BOSTON – The Brad Stevens fan club has been growing by the day throughout the NBA, and you can add former Boston Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau to the group.
Thibodeau, who coached the Chicago Bulls for five seasons (2010-2015), is in town for the MIT Sloan Analytics conference beginning Friday.
He spent some time with Stevens prior to Boston’s 116-96 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Even before the Celtics’ blowout win, Thibodeau made no secret about liking what he has seen from Stevens and the Celtics this season.
“Danny (Ainge, Boston’s president of basketball operations) and Brad have done an unbelievable job of rebuilding them as quickly as they have,” Thibodeau told CSNNE.com. “Each year they’ve grown, they’ve built quality depth. They have established a style of play. They play hard, they play for each other. It’s enjoyable to watch.”
Thibodeau, who has visited with a number of teams in addition to doing some analyst work for ESPN, said he has been particularly impressed with the continuity they seem to have regardless of who is on the floor.
“That’s one of their strengths,” Thibodeau said. “They have a lot of really good players. When they go to their bench, there’s not really a drop-off. They’re strong at both ends of the floor.”
Boston Celtics
And that in many ways is reflection of Stevens who has made it a priority for the Celtics to be impactful at both ends of the floor during his two-plus seasons as Boston’s head coach.
There are some who see Stevens as a potential coach of the year this season in the NBA.
But as impressive as he has been thus far, Thibodeau is convinced Stevens will only get better with time.
“Brad is someone who will continue to get better because of the way he approaches things,” Thibodeau said. “When you talk to him, he has great thoughts about the game; he’s a student of the game. He’s already a great coach. But he’ll always continue to improve because of the way he approaches the game.”
And as far as his potential return to coaching, Thibodeau said he’s keeping all options open this summer when there will likely be a few head coaching vacancies.
“We’ll see,” said Thibodeau who set an NBA record for most wins by a rookie head coach (62) with the Bulls. “At the end of the year, we’ll look at what might happen and go from there."
Thibodeau added, “This year has been good for me; been a great opportunity to take a step back, recharge, learn. You always want to improve. That’s what I’m trying to do.”