On June 23, 2013, the Boston Celtics traded head coach Doc Rivers away to the Los Angeles Clippers. Rivers, now coaching the Milwaukee Bucks, reportedly didn’t want to be a part of Boston’s rebuild.
“The truth was this: I really didn’t want to go through a rebuild,” he told Adrian Wojnarowski in fall of 2013. “I’ve been through three – when I first got to Orlando, and then when Grant Hill went down again. And I had been through one in Boston. It’s easy to say, ‘Just do it,’ but for a coach, it’s brutal. Showing up, getting your ass kicked, it’s brutal.”
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What a blessing Rivers’ lack of interest in rebuilding turned out to be. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a hit piece on Doc. I’ll always appreciate him leading the way for the 2008 championship team. I’m a fan of his, even if his time with the Bucks isn’t going great.
The blessing is what happened a week and a half later when they hired their next head coach, Brad Stevens. Stevens left his job as the head coach at Butler University to do what Doc didn’t want to do — show up and get his ass kicked. The thing is, he didn't get his ass kicked for very long.
In fact, the Stevens hire turned out to be one of the most incredible hires in the past decade. In eight seasons as the team’s leader, he brought them to the playoffs seven times, and to the Eastern Conference Finals thrice.
In all three of the Cs’ trips to the third round, it felt like they overachieved. Stevens found a way to get the most out of his players and maximize the potential of those squads. And he played a role in the development of both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, helping them become the stars that they are today.
He trusted them early in their careers to not only play meaningful minutes in the postseason but to lead the way (not that he had much of a choice). Once Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving went down with injuries in the 2017-18 season, Tatum and Brown found themselves with more responsibility than they would’ve bargained for in the playoffs. Under Stevens, they thrived, did a tremendous job of playing as a team, and came within one win of an NBA Finals berth.
Two seasons later, the duo featured in a different way during the bubble. It was clear that Stevens saw them as the guys on that team and they took advantage of it. They looked comfortable as the responsibility was moved onto their shoulders, winning two rounds before falling to the Miami Heat in the conference finals.
That knack for maximizing potential is something that Stevens has carried over into his current role as the President of Basketball Operations for the Celtics. Since taking over for Danny Ainge in 2021, Brad has put some fantastic rosters around Tatum and Brown.
None of those more fantastic than the one that’s been taking the floor each and every night this season. After a disappointing close to the postseason last spring, Stevens went out and made some tough changes to the team. He traded away the longest-tenured Celtic, Marcus Smart. A move of that magnitude is one that you simply cannot miss on... and he didn’t.
Boston wound up netting Kristaps Porzingis in that deal. Porzingis has been sensational in his first season in green. He’s brought a versatile presence on both sides of the floor, as well as a tremendous attitude. Months later, he swung a trade to bring Jrue Holiday to the Cs, sending Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon to the Portland Trail Blazers. Holiday, much like KP, has been a fantastic fit with the Celtics. His leadership and willingness to sacrifice on the offensive have been priceless.
Stevens’ eye for fit, along with talent, is unmatched.
None of us would have the pleasure of watching a 60+-win Celtics team this year if it wasn’t for him and also Rivers.
If Doc was more interested in a rebuild, Boston likely wouldn’t have found the man who would be (partly, Ainge deserves credit, too) responsible for assembling the next great Celtics team.