There’s something that’s just not right about this front-office shakeup for the Boston Celtics.
There’s truth to a lot of what we’ve been told. Danny Ainge facing his mortality is a perfectly natural thing. Two heart attacks will do that to a person. I believe this statement from Ainge to be factual:
“These last two years have been tough. In the bubble and all the rules and scrutiny and protocols that we had to go through has not made the job as much fun. The job ... we haven't been able to have scouts or draft workouts ... so the job hasn't been as much fun. I don't know if there was a moment in time but like I said earlier, I trust my instincts and my instincts told me a couple months ago that it was time for me to move on."
Fair enough.
Then there’s the Brad Stevens element to this. There was something to the behind-the-scenes rumblings that the bubble and the COVID restrictions this season took their toll on him. Despite publicly praising the level of basketball in the bubble, he privately hated being away from his family.
This cryptic quote from April where Stevens denied being a candidate for the Indiana University job seems less so given the publicly stated timeline of when Ainge decided to quit and when Stevens was broached about taking over.
“I wasn’t going to leave anyways, the reason being that this place, regardless of whether it was a pro organization or a college, has been so good to our family, so good to me, and we owe them, especially in the middle of a very trying time and a very trying season. It’s right in the middle of a pandemic. We owe them to stay the course. I don’t know how long I’m going to coach, I don’t know how long I’m going to coach in the NBA, or how long they’ll want me to coach in the NBA. I don’t know what I’ll do after that. Maybe I’ll figure out something new. But right now I’m thrilled to be the Celtics head coach. It’s a great challenge and a great responsibility.”
Fine.
Even if we take all of this at face value, there is still a giant missed opportunity here for the Boston Celtics. While the Celtics are well within their rights to hire and fire whomever they want, simply installing Stevens as the new President of Basketball Operations without going through a formal interview process is a gigantic misstep by the team.
Moments like these are opportunities for everyone involved, including the Celtics. Ainge’s retirement presented them with a chance to take a fresh look at things, just like Stevens said at the official announcement. Boston missed its opportunity to truly canvass the league for its brightest basketball minds.
From there, the Celtics could have still determined that sliding Stevens into Ainge’s spot was right. They also could have decided to restructure the entire front office. They could have found a way to harness the brainpower of the NBA and re-think how business is done, even if they still gave Stevens final veto power.
At the very least, they missed out on the first step of a backup plan should Stevens either fail or decide he wants to get back into coaching. And this was a badly missed opportunity for the NBA, which has strongly pushed teams to include minority candidates in the interview process.
“There is no doubt there is more we can do internally, the league and our teams and in terms of our hiring practices,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a conference call LAST June. “The league needs to do a good job, in particular, when it comes to hiring African Americans at every level in the league. It’s something we have been focused on with our teams.”
The Celtics have botched a lot this season, on and off the floor. The lack of process in the hiring of a new President of Basketball Operations is just the latest example. But, in an almost fitting homage to a season that always held out some hope for a turnaround, there is still a chance for them to make good here.
Stevens is now leading a coaching search. He’s going to have a lot of strong candidates entering the race for one of, if not the most coveted job in basketball. Stevens and the Celtics have to make this a very thorough, very transparent search. They have to make sure this is a full, fair search for the most qualified coaching candidate.
In the end, this is the goal. There are only 30 jobs available to run an NBA team and there are only 30 head coaching positions. These are the most prestigious jobs the sport has to offer, and there are more than 60 people qualified to do them. It is imperative that whenever any of these jobs opens up, that the process involves every qualified candidate. Everyone needs to know this process is inclusive and fair. From there, may the best person get the job.
This is true of the Celtics, the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Orlando Magic, all of which now have head coaching vacancies. It was also true of the Celtics when Ainge stepped down, but they whiffed on that opportunity.
They can’t have that happen again.
