took to Twitch on Wednesday night<\/a> to say, \u201cI can play in Boston for the next 10 years.\u201d Sounds like a little post-McGrady damage control, but who knows?<\/p>\nStevens had no headline-screaming observations about any of these topics, but he dropped just enough breadcrumbs to allow us to wonder if some big changes may be coming.<\/p>\n
Stevens, speaking not just about Mazzulla but about Mazzulla & Associates, said, \u201cI thought our coaching staff did an amazing job this year. This series, I think we all could have done better, there\u2019s no question about it, and I think we\u2019re all looking forward to improving all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens chose to take some of the blame here, saying, \u201cI think it starts with we have to put the best roster we possibly can together,\u201d but he finished that same sentence by saying, \u201c\u2026 and then we need to maximize the strengths of that group. This year, some strengths appeared that I thought were a direct result of really good development and really good coaching. And we need to look at whoever we have next year \u2014 in July \u2014 and figure out how to build our best team. And play style should be dependent on who\u2019s on your team.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a putdown of Mazzulla. It\u2019s not a spirited defense, either, especially when you highlight the part about how \u201c\u2026 we\u2019re all looking forward to improving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens was asked directly if the Celtics attempt too many 3-point shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bad ones, yeah,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cYeah, sure \u2026\u00a0I look at every shot, and so for me, it\u2019s evaluating each and every shot. But yeah, if we come down and shoot a really tough, contested 3 when a guy\u2019s wide open at the rim, or if we have an action that we can get to, sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens added that Mazzulla \u201cwould be the first to say that.\u201d It\u2019s just that Mazzulla\u2019s default mechanism when asked about the 3-point shot is to roll his eyes and assume a sort of my-country-right-or-wrong posture. The mere fact that Stevens wasn\u2019t as demonstrative about the topic as Mazzulla usually is suggests this will be an ongoing offseason discussion between basketball ops and the coaching staff.<\/p>\n
And speaking of discussions, Stevens revealed that he spoke with Brown on Monday and that the dialogue was \u201cnothing but positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given that McGrady and Brown are confidantes, however, there\u2019s merit to the former saying that the latter is dealing with \u201cfrustration.\u201d Right?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has not expressed those frustrations to me,\u201d Stevens said of Brown. \u201cWe\u2019ve been here 10 years together, and I do think that, obviously, I love JB, and everybody around here loves JB, and I think just like any of our other guys, as we get to the end of the season, I\u2019ll be here, and my door is always open. And if anybody ever wants to come in and talk about it, and talk about their team, their place, whatever the case may be, I\u2019m all ears.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s really important to be available,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cSo I certainly am, and none of that has been expressed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In this case, it\u2019s possible Stevens is doing some dancing. But if Brown hasn\u2019t spoken directly to Stevens \u2014 or if he\u2019s using his representation to do the talking \u2014 then, well, the door is open. There\u2019s lots that can be read into that comment, such as: Brown has no interest in sharing another Celtics season as part of a 1-2 punch alongside Jayson Tatum.<\/p>\n
A year ago, after Tatum suffered that terrible Achilles injury on the floor at Madison Square Garden and the Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs, Stevens went into the offseason with plenty of work to do. Partly because of the uncertainty over if\/when Tatum would play in 2025-26 and partly because of money, Stevens did a major home renovation. Now the Celtics go into the offseason knowing Tatum will be part of the mix for the 2026-27 season, and yet here\u2019s Stevens, again, facing the possibility of more big changes.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re looking for stop-the-presses news bulletins, Stevens said none of these things Wednesday. Nothing about disappointment with Mazzulla. Nothing concrete about the 3-point debate, even if the Celtics often looked like they were using basketballs made of concrete against Philly. Nothing about the future of Brown beyond the fact that Stevens\u2019 door is open.<\/p>\n
If and when Brown steps through that door, anything is possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For those lucky enough to have a Brad Stevens Secret Decoder Ring, it\u2019s possible to take some educated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2242,355,1767,99],"class_list":["post-628833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-nba","tag-opinion","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}