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Brad Stevens has done an exceptional job since moving into the role of President of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics.
The former Celtics head coach has overseen the acquisition and integration of Ime Udoka and his coaching staff and has been quick and decisive in the trade market, as shown by his decision to move on from Kemba Walker during the off-season.
However, Stevens is only one year removed from being a head coach in the NBA, and still holds the high-profile reputation he built during his six-year coaching career in Boston, where the impressive young coach racked up 354 wins in 636 regular-season games, along with 38 playoff wins in 70 contests.
With such success still fresh in everybody’s mind, it comes as no surprise that Stevens’ name has been floated around Indiana, as rumors build on Rick Carlise’s commitment to coaching the team.
“As the Pacers quickly descended in the standings, fueled by a frustrating string of losses in close games and the widespread expectation that they would be one of the NBA’s most active teams at the trade deadline, scenarios began to circulate about Carlisle becoming president of basketball operations and elevating Lloyd Pierce or Ronald Nored to head coach.
Another iteration of the speculation: Indiana would perhaps try to lure Brad Stevens back to coaching and back to the Hoosier State by urging Stevens to leave behind his successful new front office life with the Boston Celtics,” Marc Stein wrote in a recent edition of his newsletter.
Carlisle Shoots Down Rumors
Carlisle is in his first year back with the Pacers, having left the Dallas Mavericks at the end of last season. The well-respected coach has had a tough first year back in the Eastern Conference, with Indiana nose-diving into a 22-55 record for the season so far.
The Pacers’ job was always going to be a slow starter, as the roster was in need of an overhaul, and the high-end talent didn’t fit together well. Carlise knew the drawbacks going in, and has done his best to improve the players at his disposal as the season has worn on, which is why him taking a step into a front-office role doesn’t make sense at this point in his career.
“Let me be absolutely clear. I’m here to coach this team. I’m here to coach this team for the long haul if they’ll have me, and I’m not afraid of any aspect of a rebuild one single bit, not one bit,” Carlise told the media during a recent press conference, “When I came here, we had hoped to have a really good season this year. We had some struggles early, and it morphed into a change in direction, but that’s OK. It has not quelled my enthusiasm for being back with the Indiana Pacers or taking on this challenge one single bit.”
Carlise’s words sounded genuine, and given the fact that he has unfinished business with the organization, we can probably expect to see him patrolling the Pacers sidelines again next year.
Stevens Has Been Linked With a Return to Indiana Before
This isn’t the first time Stevens has found his name in rumors about a return to his hometown of Indiana. Just last season, the media had the Celtics coach as a heavy favorite to fill the vacant head coaching position at Indiana University.
“I was told that Indiana was prepared to offer him seven years at $70 million dollars. But he did not entertain it. Leaving the Boston Celtics for a college job, it just didn’t make sense,” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported at the time.
However, Stevens was quick to refute those claims, noting that an offer was never made by the Hoosiers and that even if the offer had been extended, his loyalties remained in Boston.
“First of all, I was never offered a package, so that’s all news to me. Secondly, I wasn’t going to leave anyway. And the reason being is that this place, regardless of whether it was a pro organization or college, has been so good to our family, so good to me. And we owe them, especially in the middle of a very trying season that is, you know, right in the middle of a pandemic, we owe them to stay the course.
And so I don’t know how long I’m going to coach. I don’t know how long I’m going to coach in the NBA. I don’t know how long they’ll want me to coach in the NBA. I don’t know what I’ll do after that. Maybe I’ll figure out something new, but right now I am thrilled to be the Celtics’ head coach,” Stevens told the media at the time.
In the months that followed the rumored interest from the Hoosiers, Stevens was offered, and accepted, the reigns to the Celtics organization and has begun to put the building blocks in place for a championship-caliber roster.
With Stevens’ new position and the Celtics’ current trajectory in mind, it’s unlikely that we see the Indiana native switch roles this summer, even if that meant him returning to his hometown and resuming his coaching career.
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