The legend of Brad Stevens not only exists, it's growing.
The Boston Celtics' 38-year-old coaching prodigy could keep his star soaring by leading his outgunned troops to a spirited showing against the NBA heavyweight Cleveland Cavaliers.
Or, according to most pundits, pulling off a miracle. No one gives Stevens' squad a chance.
His team was supposed to be building its draft board right now. Boston entered this season sans the faintest playoff hopes, then shipped out its franchise face (Rajon Rondo) and leading scorer (Jeff Green) in separate deals. The Shamrocks had both eyes on the future, paving their next road to relevance after fully dismantling their Rondo-Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett-Doc Rivers core.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, dove headfirst into the championship race last summer.
Shortly after Akron native LeBron James penned his way back home, Cleveland started making noise throughout the basketball world. That buzz reached a fever pitch once Kevin Love followed James' lead. It grew louder still when the Cavs addressed some inherited roster flaws by landing a shooter (J.R. Smith), a stopper (Iman Shumpert) and an interior anchor (Timofey Mozgov) in a pair of January deals.
Cleveland has, in Stevens' words, "the best team ever assembled," per Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. The Celtics have, as ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz put it, "a roster of either young or negligible talent."
On paper, this looks less like David vs. Goliath than it does Harlem Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals.
But, Stevens doesn't see things that way.
"I've never gone into a game where I don't feel like we have a chance to win if we prepare the right way," Stevens said, per SB Nation's Paul Flannery. "If you look at it that way, you think you've got a shot."
And when Cavs coach David Blatt looks at his first-round opponent, what he sees is something far greater than this supposed sacrificial lamb, per ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin:
A really, really, really good team. Extremely well coached. Hungry. Ambitious. Playing very well and athletic around the court. Not a simple first-round matchup at all. Not at all.
Sorry, but the Celtics aren't a really, really, really good team. They're a club that lost more games (42) than it won (40), finished tied for 17th with a plus-0.2 point differential and failed to post a top-10 efficiency ranking on either side of the ball (20th on offense and 13th on defense).
But, everything else Blatt said is true. And it's all one giant testament to Stevens' superb coaching acumen.
This is not a playoff roster, even in the Photoshopped-thin Eastern Conference. No one on this team averaged 20 points, six assists or eight rebounds. The lone All-Star on this group is Gerald Wallace, who suited up for the event in 2010 and hasn't played a meaningful role in two years.
But, Stevens has armed his players with an absurd supply of self-belief. He has preached the importance of effort and intensity. And he's showcased some genius-level tactical strategies.
Somewhere along the way, Stevens turned his ragtag team into a formidable force.
Dating back to Feb. 2—shortly after the dust had settled on Boston's two major moves—there hasn't been nearly as much separation between the Celtics and Cavs as one would think.
Cleveland's stats are deceptive. The Cavs clinched the No. 2 seed in early April, so they rested some of their regulars down the stretch.
But Boston's surge is legit, and it's all tied to Stevens' warp-speed development.
"Brad is, he’s fantastic. You know, he has a work ethic that’s unmatched," Celtics President Danny Ainge said in February, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. "... He'll continue to improve because of his intelligence, his integrity and his work ethic. I couldn't be more excited with Brad."
How could anyone?
In two seasons on the job, Stevens has navigated the Celtics through a complete demolition and already delivered a playoff berth. He also is working on disproving the myth that college coaches can't succeed at this level.
San Antonio Spurs mastermind Gregg Popovich has admitted he has "stolen from [Stevens] plenty," per Himmelsbach.
In case that comment didn't jump off your screen, consider this: Los Angeles Clippers coach (and former C's frontman) Doc Rivers recently said, "Every coach in the league wants to be like Pop," via Melissa Rohlin of the Los Angeles Times.
And Popovich, a five-time champion, is emulating Stevens. It's hard to imagine a better endorsement than that in this business.
ESPN.com ranked all 30 NBA head coaches in late March. Stevens tied Indiana Pacers signal-caller Frank Vogel for ninth.
Vogel guided his team to the last two Eastern Conference Finals. Two years ago, Stevens was leading the Butler Bulldogs to their fifth NCAA tournament appearance in his six seasons at the helm (a stretch that included two trips to the national championship game).
In 2013, the Celtics inked the then-36-year-old Stevens to a six-year, $22 million contract. The deal was largely praised, though no one knew how he'd handle the transition. It even drew a reaction from legendary coach and current New York Knicks President Phil Jackson:
Clearly, things have gone well for Stevens since.
"He's one of the best young coaches in the league—there's no doubt about it," NBA commissioner Adam Silver told CSN's Mike Gorman. "Maybe one of the best young coaches ever to come into this league."
At the time of Stevens' hire, a source told ESPN.com's Andy Katz that the Celtics felt confident he could man the post for a "long time." It's tough to imagine that sentiment has changed, even as the college ranks have tried—and failed—to bring him back.
Hopefully, Stevens has a comfortable seat along the sidelines inside TD Garden because he's going to occupy it for a long time.
Boston has yet to convert its mountain of future assets into proven commodities. This roster should significantly improve down the road, which is terrifying, given what Stevens is doing with his current crop.
The Celtics can pose problems on the defensive end, particularly on the perimeter. Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and rookie Marcus Smart are hounds who have the combination of physicality and fearlessness needed to compete with the likes of James and Kyrie Irving.
At the opposite end, Boston compensates for the lack of a go-to scorer by deploying a host of versatile offensive threats. The Celtics have bigs who can shoot, guards who can score around the basket and a horde of willing passers.
Barring a complete collapse on Cleveland's end, none of that will be enough for Boston to score a shocking upset. The Celtics might have scored a few late-season wins over the Cavs' junior varsity team, but Boston was run out of the gym when Cleveland brought its best, as NBA.com's Conrad Kaczmarek noted:
Still, it isn't in Stevens' DNA to go down without a fight. He knows the odds are against his team, and he's embracing them nonetheless.
"Hey, to have a chance to compete against the very best in the league is a great opportunity," Stevens said, per Bleacher Report's Brian Robb. "It's a big mountain, but it is a great opportunity."
It's borderline impossible for Stevens to impress more than he already has. He just collected Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors for guiding Boston to a 7-1 April and its first playoff berth of the post-Big Three era.
The award put an appropriate bow on Stevens' head-turning campaign.
"Boston's roster saw immense turnover as Celtics President Danny Ainge angled for future assets, and Stevens coached all comers, melding them into an intelligent, engaged unit that logged far more wins than the talent on hand suggested was possible," wrote Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
Stevens' stock would continue climbing if his Celtics can put up a good fight. So what might that entail?
For starters, Boston needs to keep things competitive. The talent gap can't be as obvious in practice as it is on paper. If the Cavs can make James or Irving feel the need to take over, that would be a fairly significant victory in itself.
But, it wouldn't quite meet the limit of a "resilient effort."
For that, the Celtics must pick up a win. Any kind of victory—home, away, overtime, come-from-behind, wire-to-wire—would do. Simply reaching this stage is impressive for Boston but finding what it takes to beat a team with this much talent on a stage this big would be an invaluable experience.
Is it probable? No. Is it possible? Without a doubt.
If Love can't find his groove and Cleveland's shooters go cold, the combination of Stevens' strategic wizardry and Boston's relentless defense could yield a major upset.
He's been fighting—and winning—an uphill battle all season. One more surprise victory could push his coaching celebrity into iconic status.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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