A slow offseason topic. The Ringer article below got me thinking.

If somebody made you this offer: 'We are going to randomly assign a basketball team to you, may be either NBA or college. And we are going to reward you some $ amount for each regular season win and some $ amount for each post-season win by that team next year. And you get to pick the coach. But you have to pick the coach first. Before knowing what team you are going to randomly get, and before knowing whether it is NBA or college.'

Would you pick Brad Stevens as your coach?

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/5/3/17314336/brad-stevens-boston-celtics

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Ah, yes, Brad Stevens. As you probably know, Stevens is already widely considered the greatest coach in basketball history. On James Naismith's deathbed, he turned to his loved ones and said, "My greatest achievement is inventing the sport that one day Brad Stevens will coach," which confused everybody, because the name "Brad" wasn't invented until 1974. Widely considered the inspiration for Norman Dale in Hoosiers, Coach Taylor in Friday Night Lights, and Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln, Stevens is the firstand to date, onlyrecipient of the Nobel Prize for coaching.

Give Stevens a ragtag band of NBA players with no stars, and he will advance through the playoffs. Give Stevens a mid-major college team, and that school will contend for the national title. He is Coaching MacGyver, and these are his greatest works:

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1. Stevens
2. Pop
3. Kerr
4. Lebron

wacarnolds said:

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1. Stevens
2. Pop
3. Kerr
4. Lebron

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If I pick Pop and I end up getting a college team, I'd maybe be concerned Pop would have a Gran Torino 'Get Off My Lawn!' meltdown with the teenagers.

Lebron not allowed to be a player-coach like he is with Cavs.

Pop and Carlisle on top
everyone else

Of course I pick Stevens. Look what he has done with the C's this year. He has a different roster every week but always has (what's left of) his team ready with a game plan that maximizes his players strengths.

Pop hasn't shown much ability to coach since Nov 8 2016.

Iso LMA
Iso LMA
Iso LMA
Danny Green bricks a 3
Iso LMA

I miss The Beautiful Game.

CactusThomas said:

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Of course I pick Stevens. Look what he has done with the C's this year. He has a different roster every week but always has (what's left of) his team ready with a game plan that maximizes his players strengths.

Pop hasn't shown much ability to coach since Nov 8 2016.

Iso LMA
Iso LMA
Iso LMA
Danny Green bricks a 3
Iso LMA

I miss The Beautiful Game.

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He made the WCF six months after Nov 6, 2016

Iso LMA is pretty effective

Pumpkinhead said:

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wacarnolds said:

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1. Stevens
2. Pop
3. Kerr
4. Lebron

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If I pick Pop and I end up getting a college team, I'd maybe be concerned Pop would have a Gran Torino 'Get Off My Lawn!' meltdown with the teenagers.

Lebron not allowed to be a player-coach like he is with Cavs.

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I think you underestimate pop's ability to handle basketball players. He finished 1st or 2nd in his division 20 straight years, with all different sorts of teams and personalities. He was ahead of the curve on playing foreign born players, so he knows about dealing with different backgrounds.

For some reason, I think he would be fine coaching a bunch of college kids. He'd probably hate recruiting but he'd have plenty of guys to choose from.

Pumpkinhead said:

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Lebron not allowed to be a player-coach like he is with Cavs.

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I said that jokingly, but I'd take him over most guys. He has a great basketball mind and think he would do well in either league. He's basically a coach on the court anyway.

I hate that player coaches are no longer allowed in the NBA but I understand why it wouldn't work with salary caps.

When all is said and done, Stevens could be the GOAT. Right now that belongs to Pop and Coach K.

DukeMu said:

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When all is said and done, Stevens could be the GOAT. Right now that belongs to Pop and Coach K.

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As long as Curry, Durant and Lebron are winning all the titles, it will be difficult for Stevens to win any hardware, much less enough to put him up there amongst the most accomplished guys in the sport. But he undeniably has a great approach to the game.

1. Stevens
2. Snyder

Crazy thing is maybe Hayward and Irving are healthy next year and a couple of those guys might not be. I think the Celtics are contenders when they are healthy but even if they need some help, they might get it. Most championship teams have some chips fall for them.

machine20 said:

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1. Stevens
2. Snyder

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Agree. I was impressed with Snyder last year but what he's doing now is incredible.

Stevens might be the best tactical coach in all of basketball, college or pro.

Mikesyracuse1

It might slightly change if the question were framed such that if I get a college team the coach gets a year to recruit, but if they have to take the random team as-is then I don't see a logical argument for anyone but Stevens.

mikesyracuse1 said:

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Stevens might be the best tactical coach in all of basketball, college or pro.

Mikesyracuse1

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Well, he is a coach in the NBA sooo...

mikesyracuse1 said:

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Stevens might be the best tactical coach in all of basketball, college or pro.

Mikesyracuse1

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He definitely seems a great fit for that old Bum Phillips quote:

Quote:

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He can take his'n and beat your'n, and then he can turn around and take your'n and beat his'n.

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I guess the trick is to not get up by too much

all the 'n's' in that quote have always bothered me.

machine20 said:

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1. Stevens
2. Snyder

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This

mavsfan4ever said:

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machine20 said:

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1. Stevens
2. Snyder

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This

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Yall trust Quin back on a college campus?

Absolutely. If I'm Duke, I make him say no before I think of calling anyone else. He won't have to cheat at Duke to get players.

mikesyracuse1 said:

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wacarnolds said:

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mavsfan4ever said:

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machine20 said:

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1. Stevens
2. Snyder

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This

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Yall trust Quin back on a college campus?

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After his issues at Missouri, he worked really hard to improve in areas of perceived weaknesses. I think he's done a great job and really gets a lot out of his guys and they play well as a team.

Mikesyracuse1

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Yeah he's put together good teams at every stop. Don't think he's the 2nd best out there but I'd take him over most other guys.

CactusThomas said:

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machine20 said:

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1. Stevens
2. Snyder

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Agree. I was impressed with Snyder last year but what he's doing now is incredible.

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Snyder is probably the smartest coach out there.

Too bad things went kinda dark for him at Mizzou.

_lefraud_ said:

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Absolutely. If I'm Duke, I make him say no before I think of calling anyone else. He won't have to cheat at Duke to get players.

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Yep - you drive the Brinks truck up to Boston...and ask him: "Tell us when to stop unloading."

DukeMu said:

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_lefraud_ said:

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Absolutely. If I'm Duke, I make him say no before I think of calling anyone else. He won't have to cheat at Duke to get players.

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Yep - you drive the Brinks truck up to Boston...and ask him: "Tell us when to stop unloading."

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I was talking about Snyder

wacarnolds said:

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Pumpkinhead said:

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wacarnolds said:

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1. Stevens
2. Pop
3. Kerr
4. Lebron

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If I pick Pop and I end up getting a college team, I'd maybe be concerned Pop would have a Gran Torino 'Get Off My Lawn!' meltdown with the teenagers.

Lebron not allowed to be a player-coach like he is with Cavs.

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I think you underestimate pop's ability to handle basketball players. He finished 1st or 2nd in his division 20 straight years, with all different sorts of teams and personalities. He was ahead of the curve on playing foreign born players, so he knows about dealing with different backgrounds.

For some reason, I think he would be fine coaching a bunch of college kids. He'd probably hate recruiting but he'd have plenty of guys to choose from.

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1. 17 years in a row
2. Name a season that he over-achieved with the talent he had on the team?

wacarnolds said:

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DukeMu said:

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When all is said and done, Stevens could be the GOAT. Right now that belongs to Pop and Coach K.

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As long as Curry, Durant and Lebron are winning all the titles, it will be difficult for Stevens to win any hardware, much less enough to put him up there amongst the most accomplished guys in the sport. But he undeniably has a great approach to the game.

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We'll see in the series, but Stevens may force LeBron into a decision...which is the real reason why Kyrie left. He didn't want to get stuck in Cleveland (because it's Cleveland) with his contract after this year and have LeBron fly the coop again. Much better to play closer to home and family under Brad Stevens.

Not saying Boston can beat Golden State, but I like their chances against CLE. LeBron will come out big tonight. It should be interesting to see what D Stevens constructs around him.

_lefraud_ said:

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DukeMu said:

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_lefraud_ said:

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Absolutely. If I'm Duke, I make him say no before I think of calling anyone else. He won't have to cheat at Duke to get players.

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Yep - you drive the Brinks truck up to Boston...and ask him: "Tell us when to stop unloading."

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I was talking about Snyder

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There's ZERO chance Duke hires Snyder when Coach K hangs it up. Too much baggage from the Mizzou stint.

Quote:

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2. Name a season that he over-achieved with the talent he had on the team?

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2014

Perfect system for that roster. Guys like Marco Bellinelli, Boris Diaw, Patty Mills playing big off the bench. Career year from Danny Green. Young Kawhi just starting to look like a top 10 player. Ginobili was average to bad, the last all star caliber year from Parker. Duncan on 1/2 a knee. Definitely a system that made fullest use of a handful of journeymen and a decaying big 3.