Thoughts on The Celtics and Coach K

Two big thinks happened in the world of basketball today, and I’m here with my opinion on both. First we will tackle the whole Boston Celtics.

This is an absolute mess in my opinion. When I read the headlines this morning I had to look at it multiple times before I believed it. For those who may not know, Danny Ainge stepped down and Brad Stevens took his place. Stevens did step down as head coach as well. So what we have is Stevens taking over in player personnel and team decisions, and Ainge waking away before being let go.

That is insane on its own. For years and years all us NBA fans heard was how great of a negotiator and mastermind Ainge was for the Celtics. He acquired picks, he took chances on middling stars, he took the right players in the draft and he was always “one move away from making the Celtics a perennial title contender”. It was becoming too much. Also, he never did much at the trade deadline. He did make good moves and picks. I’ll give him that. He got Kyrie when he wanted out of Cleveland. He drafted Tatum when he could’ve traded up for Markelle Fultz. He took a chance on Isaiah Thomas as a scoring machine. He picked Marcus Smart for his defense. And he gave Jaylen Brown a much deserved Max contract. But he also had his share of crappy decisions. He’s drafted players like Romeo Langford and Robert Williams in the lottery. They’re fine players, but not title contending contributors. He traded for Evan Fournier this season. He should’ve done that three years ago. He gave Tristan Thompson a two year guaranteed deal. He gave Gordon Hayward a super max. He cold blooded traded Thomas after his best season. He has as many mistakes as good decisions. But just biggest whiff was never trading for a legit superstar. Kyrie wanted out in two years. Gordon Hayward is off injured and overrated. He could’ve gotten a player like Victor Oladipo. Anthony Davis was a possibility. When KD left OKC, Boston was up there. But none of those guys wanted to play there, or they couldn’t wait to get out. That Nets trade, the one with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and all the picks, that was so long ago that no one, except NBA nerds like me, truly remember how big a deal it was. That’s because Ainge essentially wasted it.

Now Ainge is out and Brad Stevens is in. This move is like the two Spidermen pointing at one another. They’re essentially the same person. At least Ainge had experience. Stevens is going in cold with a talented young roster. And I think he’s going to waste that talent. He’s going to go after players he coached at Butler, or players he coached against that fit his idea of a good team. That stinks for guys like Tatum, Smart and Brown. Their prime is being wasted. They’re playing with a scrap heap players. Kemba is old and creaky, Thompson is a dinosaur, Payton Pritchard is a late first round “hustle” guy and Romeo Langford doesn’t seem to have the goods. The only other player worth a damn right now looks to be Aaron Nesmith, and he’s a young rookie. Stevens will also be heavily involved in the new head coach decision. I don’t like that at all. I think he will make an unpopular choice, and probably pass on a better candidate because he’s too close to the situation. He won’t be able to flip the switch as quickly as the Celtics will want, and that will hinder this team. This whole situation is messed up, and I think it will only get worse before he gets better. If I were Tatum and Brown, I’d be making plans to find a new team.

The other big news was Coach K’s decision to retire at the end of the 21-22 NCAA basketball season. I think there is so much more to this than him just being “done”. The dude is a good coach. I cannot stand him. I’ve never, ever liked him. I am a true hater of Duke men’s basketball, and Coach K is the main reason. But his resume is stacked. He has five titles, twelve final four appearances and he’s the winningest men’s college basketball coach. The dude has done it all at the college level. But there’s the news, that gets louder and louder everyday, that maybe Zion and other top rated recruits to come through Duke got some improper benefits. It’s becoming so common that I think it’s pretty much true. In college basketball today you cannot win without some kind of cheating, and I think Coach K and Duke were/are doing just that, and they’re on the precipice of being caught. So with him leaving, I think it will “soften” any restrictions future Duke teams may get. He’s pulling a Pete Carroll when he left USC for the NFL. I also think he was never up to the task of coaching in the NBA. Sure he coached team USA, but that’s a group of twelve super stars with the best assistant coaches in basketball. I don’t think he had the nerve to take over an NBA team with one or no stars. He didn’t want the challenge of building a team. I also think he would’ve been baffled when the best talent wouldn’t come play for him simply because he’s Coach K. That would’ve thrown him off. He had his pick of the litter in college. It’s not like that in the pros, and I don’t think he would’ve liked that. I think he saw what happened to Nick Saban in the NFL, and he didn’t want that. Saban is a great college football coach, but he was a disaster in the NFL. I think Coach K monitored that whole situation and decided he was going to stick in college. It’s kind of sad we never saw him coach basketball at the highest level. So I do not think he is retiring because he’s older and tired or whatever was said in his release to the media. I think that’s part of it, but I also think there’s other factors to his decision.

Long story short, this has been a wild day for basketball. That’s for sure.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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