Five takeaways from Brad Stevens' media session on Marcus Smart, the Celtics and perspective amid coronavirus pandemic

Brad Stevens spoke for the first time with the media on Friday since the sports world came to a halt earlier this month due to the coronavirus outbreak. A collection of thoughts on what we learned about the Celtics from the head coach in the crisis amid an era of uncertainty for the sports world.

1. Marcus Smart is still doing well after testing positive for coronavirus: The guard was the only Celtic tested that is dealing with the virus and remains asymptomatic according to Stevens as he remains in great spirits during his quarantine period.

“Joking as always,” Stevens said of Smart. "We had a Zoom conference with the team, told the team we were going to give them their own space to hang out and have fun. And he told us to get off. So he’s great.”

Smart spoke out last week after testing positive with the illness, a move that was praised by Stevens.

“I’m proud of how he kind of took the initiative to tell people that he had it and that he felt good and that he got online and just continued to ask people to practice social distancing and self-isolation right now,” Stevens said. “It’s a really unique, unsettling time for everyone.”

2. Stevens has taken some of this downtime to evaluate the season for everyone on the current roster: With no games to play for at the moment and no schedule set for whenever the league does return, Stevens has spent much of his last two weeks trying to sort through the progress of his own roster after 65 games.

“You know what I’ve done is I’ve gone through here while I’ve been at home, all of my typical postseason evaluations,” Stevens said. “Usually I wait until after the playoffs or over or after the season ends and do a series of film studies and those types of things, and stat studies and individual studies and those. But I’m actually knocking those out now in hopes that it helps us in what we need to do should we be able to resume play, and what we need to focus on when we get back to practice.”

If the NBA does return to action this season at some point in the summer, the Celtics would arguably be in as good of a place as any team to benefit from the extended time off given the amount of injuries that have limited the use of their full roster all year. With Stevens getting a chance to further investigate and evaluate his own talent, that could help the C’s come back stronger in what’s sure to be a unique situation if/when play resumes.

3. The Celtics are working hard to help their players workout at home but basketball has fallen to the backburner: With the Auerbach Center closed until further notice, individual players have been forced to try to stay in shape on their own and the organization has done its best to assist in that process.

“There’s all kinds of things going on,” Stevens explained. “There’s been bikes delivered, there’s been the individual weights delivered, there’s some voluntary virtual training sessions. Because now, obviously, we can’t do workouts in person because the facilities are closed, so anything basketball-related for us right now is just a voluntary strength and conditioning session.”

While the workout tools have been put in place for now, the entire worldwide situation has put things in perspective for everyone with the team while prioritizing everyone’s mental and physical health first and foremost.

“As a coaching staff, we’ve talked a lot about, we’re keeping a pulse on all of our team and all of our individuals, we’re on Zoom teleconferences a couple of times a week so we can all see each other's faces and talk about non-basketball things,” Stevens said. “But we’re like the rest of the world that basketball has taken a far backseat. I think it’s more important right now that we’re a community of coworkers and a community of friends and people that care about each other that get online and make sure we’re all doing OK. So everybody’s checking in every day, either individually and then a couple times – two to three times a week – we’ve already had a couple Zoom conferences this week and we’ll have a couple more next week.”

4. Stevens is unsure about how much of a ramp-up period the NBA needs before returning to action: Mavs owner Mark Cuban is already throwing out best-case scenarios like June as possibilities for the NBA to play in empty arenas if the worst of the coronavirus pandemic passes nationally. However, a three-month layoff without training facilities will put players in a challenging spot according to the head coach.

“It would be a unique situation to be off for as long as we’re going to be off to have to re-acclimate and re-condition,” Stevens explained. “But you do already have a system in with those 15 guys, and so it’s really an interesting thing because usually you have five back or six back or whatever when you go to a training camp scenario.

“Some of that stuff is being brainstormed and bantered about at a 10,000-foot view. I'm sure we will dial into details of that when some possible scenarios become more clear. You turn on the TV and there's different viewpoints of how long this thing is going to take. Anybody that is speaking scientifically or from a math point of view says it's going to take awhile. You see the schools are closed here until May 4th, you see all the stay-at-home adversaries around the country -- I think there is a lot to determine and I don't think you can determine any of (returning to NBA plans) until you have a timeline and it's just almost impossible to get a timeline right now.”

5. Stevens is trying to keep his kids informed amid the global crisis and pay tribute to workers on the frontlines:

“I’m trying to do everything that we’re asked to do,” Stevens said of his own quarantine experience. “We get out and we can go for walks, but I haven’t been in my car other than to quickly move it into a new spot in 16 days, or 15 days. But my thoughts are with everybody who’s really facing this thing. You feel so bad. I was just putting together a PowerPoint today to show our kids today where this is nationally, where this is locally in the New England region, and all the ways people are helping and doing their part as we’re kind of sitting in our own little bubble being self-quarantined and isolated.”

Stevens added: “Tracy and I watch the news every night after they go to bed, and we try, you keep an eye on it as the day is going on, but it is just a sobering, sobering reminder of how bad it is, and how many people are doing so much for the rest of us. That's one of the reasons why it is important to share that with Brady and Kinsley right now. Obviously spending a lot of time at home, a lot of time with them. They are learning how to use Zoom and do distance learning and e-learning and find a way to stay connected to their friends through the incredible amount of technology that we still have. But it is ... I think that we all have to be able to, as parents, look at it and say, 'OK, this is how we provide comfort in these times,' but also you have to, and I want my kids to know that the people driving by our house, or you see on TV that are wearing medical equipment, this is real and it's real every minute of every day, and we need to do what we can to help them, and as a community be there for them.”