Boston Celtics’ Brad Stevens Takes Heat, But Danny Ainge Deserves It

This week here in the heart of New England, we caught a rare sight: Legitimate, thoughtful criticism of Celtics coach Brad Stevens from a significant media presence.

Egads. What next—angry villagers descending on the TD Garden with pitchforks and torches? It has only taken a bit less than eight years, but finally it might be that Stevens’ honeymoon in the Boston area, which has been in full blush since he was plucked from the mid-major NCAA powerhouse he built, is ending.

The headline, in the Boston Globe, stated that the “funky lineups” used by Stevens in the team’s game against the Spurs the previous night, “might have cost,” the Celtics a win. It’s not exactly a slobberknocker of a headline, but by the standard of treatment Stevens typically gets in this town—ranging from applauding to glowing to fawning—it is encouraging.

Stevens is treated, too often, as if he is an Xs and Os savant, running rings around other top coaches in the NBA. That is not the truth of Stevens, who is a very good coach, but one with flaws, like any other. And that’s what’s odd about the big dig the local media took on Stevens as the Celtics bungled this week. He is finally getting knocked, but this time, it is for something which is not his fault.

Make no mistake, it is Danny Ainge’s fault. If Stevens is trotting out funky lineups, it is because he has an utterly bland set of reserve players on hand. Maybe the biggest criticism of Stevens should be that he has never stormed into Ainge’s office and demanded a truly NBA-quality bench.

Ainge has constructed teams in the last four years that left Stevens shorthanded when the playoffs came around. He could have another one on his hands now.

Boston Celtics vs. Spurs: All 12 Play In The First Half

Stevens used all 12 active players on his roster in the first half of Boston’s game against the Spurs, which is a significant reason the team blew an early 11-point lead. Did we need four minutes of Carsen Edwards? Thirteen minutes of Javonte Green? Especially when the Celtics were heading into a rare two-game break? No, of course not.

But Stevens said something after the game that should remind Celtics where the blame for a game like Wednesday’s should fall. Stevens was answering a question about the lineups and making adjustments. One of the problems with arranging his bench, he admitted, is that, “There’s not a ton of separation there.”

Again: That is Ainge’s fault. He, after all, assembled this bench, put together a group of players among which one—except for the pint-sized point guards—is almost indistinguishable from the next.

There’s Javonte Green and Semi Ojeleye. There’s Robert Williams, Grant Williams and, now, Daniel Theis. There’s lil’ fellas Tremont Waters and Edwards. There are late-lotto do-littles Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith. There’s Jeff Teague and a Gatorade cooler. For every bench guy the Celtics have, there’s another just like him.

Not a ton of separation.

This might sound familiar. Last year, Ainge held on to three first-round picks rather than making a move for any numbers of available veteran players like Markieff or Marcus Morris, Reggie Jackson, Jeff Green or Wayne Ellington. Any would have been plug-and-play options for a team needing depth. When Boston got to the postseason last year, playing against Miami in the conference finals, it was obvious a veteran presence off the bench was needed, certainly much more than they needed the 30^th pick in this year’s draft.

It was the same case when the Celtics were in the playoffs in 2018, with Gordon Hayward injured and Boston rumored to be heavily involved in talks for either Lou Williams or Tyreke Evans. Boston did not want to cough up a future draft pick, though, so the Celtics did not get either. They wound up reaching he conference finals that season but withered because of a lack of depth in a tough Game 7 against Cleveland.

The Celtics could have won that series with one meaningful addition. Instead they had Shane Larkin.

It could be argued that, in two of the last four Eastern Conference playoffs, the Celtics would have gone to the Finals if they’d only had one more productive bench player. Stevens does a nice job of staggering Boston’s minutes in such a way that one member of the star trio of Jayson Tatum, Kemba Walker and Jaylen Brown is usually on the floor with the Boston benchmen. But injuries happen. And rest is needed. Stevens staggers those minutes because he has no choice.

Poke at Stevens all you like. He probably has earned a poking, given the kid-glove treatment he has gotten during his tenure in Boston. But when it comes to the lineup and rotations the problems there, the lack of “separation” is the problem.

That is not Stevens’ fault. It’s his boss’s fault.