [to win a title], but I think that this is a really good group."
While the Celtics’ chances of winning a title in 2020 are over, Brad Stevens is hopeful that a Larry O’Brien Trophy will be in Boston soon.
The Celtics head coach said in an interview with 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” on Wednesday that this Celtics group has a chance to win a title soon.
“I think so much has to go right [to win a title], but I think that this is a really good group,” Stevens said. “I feel like this group has a chance to be special, and I think that’s really exciting and I’m really hopeful.”
Two players that Stevens keyed in on were Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Tatum has made the Eastern Conference Finals twice in his three seasons in the league while Brown’s made it there three times in his first four.
“So much has to go right [to win a title], but I think this group has a chance to be special, and that’s really exciting.”
Brad Stevens shares his thoughts with @ZoandBertrand on the chances that this Celtics team will win an NBA championship 🏆🍀 pic.twitter.com/FFAGdscOun
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) September 30, 2020
This season was also the first time that Tatum and Brown held major roles on the team for the entirety of the season. Tatum established himself as the Celtics’ top guy in 2020, averaging the most shots of the regular season (18.6 per game) and the playoffs (19.6). Brown averaged nearly the same number of shot attempts per game as Kemba Walker during the regular season (15.6 to Walker’s 15.9) and had the second-most shot attempts per game (16.9).
Stevens cited the improvement Tatum and Brown made from the start of the season through the playoffs as a reason to be optimistic.
“I think that, when you look at Jaylen and Jayson, in particular, those guys’ improvement, I look at the first 17 games of the season and compare it to the 17 playoff games when things are ratcheted up, they improved in every statistical metric,” Stevens said.
In November (the league’s first full calendar month), Tatum averaged 20.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 42.1 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from 3-point range over 14 games. As Stevens said, Tatum improved in every one of those areas in the playoffs. Over 17 playoff games, Tatum averaged 25.7 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from 3-point range.
Brown saw similar improvements in a few areas. In 12 games in November, Brown averaged 19 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 48 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point territory. In the playoffs, Brown averaged 21.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. However, he shot roughly with the same accuracy, shooting 47.8 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from 3-point territory.
While Stevens is encouraged by the improvements made by his two young stars, he’s still encouraging them to get better.
“When you think about that growth in one year’s time, it’s not enough to stay the same,” Stevens said. “It’s not enough to expect that because you ended where you ended, you’re going to be back there. It’s not the case. You have to improve. We all have to improve. Everyone has to get better for us to have a chance to be back where we were and then hopefully move ahead.”
Get Boston.com's browser alerts:
Enable breaking news notifications straight to your internet browser.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com