Brad Stevens is no stranger to change in the NBA. The head coach has kept his various rosters focused and playing together over the past four seasons on the floor despite Danny Ainge pulling 22 trades and countless other in-season transactions over that span. Stevens had 22 different faces play minutes for him during the 2014-15 season alone, and he still managed to lead that strange mix to a postseason appearance.
That type of experience will set the stage for another massive challenge facing Stevens during these upcoming months: Taking a team with 11 new faces and trying to make them better than his 53-win squad last year.
On the surface, that goal seems pretty attainable. The Celtics added two All-Star talents in Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving, and another top-3 pick in Jayson Tatum. Despite their subtractions in other sections of the roster, that’s the kind of talent any NBA coach would love to work with, right?
That reality doesn’t take away from the obstacles Stevens has to contend with as he tries to ready this group for the 2017-18 season after such a significant overhaul in personnel. Last year’s roster had 13 returning players in training camp and ultimately stayed consistent throughout the year. Once training camp opens in the last week of September, Stevens won’t just be contending with integrating 10 new bodies into the mix, but five of them will be fresh-faced NBA rookies.
There’s also the timing of the Irving trade to deal with. Most NBA roster are set (barring a late roster addition or two) by the start of August, which allows coaching staffs plenty of time to prepare and scheme for the upcoming season. I was even a little upset when some of my lineup exploration columns here at Boston Sports Journal became worthless, and I can’t imagine the amount of work Stevens and his staff had done already scheming for the 2017-18 season before Irving was acquired. The head coach addressed this point specifically during Friday’s press conference.
“That's what you do all offseason,” Stevens said of his preparation. “You are thinking about it non-stop. A lot of your stuff is finalizing it in early August and there isn't much significant change after that. It's a great challenge. This is part of the challenge of coaching and part of the most exciting thing about coaching is the opportunity to put a team together.”
When you add a shortened training camp to the mix, thanks to the moved-up start of the NBA regular season, it’s safe to guess Stevens and his staff won’t be getting much sleep over the next few weeks. However, Ainge can feel confident that he has the right man in place to tackle this job and won’t leave any stone unturned as he readies his team for October 17. For his part, Stevens has faith the team has the right pieces in place to help Boston take the next step.
“It can only happen if your best players are guys that really want to be a part of something special as a group and appreciate and value whatever everyone brings to the table,” Stevens said. “You've already heard the answers up here, so we're starting up with a great foundation up here. With these guys and Al, and some of our young players, I think it's going to be a fun growth process.”
Some recently formed super teams had some tough starts out of the gate. Cleveland began the year 19-20 after LeBron James returned during the 2014-15 season. Similarly, the Heat started off with a 9-8 record when James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in South Beach for the 2010-11 campaign. Others (2007-08 Celtics, 2016-17 Warriors) had no such troubles meshing out of the gate.
Look for something in the middle of those extremes for this latest creation in Boston. The talent level here isn’t on par with the previous teams mentioned, but I’d bet on Stevens finding a way of making it all work sooner rather than later.
“I think it's one of the things we talk about all the time: Each team is its own entity,” Stevens explained. “Even when we've had more guys back and more continuity the last couple of years, you have to go into the year and work on all the important things. All the things that add up to give you ultimately a chance to win. We haven't met yet. We're still in the offseason in which we're limited in what we can do. When we have our first team meeting when training camp begins, that's going to be important, because we need to set the tone for building a foundation on both ends of the floor.
“As you know, the most important thing to me over the last few years (is building towards Banner 18). We all know in Boston what we're shooting for. That's a given, right? That's what you're playing under, both in this facility and at the practice facility. Ultimately, the path is, are you getting better? The good news about our opportunity is we get a chance to go to work, we should be excited about our opportunities ahead, and we're all going to have to find out what role we can play in order to help us get better.”
Quick Hits Around The NBA
- Rodney Hood is starting extension talks with the Utah Jazz ahead of the opening night deadline, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Hood was terrific in his first two NBA seasons but took a step back with an injury-riddled 2016-17 season. With Hayward out of Utah, he should have a nice opportunity to have a big bounce-back campaign, which makes it wise of Utah to try to get him signed before his value rises.
- The Bucks used the stretch provision on big man Spencer Hawes to spread out his $6 million cap hit over the next three seasons. The presence of the 7-foot-1 center on the open market adds another name to a long list of big men available in September. Expect Hawes to find some work though since he can still spread the floor (35 percent from 3-point range)
- Old friend Jared Sullinger worked out for the Brooklyn Nets this week in his quest to make a return to the league after being waived by the Suns last February. The power forward remains a warning sign to restricted free agents who opt to bet on themselves in short-term deals rather than land some security with a long-term pact.
- The Pelicans dumped the contract of Quincy Pondexter (along with a second-round pick) to the Bulls this week in order to free up some cap room. They are looking for some help on the wing after projected starter Solomon Hill went down with a torn hamstring last month.
- I’m still shocked that it was not Magic Johnson that directly led to the Lakers $500,000 fine this week for violating the league’s tampering rules. Instead, it was former agent and current GM Rob Pelinka who was responsible for having inappropriate contact with Paul George’s agent, Aaron Mintz. All things considered, that hefty fine is well worth the cost if the Lakers manage to land George next summer.