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Brad Stevens didn’t win the MVP on Monday night after the Boston Celtics won their first NBA title since 2008. That honor went to guard Jaylen Brown after the Celtics won the series four games to one.
In fact, Stevens was nearly invisible as ABC trotted nearly everyone else to the microphone during the post-game celebration after Boston trounced Dallas 106-88 in Game 5. The architect of the Celtics 18th NBA championship team appears to have found his niche in Boston.
“Babyface” Stevens has been a proven winner at every level
Though Brad Stevens still looks like he is barely 30 years old, the Celtics General Manager is now 47. The Indiana native played college basketball at Division III DePauw University in western Indiana. The 6’1” guard started all four years as he racked-up three All-Academic honors while graduating with a degree in Economics.
After getting married and working in the private sector for a brief period, Brad Stevens wanted to give coaching a try. As his young wife completed working on her law degree, Stevens volunteered to work in the Butler University (Indianapolis) basketball office. He was quickly offered a relatively low-paying administrative job to assist Butler’s then-head coach Thad Motta.
After several years of learning every aspect of coaching, Brad Stevens was awarded the head coaching job at Butler in 2007. At age 30, he had become the second-youngest head coach in the upper division of NCAA basketball. In his rookie season, his Butler Bulldogs had a 30-4 record and made it into the second round of the NCAA March Madness tournament.
During his third and fourth seasons at Butler, Brad Stevens’ teams advanced to play in two consecutive national championship games. Though Butler lost both title games, Stevens was now the hottest coaching commodity in basketball.
The offers came rolling in from several major college basketball programs. Brad Stevens’ wife (now an attorney specializing in employment law) helped her husband to negotiate a contract extension which tripled his beginning in 2010.
Still, the offers kept coming. Though Brad Stevens was making nearly $1 million per year at Butler, major colleges were offering double and triple that amount. He didn’t want to leave the school which had provided him with the opportunity to become a head coach.
Enter the NBA’s Boston Celtics
In 2013, pro basketball’s historic Boston Celtics came courting Brad Stevens. The legendary franchise recognized the young coach’s talent and offered him a deal he couldn’t refuse. For his part, coaching the Boston Celtics was considered to be one of the most coveted jobs in basketball. At least Stevens didn’t leave Butler University to coach another college basketball power such as UCLA or Duke.
From 2013 through 2021, Brad Stevens’ Boston Celtics teams qualified for the NBA playoffs in all but his first year. On three of those seasons, the C’s advanced all the way into the Eastern Conference finals but never made it into the NBA championship series.
Much like it was for Stevens as a college coach at Butler, the Celtics had been transformed into a winner during the regular season. However, the team kept falling just short of its championship goals in the NBA’s post-season.
Most franchises would love to have such a problem, but the Boston Celtics expect more.
Mired in the second-longest streak in franchise history without hanging championship banner #18 in the rafters of Boston’s TD Garden, Brad Stevens would shift gears once more time beginning in 2022.
Danny Ainge retires as GM and Brad Stevens discovers the secret formula
Long-time Celtics guard Danny Ainge was part of the Boston’s glory years of the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s. He returned to Boston in 2003 to become the Celtics’ General Manager for 18 years through the end of the 2021 season. Ainge is credited with revitalizing and rebuilding Boston’s roster as they won their 17th NBA championship in 2008.
In 2013, Danny Ainge hired a young college basketball coach named Brad Stevens to run the team. Stevens injected confidence into his Celtics’ teams while Danny Ainge kept adding talented rookies such as Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
Over the past decade, the Celtics kept creeping closer to another NBA championship but couldn’t quite get there.
Danny Ainge announced his retirement in Boston in 2021. In a bit of a surprise, head coach Brad Stevens was selected to take the role of President in charge of Basketball Operations.
Brad Stevens-the-General Manager had to quickly learn his new job. He traded a few players away like Kemba Walker and brought in veteran center Al Horford. Stevens also acquired the talents of sixth man Malcolm Brogdon but would later trade him away.
Brad Stevens made another very “Smart” trade
Marcus Smart was one of the most talented college basketball players in the country during his two years at Oklahoma State. Taken with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by Boston’s then-General Manager Danny Ainge, the 6’3” Marcus Smart quickly became a Celtics fans favorite as a professional. His contagious spirit and hustle on the basketball court inspired several Celtics teams as Boston kept inching closer to winning their first NBA title since 2008.
Statistically speaking, Marcus Smart’s shooting was frequently hot and cold. During his nine seasons in Boston, he rarely shot better than 40% from the field and 30% from the three-point line. His positive personality and leadership skills overshadowed his mediocre scoring average of just 12 points per game in Boston.
After the Celtics failed to make the NBA Finals again last year in 2023, General Manager Brad Stevens surprised many by trading Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies as part of the three-team trade package. In return, the Celtics received talented (but oft injured) 7’2” veteran center Kristaps Porzingis and a 2025 #1 draft pick. When healthy, Porzingis had shown himself to be a deadly outside shooter and a reliable rebounder.
That still left a hole in the backcourt for the Celtics, though. Who would replace Marcus Smart?
Let’s Make A(nother) Deal – Jrue Holiday comes to Boston
Now 34 years of age, Jrue Holiday (who played at UCLA in college) was originally drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 2009. After four years in Philly, Holiday was traded to New Orleans (2013-2020) and later to Milwaukee (2020-2023). While with the Bucks, the defensive-minded guard (a three-time member of the All-NBA defensive team) finally won an NBA title as a supporting player.
After dealing away Marcus Smart to Memphis, Boston GM Brad Stevens needed a veteran guard. He sent veteran Malcolm Brogdon and developing young center Robert Williams III (from Vivian, Louisiana) to Milwaukee. In return, the Celtics acquired guard Jrue Holiday in a deal which was consummated a month prior to the start of this 2023-2024 NBA season.
Jrue Holiday’s offensive statistics were stronger and more reliable than the now-departed Marcus Smart. It was Holiday’s leadership skills in the locker room which would become a perfect fit in Boston. Having recently won an NBA title in Milwaukee, Jrue Holiday became a big part of Boston’s 2024 championship run which concluded on Monday night.
Who is Joe Mazzulla and how did he get the job coaching with the Boston Celtics?
The current Boston Celtics head basketball coach, Joe Mazzulla, is only 35 years old. Much like Brad Stevens, Mazzulla is a very sharp, quiet, focused, and quite effective basketball coach.
A former guard at the University of West Virginia, Joe Mazzulla immediately went into coaching and started at the bottom. In 2011, he became an assistant coach position at NCAA Division II Glenville State in West Virginia. He then accepted another assistant coaching job at Fairmont State (also in West Virginia) in 2013. Mazzulla would become the team’s head coach for two years beginning in 2016.
Sandwiched in between, Joe Mazzulla had become familiar with the Boston Celtics organization while an assistant coach with the team’s NBA G-League development team in Maine (the Red Claws). Former Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge hired Mazzulla to become a full-time assistant coach in 2019.
Just before the start of the 2022-2023 NBA season, Boston’s new GM Brad Stevens suspended then-head coach Ime Udoka for the entire 2022-2023 season. The coach admitted to having a “relationship” with a female member of the Boston Celtics staff.
Brad Stevens handed the coaching duties to Joe Mazzulla two years ago and has never looked back. The young Mazzulla’s coaching style resembles that of Brad Stevens and the players obviously responded.
The Boston Celtics are now the NBA champions for the first time since 2008.
Did someone say “Dynasty?”
Barring injuries, the pieces are in place for the Boston Celtics to have a few years at or near the top of the NBA. The team’s top players are under long-term contracts. The role players are talented, happy, and (for now) affordable. The Celtics coach has developed more confidence and seems to know when to push all the right buttons with his veteran squad.
For the first time in his relatively young career, Brad Stevens has just won his first title, too.
Well done!