The Boston Celtics enjoyed yet another year of successful season of steady improvement, leading them to the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference, and a 1st round elimination in 6 games to the Atlanta Hawks. Isaiah Thomas had himself a year, making the All-Star team and Avery Bradley made it to the First All-NBA Defense team. For a squad of role players the Celtics have found themselves in a good position to become a force in the Eastern Conference. With Head Coach Brad Stevens and GM Danny Ainge leading the way for the direction of the franchise, expect to see a lot more from Boston.
Ainge and Stevens are now going to be a part of the Celtics long-term future. The Celtics announced earlier Tuesday morning that they have extended the contracts of GM Danny Ainge and Head Coach Brad Stevens. The Press Release:
The Boston Celtics announced Wednesday that they have extended the contracts of president of basketball operations Danny Ainge and head coach Brad Stevens. The terms, per team policy, have not been disclosed.
Managing partner, governor and CEO Wyc Grousbeck told Celtics.com that based on Stevens’ and Ainge’s success in their respective roles, the decision to extend their contracts was made without hesitation.
“A major job of ownership is to find the right people to run the basketball side,” Grousbeck said. “We believe we have found them in Danny and Brad.”
“Once you find your people,” he continued, “you need to support them in their efforts and create a work environment that enables them and the team to succeed. If all of that is in place, the topic of extending contracts becomes an easy one, because everybody wants to keep moving forward together.”
I’m a Toronto Raptors fan, I’m not supposed to be happy to hear good news for the Celtics, but I truly think that this team is worth watching. The way they play under Coach Stevens is really the definition of team basketball, and focusing on defensive principles first. Stevens has led the Celtics to an 88-76 record over his 2 years as Coach, completely turning this team around. With enough cap space to sign a max player and 9 draft picks in this years NBA draft, the Celtics are poised to have one of their busiest offseason’s in history. Could they be aiming towards signing one of the bigger free agents like Kevin Durant or Al Horford or trading away those picks to find players to fill some of their voids? It’s all speculation at this point, but Danny Ainge has been vocal about what he plans to do this offseason and Durant is at the top of his list.
