Fire Brad Stevens.

[playa-hater]

I know no team KG ever coaches would be soft. He wouldn't allow it.

A strong willed and respected Voice like KG with a good analytic assistant or 2 > Stevens and his staff, would be a huge upgrade IMO.

[moonie_mcgee]

Names if Brad goes.

Chauncey
KG
Sam Cassell

A broken clock can be right once or twice. I like the names felger and Mazz are bringing up. James Posey should be included on the list of potential candidates. I would have included lue but he got hired by the clippers. Anyone good but Stevens.

Scalabrine!!! But nearly any former player that can get the best out of this team will do.

[greenroom31]

Well-coached teams play hard and play together. They’re mentally tough and they play good defense. Players know their roles and compete.

Take Brooklyn tonight as an example. No Harden or Durant (or Blake), integrating a new player in Aldridge. Their bench played great — tons of hustle, everyone who came in moved the ball, had energy and was decisive.

How does that compare to the Celtics? Ask yourself: is the problem that every player on the team is selfish, low-energy and iso-prone? Or maybe it’s the coach’s fault.

We have a culture problem. It’s not one guy, it’s everyone... and it’s not like these are a bunch of bad apples. We can replace every player on the team, or we can find a new coach. I’m going with the latter.

[greenroom31]

Even before this season Horford, Hayward and Kyrie all didn’t want to be here. Hard to think of 3 more different types of guys, but all good-to-great players on winning teams and they chose to leave.

Either someone in that locker room smells like hot **** in the summer sun, or there’s a culture problem.

[return2glory]

I’ve been a member of this forum since 2005 and I’ve never asked for a coach to remain as coach. But it’s due.

I say Brad Stevens should stay on as coach of the Boston Celtics.

I think we need to let the season play out an evaluate. I've defended Brad and I still think he's a great coach. But we have to see what's really going on here.

This is a different season. Playing fields has been leveled because there is very little practice. For the average coaches in this league, it doesn’t impact them as much. But it looks like it’s hurting some of the top coaches in the league. Teams like Boston, Toronto, Miami and Dallas all have strong coaches but alone these teams are underachieving this season.

Personally I feel this season is a loss. Whatever happens in the playoffs happens this season. Teams with the top players like the Nets and Lakers will benefit even more.

In looking forward to next season. Brad will be Brad them, a top 5 coach which most people haven’t forgotten about. Just a year ago, Brad took this team, with no bench and an injured Hayward to the ECF.

Brad deserves more time. It’s Danny Ainge that Celtic fans need to worry about.

[Fierce1]

If you guys want Brad fired, keep saying don't fire Brad.

Danny Ainge always does the opposite of what Celtic fans want.
Like in past seasons where Celtic fans wanted Ainge to draft a big man, Ainge drafted midgets.

So keep saying don't fire Brad so that Ainge will end up firing Brad.

[return2glory]

Even before this season Horford, Hayward and Kyrie all didn’t want to be here. Hard to think of 3 more different types of guys, but all good-to-great players on winning teams and they chose to leave.

Either someone in that locker room smells like hot **** in the summer sun, or there’s a culture problem.

This is so not true.

Both Horford and Hayward got much more money than the Celtics were going to offer and they left. Horford was already on the decline and was awful in Philly. Boston did the right thing to match that ridiculous offer by the Sixers.

Kyrie and his buddy had their minds set on playing together for the Nets. Kyrie played Danny. Also most of the players on the team neither liked Kyrie nor respected him. And that was before the playoffs, where the Bucks back up PG (George Hill) outplayed Kyrie in the entire series.

[moonie_mcgee]

It's time for sure but I think Ainge is too tied to Stevens to fire him and so I think he'll resign this offseason or sooner if we free fall. Then Ainge should go all in for Beal and KAT, and a run with either a proven NBA coach a la Larry Brown or an upandcomer former player as coach. Let the assistants be the the wonky tacticians and get a coach with gravitas. Question, have we ever seen Stevens blow a gasket, rip a ref to shreds, storm up and down the sides? He's a docile domestic henpecked squish. I'm sick of seeing the arms folded, raised eyebrows act. Would any top NBA coach not go ballistic from what we've seen this year? Ainge has given this squish more players than what many other coaches have had and they're either checking out or not performing, and blown playoff opportunities. We are the Boston Celtics - Red and Tommy set the template - let's put our chips in on THAT. And no, times haven't changed that much. The only thing that's changed is the clothes lol.

[Fierce1]

Let's bring back Rick Pitino!

[Celts17Pride]

This forum is falling apart

[ThirtyFour]

Danny's take:

https://www.celticsblog.com/2021/4/1/22362083/danny-ainge-coach-as-a-motivator-is-overrated-brad-stevens-boston-celtics-kemba-walker-jayson-tatum

The man dubbed “Trader Danny” put the blame on the players for the lack of motivation, not head coach Brad Stevens, calling the notion that the head coach must be a motivator “way overrated.”

“I say it all the time when we’re drafting players: ‘How self-motivated is he?’” Ainge said. “You’re playing 100 games in an NBA season, and you’re practicing each day, and if you’re not self-motivated, you’re not going to succeed.”

Ainge continued speaking on Stevens’ role in the recent struggles, saying, “Brad has zero responsibility for shooting 5-for-34 from three last night, on most of them being open shots. He doesn’t have responsibility when players improvise and are playing with a lack of emotion after missed shots.”

The part I disagree with most strongly is what I highlighted. Whether through scheme or exercise of authority, that's not a matter of the coach controlling his players' emotions and character, which Danny is understandably skeptical about. Rather, it's a question of the coach controlling their rational decision-making, and a leader needs to be able to do that.

So Ainge is saying you should draft highly motivated players. Ainge is saying it’s not Brad but a lack of motivation in players. Ainge drafts the players, so at the end of this riddle i believe Ainge just talked himself out of a job.

As far as CBS I think he’s a good coach that requires a heavy level of buy in from his players to be successful, I think he got that early on with a ragtag bunch of players and therefore was able to generate success and attract players like Horford and Hayward into the fold. However, It seems he has had trouble keeping everyone bought in as the caliber of talent grew.

He can be a highly successful coach under the right circumstances but if it’s not working for us, how long to you keep running the same experiment. How many players do you let walk out the door? How many east coast finals keep the dream alive? And if it really is the players that are the problem, do you trade them all away and give brad a new team, or do you just simply let brad go?

[Bad-Thoma]

This forum is falling apart

[aussie_pride]

Even before this season Horford, Hayward and Kyrie all didn’t want to be here. Hard to think of 3 more different types of guys, but all good-to-great players on winning teams and they chose to leave.

Either someone in that locker room smells like hot **** in the summer sun, or there’s a culture problem.

This is so not true.

Both Horford and Hayward got much more money than the Celtics were going to offer and they left. Horford was already on the decline and was awful in Philly. Boston did the right thing to match that ridiculous offer by the Sixers.

Kyrie and his buddy had their minds set on playing together for the Nets. Kyrie played Danny. Also most of the players on the team neither liked Kyrie nor respected him. And that was before the playoffs, where the Bucks back up PG (George Hill) outplayed Kyrie in the entire series.

You are right about Horford leaving as he was looking to secure one last big payday before he retired. However, if you listen to what Hayward has said about his reasons for leaving, he has implied that the basketball that we were playing was not conducive to his skillset. Obviously he was not as blunt as that as Hayward is a very mild sort of character who will never rub anyone up the wrong way but I think he was sick of standing on the wing doing nothing while Tatum and Brown were jacking up shots.

Kyrie left because he never really fitted in with the culture of Boston. I also think that he had problems with Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge. I also feel that he hated it when we made that playoff run and his position as the "main guy" was under threat. Remember, his reasons for him coming to Boston were to step out from Lebron's shadow. All of a sudden guys like Rozier, Tatum and Brown begun taking over the limelight.

[aussie_pride]

Danny's take:

https://www.celticsblog.com/2021/4/1/22362083/danny-ainge-coach-as-a-motivator-is-overrated-brad-stevens-boston-celtics-kemba-walker-jayson-tatum

The man dubbed “Trader Danny” put the blame on the players for the lack of motivation, not head coach Brad Stevens, calling the notion that the head coach must be a motivator “way overrated.”

“I say it all the time when we’re drafting players: ‘How self-motivated is he?’” Ainge said. “You’re playing 100 games in an NBA season, and you’re practicing each day, and if you’re not self-motivated, you’re not going to succeed.”

Ainge continued speaking on Stevens’ role in the recent struggles, saying, “Brad has zero responsibility for shooting 5-for-34 from three last night, on most of them being open shots. He doesn’t have responsibility when players improvise and are playing with a lack of emotion after missed shots.”

The part I disagree with most strongly is what I highlighted. Whether through scheme or exercise of authority, that's not a matter of the coach controlling his players' emotions and character, which Danny is understandably skeptical about. Rather, it's a question of the coach controlling their rational decision-making, and a leader needs to be able to do that.

So Ainge is saying you should draft highly motivated players. Ainge is saying it’s not Brad but a lack of motivation in players. Ainge drafts the players, so at the end of this riddle i believe Ainge just talked himself out of a job.

As far as CBS I think he’s a good coach that requires a heavy level of buy in from his players to be successful, I think he got that early on with a ragtag bunch of players and therefore was able to generate success and attract players like Horford and Hayward into the fold. However, It seems he has had trouble keeping everyone bought in as the caliber of talent grew.

He can be a highly successful coach under the right circumstances but if it’s not working for us, how long to you keep running the same experiment. How many players do you let walk out the door? How many east coast finals keep the dream alive? And if it really is the players that are the problem, do you trade them all away and give brad a new team, or do you just simply let brad go?

I don't think Brad can escape the blame here. The style of basketball we are playing does not correspond with the skillset of the players we have. I've mentioned this before but if Brad wants to be playing three ball then he needs to be running a motion based offense with players and the ball moving in order to find the best possible shot. This style would be ideal given that our bigs are not real scorers. The other thing a motion based offense does is that it makes a lot harder for defences to pick where and when the shot is going to come. If you contrast this with what is going on at the moment, we are far too predictable. Our offense at the moment consists predominantly of 1) Pull up and transition threes, 2) dribble handoffs which are easily defended and 3) Iso plays. It is only when we are down by 20 - 30 points that we begin to change things up. Jeff Van Gundy made a point of saying it during commentary last night during the Mavs game! Its just madness what we are doing!

[Afam]

Even before this season Horford, Hayward and Kyrie all didn’t want to be here. Hard to think of 3 more different types of guys, but all good-to-great players on winning teams and they chose to leave.

Either someone in that locker room smells like hot **** in the summer sun, or there’s a culture problem.

I agree. Similar to the Red Sox but in reverse. Red Sox management decided to trade away Mookie Betts and andrew benintendi, Bradley left via free agency while Kyrie, Hayward and Horford decided to leave on their own. It is not a good look for the organization/team.

[Afam]

You drafted the players Ainge so what that does it say about you. Everything in life requires motivation and will power and sometimes you might need help from other sources. Danny thinks it is easy for players to be motivated and they are incapable of needing a boost. What the heck.

[MambaForever]

I know no team KG ever coaches would be soft. He wouldn't allow it.

A strong willed and respected Voice like KG with a good analytic assistant or 2 > Stevens and his staff, would be a huge upgrade IMO.

I think bringing in Perk would be exactly what this team needs.

[Ernest]

This forum is falling apart

Brad Stevens is the coach Boston deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's our coach. He's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight.


But seriously can we give him more than 2 games with Fournier before we fire him?

[ParticleMan]

Brad isn't getting fired midseason; he deserves better and frankly this season is lost anyways. But I agree if this team doesn't have a miraculous turnaround fairly soon and start playing the sort of ball that got them to 3 ECFs in the last 4 years, Brad has to take the fall. The players are here, especially our core guys, they aren't going anywhere. And they have talent, we've seen it. But Brad is the guy who is responsible for getting the most out of players, and getting them to play together. That's really a coach's #1 job in the NBA. Doc understood that. Brad may be a genius but if he can't get his players to consistently play in his genius system, then what good is it?

[aussie_pride]

That's really a coach's #1 job in the NBA. Doc understood that. Brad may be a genius but if he can't get his players to consistently play in his genius system, then what good is it?

That is my no. 1 concern at the moment. It is either a case of Brad not knowing how to make best use of the players he has available or that the players are not listening to him and he has lost the respect of the locker room. Whatever the case, the status quo cannot be maintained. We either need to get rid of the coach or move on the main culprits. Generally speaking, in the modern NBA the coach always seems to be the fall guy as they are expendable; playing talent is a far more valuable commodity. That is why I admire a franchise like San Antonio the model they have in place where Gregg Popovich is judge, jury and executioner. He doesn't take c*** from any player and those who think they are bigger than the team get moved on!