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After leading his Boston Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in three of the past four seasons, Brad Stevens will be fighting for his playoff life — and depending on who you ask, his job — when the Cs take the court against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.
However, while some media personalities and fans may be clamoring to get the self-appointed “Masshole” out of Beantown, FS1’s Colin Cowherd has issued a warning on those prepared to pull the trigger.
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Cowherd: Firing Stevens Will Come Back to Haunt Celtics
The majority of those who believe people in the Celtics’ building have gone tone-deaf to Stevens’ message, still continue to laud his coaching prowess. Widely regarded as one of the league’s most brilliant basketball minds, there’s no denying the 44-year-old Stevens would be a popular name on the open market.
“Brad Stevens would be unemployed for five minutes,” Cowherd said on Monday’s airing of The Herd. “Be very careful about letting a guy go that can come back to haunt you.“
If the Celtics do ultimately decide to cut bait with Stevens — a route President of Basketball Operations Danny Ainge has continuously shot down — Cowherd believes that the team would be hand delivering his services to an Eastern Conference foe.
“If Milwaukee [Bucks] struggles in the playoffs, [Mike] Budenholzer is out. They’re going to hire Brad Stevens,” he proclaimed. “He’s going to beat you for 10 years. As long as Jrue Holliday and Giannis [Antetokounmpo] are together, they’re going to win a lot of series.”
“Be careful about Brad, because I think Milwaukee is one of those teams sitting there and if they don’t win, they’re getting him. Stevens will spend 15 years there, win a bunch of titles and you’re stuck with Kemba Walker and somebody’s third choice as your head coach.”
‘You Firing Brad?’: Ainge Responds
Joining 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Toucher and Rich for his weekly segment, Ainge was recently asked about what lies ahead for the Celtics heading into the offseason.
“We’ll definitely be looking to make changes in the offseason,” Ainge said. “Obviously I can’t go into any of those kind of details, but there will be some changes. How significant? I don’t know yet, we’ll see.”
Ainge was then further pushed to elaborate on such changes, ie: being asked the question on everyone’s mind, “you firing Brad?”
“Nice try,” Ainge responded laughing. “I’m not saying that Brad is a perfect coach. He’ll tell you, he’s got things the can improve on that he wishes he could’ve done better this year. But that’s not the issue. Brad is a fantastic basketball coach — always has been and is getting better, not worse. Our team has been decimated by injuries and underperformed, there is no doubt about it. We’re not as good as we thought we were, it’s that simple.”
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