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It became apparent throughout the season that there was major friction among the Celtics players because of some of their understandable personal agendas and how playing time and roles were distributed.

It wasn’t that the coaching staff was unaware of these issues, according to team sources; it was that they really didn’t know what to do about it. Without a coach with any real influence on players such as Irving, or who commanded the reverence of younger players, the staff was essentially left helpless to cure the problems.

Stevens, who has allowed the players to police themselves in the past, swooped in too late to solve the issues. Some players blamed him for integrating Hayward into the starting lineup without giving more regard to the feelings of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. And a series of players-only meetings, even one before Game 5, according to the team source, did nothing to solve the on-court problems, resulting in that embarrassing 116-91 loss to the Bucks.

An hour after the Celtics lost Game 5, assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry announced he was leaving the club for an assistant position with his alma mater, Purdue. So there is a position open and Stevens needs to stray from hiring someone from the Butler tree and bring in a veteran NBA coach and former player.

That coach needs to be in tune with the players, who in today’s NBA have a high regard for coaches who played in the league and have experienced what they experience. The Celtics lost a lot when Walter McCarty decided to take the Evansville University job after last season. He was a calming influence and believe it or not the players recognized him not only from his 10-year NBA career but his role in the movie “He Got Game.”

President of basketball operations Danny Ainge should be held responsible also. He has surrounded himself with longtime friends and analytics people who know the game but their strength isn’t necessarily people skills.

ThirtyFour wrote:I know it would probably never happen as he’s basically said he doesn’t want to coach, and he’d probably opt for the Clippers if he ever took an assistant spot being that his home base is in Malibu, but damn KG would be such a perfect person to bring in for multiple reasons.

Jakeopp wrote:

ThirtyFour wrote:I know it would probably never happen as he’s basically said he doesn’t want to coach, and he’d probably opt for the Clippers if he ever took an assistant spot being that his home base is in Malibu, but damn KG would be such a perfect person to bring in for multiple reasons.

For whatever reason I can't see Brad and KG coaching together lol

captain green wrote:Bring in someone from the celtics tree like Perkins

ThirtyFour wrote:

captain green wrote:Bring in someone from the celtics tree like Perkins

If Kyrie leaves I’m all for it, but after the harsh truth Perkins has been dishing, I can’t see them ever working together again.

MagicBagley18 wrote:So many problems many of which we all guess correctly ....but giving Hayward his starting job back when he wasn’t ready clearly had a snowball effect on everything IMO. I know Hayward needed his minutes but he didn’t need to start right away.

ThirtyFour wrote:I know it would probably never happen as he’s basically said he doesn’t want to coach, and he’d probably opt for the Clippers if he ever took an assistant spot being that his home base is in Malibu, but damn KG would be such a perfect person to bring in for multiple reasons.