Who gets the credit for the Celtics turnaround this year?
Im only going to give out three options, the three that are the most deserving for the credit in my eyes. After the first month of the season this team like hot trash, playoffs weren’t in the conversation, hell at one point people were talking about tanking to get a higher lottery pick. So what changed, how did this team find their identity and who deserves the credit.
Lets first look at the guy who knew the DNA of this team the best, Brad Stevens. Hated him as a coach but as the president of basketball operation for the Celtics he has developed a winning program. He knew who needed to go and what to add to this formula to make it flourish. At the same time he gave the kids the keys to the team and said drive. He listened to the Jay’s input on coaching and free agency which I don’t know if Danny Ainge did or not but it was more out to the media how Brad was doing this. He brought in a coach who had similar tendencies so the roster didn’t need to get twisted around to much, but he got rid of the headaches and that long bench that Danny drafted year after year and kept the ones he knew could help win on this team, Grant Williams, P Rabbit, and Aaron Naismith aka Peach Baskets. Also helped the bench by trading for Derrick White who is a defensive minded player who has flourished in his role here with the Celtics. Like I said before hated him as a coach, but man Brad is winning me over with the GM role.
Ime Udoka is another option for turning this around. Yes this is a team that Danny Ainge drafted, yes this was Brad’s team for many years but Ime took all that and put his thumb print on it. This is one, nope scratch that this is the best defensive team in the whole NBA. Ime used what he learned from Greg Popovich and instilled it into this team. Even in the beginning when it wasn’t working he didn’t scrap his plan he kept with it until it clicked. He has won the locker room over and this city over with how well this team has played in 2022. He should be up for Coach of the Year for what he has done and how his players rallied around him this season. Time will tell if he gets the nod.
The last but certainly not least are the Jay’s, Jaylen and Jayson. They have take over the role as team leaders something I don’t think they got last year with Kemba here and the way the locker room seemed to be divided but this year it all changed. Jaylen Brown is the smartest guy in the room, we all know this but what he has done is taken the passenger seat and let Jayson drive this team. That’s huge, the way egos are in the NBA, for a player as talented as Jaylen to do that and I don’t want this to come off bad but to know his role that he is number 2 is big. You always see these players fight over the spot light and Jaylen is doing that. The other Jay has turned moved up the tier list in the NBA, shedding that budding superstar label into full blown superstar mode. MVP chats are heard all over the garden. Jayson Tatum grew up this year, we all forget he is still a kid, he just turned 24 years old and has a franchise on his shoulder. Most people can’t handle that and at times in the beginning of the year I didn’t think he had it in him, but he has proven everyone wrong.
So who gets the credit, I’ll take the homer way out of this one and say it’s a group effort by all and I hope we get playoff basketball in Boston all the way to the middle of June this year. That’s the ultimate goal.