Brad Stevens on Celtics winning the Championship, Tatum & Brown & coaching! | The Pat McAfee Show

Brad Stevens on Celtics winning the Championship, Tatum & Brown & coaching! | The Pat McAfee Show

joining us now ladies and gentlemen Indiana man who’s leading the Boston Celtics formerly as their coach now President of Operations ladies and gentlemen Brad Stevens hey guys how we doing coach people still call you coach or no they do and then they usually say afterwards they usually say I don’t know why I still call you coach well that’s because once a coach always a coach and I think that’s I think that’s a compliment more so than anything and we saw you know zville high school photo of you the other day on the internet you’ve always had so much Swagger that the world could not handle it uh let’s talk about your life right now you obviously go from coach to front office and that’s been something I assume you’ve had to talk about at length or had nauseum for me as a guy that was in Indiana whenever you were in your run at Butler and how much all these people love you in Indiana and how much respect everybody has for your basketball brain watching you leave the sidelines to go up to the front office I didn’t fully understand it now obviously it’s like the greatest decision any person’s made at this point but when you make the transition from coach to Executive was there nerves were you ready for I think there’s been numerous people that have said like you were ready for it but did you know that all this was coming and that’s like such a crazy question but was there nerve did you expect this and how was it gone since the transition has taken place verus what you thought it was going to be no I mean yeah there were nerves um because it’s totally different right you spend 21 years um coaching and that’s kind of what you build up you know your knowledge Basin and and you know that’s the old rule of 10,000 hours coaches get to that pretty quick um with how many hours you put in but um I really love to build team um I I I really like to fit pieces together um we had an amazing staff in the front office that I knew could help me get better at understanding the intricacies and the nuances of you know the cap and the CBA and understanding all the different decisions that you have to make along the way um but I felt like I had a good base of knowledge about our basketball team and specifically our best players and what would compliment them and hopefully hopefully we can put the right pieces around and and just continue to be sustainably good I don’t think you ever you know you always want to win uh championships you always want to be in the mix for that and that’s you know that’s what we’ve tried to do and we also recognize how much Good Fortune you have to have to actually do it right and so um it’s been fun plus my my calendar’s a little bit more open up Pat during the year like I didn’t miss very many of my son’s high school games my golf games gotten better I’ve been to a lot of my daughter’s soccer games and you know coaches as much as we try to be present we miss a lot and so it’s been the best of both worlds for me well I’m happy to hear the golf game’s gotten better Happy chance to hang out with your kids and uh not have to be fully immersed in basketball and how do we get better all the time and what play sets should we run what is this team going to do what did you see in Joe Missoula okay cuz I went to school at West Virginia uh at the same time as Joe Joe was known as an incredibly cerebral smart guy everybody loved him on the basketball team and obviously his jump and the youngest coach to make the finals since 1969 or or something like that what did you see in Joe and does Joe ask you questions I saw pep was there I think he he tried to pick Pep’s brain who’s the man City no yeah Manchester City coach does he talk to you do you chat with Joe and how was your relationship coach to coach seemingly well I love Joe I hired him as an assistant long ago um and he’s been an assistant here prior to being the head coach under unique circumstances last year and I thought he did an amazing job last year and he backed it up with an even better job this year and and that’s to be expected we’re supposed to we’re supposed to improve as time goes on especially when you have kind of the growth mindset that Joe has Joe is an incredible leader he knows the game um he makes good decisions in the game on both ends of the floor but I think his his impact goes way beyond that he’s amazing in the locker room he’s amazing with the guys he’s not afraid to challenge people um and he has the stamina to work and you know that that coaching thing when you’re talking about 200 some odd days or 250 some odd days in a season we started September mber 28th the coaching brain never kicks off right and so to end in June 17th um and to be on that whole time and to have that kind of stamina and that kind of work ethic is real and and he’s got it his his motor is is always going um he’s got great uh he’s done a great job of creating a network of people like pep in sports that he likes outside of basketball um that I think he really um you know really tries to learn from this you never worry one minute about Joe Missoula feeling like he’s got it all figured out he’s always trying to learn grow get better and he brings a great energy to the building and we’re lucky he’s here yeah there was a story that came out about him winning coach of the month or whatever and he’s nobody cares and they just kept walking by it’s like like that yeah that that like humility is something that all coaches have to have and you talk about 200 200 some OD days that’s not just like at work that’s like on road oh yeah travel like the go ahead and always thinking about it like it never leaves your mind right like even when you’re trying to disassociate and get you know hang out and and go to dinner whatever the case may be with your family or be at a kids game you know you’re always thinking about the team because that is you’re just trying to figure out how to get the pieces all to work together as well as humanly possible it’s a big difference between my job now and his job is you you don’t you don’t get into the weed needs of the everyday in this job like you do as a coach you’re more of the 10,000 foot View and how it’s all going to fit together and thinking about what’s next and um but I just got a great respect for his motor he brings it every day yeah said it and forget it you know and not forget it as in like uh don’t think about it for you but it is like rotisserie chicken let’s just put that thing in there and then Missoula is the one yep he’s the one that’s spinning the the chicken you guys are a great tag team it’s been fun to watch so incredibly dominant go ahead AJ coach uh why do you think in professional sports it’s so tough to have sustained success Pat and I talk about it all the time like what the Patriots did what it seems like the Chiefs are in the middle of right now in the NFL what you guys are hopefully going on like what’s the plan and how do you continue to kind of like push the envelope and continue to get better well I I’ve been really fortunate studied a lot of football uh AJ and and my time at Butler when I was in Indianapolis the sustained success of the Colts hell yeah um through the Manning years and then in transitioning to Andrew and and all the great players on offense and defense that you play special teams yeah Special Teams I count I counted you as defense for some of those tackles okay okay that’s actually I actually wore yeah I actually wore defense in Jersey a practice hey Brad you know yeah this guy did stud ball yeah sorry about that my bad my bad and then and then you know I move out here and you’re right in the middle of the Patriots dynasty and you know the quarterback room when I went and sat down with those guys where you know it’s it’s Brady and garoo and and brassett and Josh and you have all these future head coaches walking all over that building and and Bill is obviously you know the most amazing resource you could ever have here and um so you learn a lot from those people and I think what we’ve been fortunate with in our long run of playoffs is that we had a chance to be good and at the same time had a couple of other picks that we were able to that we knew we there right and Danny just had to get them right and boy did he ever and so when you get in backto back years Jaylen and Jason then you have a head start on BE Su being sustainably good and then it’s about you know we’ve had different iterations of our team as they were growing and going from 19 year old and 20 year olds with a little bit less responsibility to kind of carry in the torch for us but it’s about finding the people that fit best around them how we can accentuate them you know I think of like how you know the receivers that the Colts could put out there for for pton or the the receivers or the running backs that the Pats could put out there for Brady like that’s what you’re just trying to do that’s the way you’re thinking about it let’s talk about Tatum and brown obviously was a big piece of conversation in the sports media World um is Tatum doing enough or is this Browns team I’ll tell you what if I’m Brown I’m thinking to myself why is Tatum still on the Marquee with me like there is a lot of that from the outside right that that was they didn’t talk about your team I don’t know how much you PID attention you can’t pay attention you got do thing nobody really talked about your team now granted Connor was screaming for a long time anytime we brought up basketball because he is obviously a massive fan of yours he was an absolute walking in here the other day after you guys won so thank you for creating another championship for this guy to celebrate but they’ve been trying to drive a wedge between those two seemingly since you guys became Uber successful why do you think those two get along so well why do you think those two are going to continue to be pillars for you and how do you how do you maintain this like I don’t want to say oh something just happened that was NE yeah it was sweet something just happened right behind you was pretty cool but how do you why do you think they are that way and how does this is this possible forever I guess with the way these two operate we’re we’re we’re so far into the tax we’re saving money on my lights in my office you got to pay one of those guys yeah you got to pay one of those guys yep yep yep if I don’t if I don’t I don’t move for five minutes the lights automatically go out uh you know what this yeah this all starts Pat with the character of the two people and at the end of the day these guys are workers great teammates you know awesome players but competitors and you know you know it’s funny because now that you win it you know all the narrative is is man they’re way ahead of schedule when you look at their age versus what they’ve accomplished um versus the rest of the league and they were ahead of schedule the whole time and that’s again why we’ve been fortunate enough to kind of build around them they’re the kind of teammates um you want to have on your team they’re the kind of teammates you want to build around and we asked them to do a lot they’re not you know when you think about it a lot of times scoring and the ability to put the ball in the basket gets all the attention and um you know Jaylen Brown is picking up Luca full court you know Jason Tatum in our last three series guards the center so we can switch all the center pick and rolles on Luca and Kyrie and he’s got the size strength and and and ability to communicate and direct the defense from behind to do it you know and those are the types of things that Winners do you know and so they don’t we don’t have time for you know all of the talk about you know um breaking apart we’re too busy trying to work together to win and and those two guys have to lead the way in that they’ll continue to lead the way in that and that’s just who they are they were they were they their families are amazing they’re amazing and we’re lucky they’re Celtics yeah hell yeah I led your answer that’s the way winners operate a lot of losers saying a lot of things it seems like winners are operating in this particular fashion I I think everybody in Boston loves the way you and your team operate as a whole speaking of masshole Connor has a question for you Brad yeah Mr President I just want to say thank you for everything you’ve done for Boston of course as both a coach and now you know the president of basketball operations but you know going forward here you know one’s nice you know I’m I’m going to hold on to this one for a while but like uh like Joe said there was room up in these Rafters there’s room on this desk for a couple more maybe three or four so something to think about but as you do kind of prepare and transition into the next season and I think you said the night of the championship like hey we got we got draft workouts tomorrow so I’m pretty jacked up about that but how often during the season and obviously now are you trying to kind of pick and place other guys in spots that we may need and are you worried about the potential that when you start calling teams they’re going to pick up and say go to hell and hang up because they know if they trade with you that the Celtics are going to continue to dominate oh you’re talking about Drew holiday yeah Drew holiday I mean you could argue Derek white Kristof porzingis it kind of happened to Danny a actually right before you took over where people were like hey if Danny a calls you tell that son of a to go to hell because he’s making a bad deal for you are you worried about that Mr President I’m I’m not because every trade we’ve done I think has been good for the other team they were all in different ages and phases and and trying to maximize assets and and those type of things and so listen we haven’t we haven’t had a first round pick yet in the three years I’ve been here tomorrow we have number 30 for now and so you know we’ll see what happens but I think the you know at the end of the day uh there’s a lot of smart people around the league and there’s a lot of teams that are looking at wherever whatever window they’re in with regard to building or trying to maximize it right now and we certainly again you know when we got Jason and Jaylen we’ve got to find the right people to to build around them and um so from my standpoint our job um and and I think I you know I don’t have all the expertise that a lot of these front office people do around the league or even in our building um my only background is in coaching and how teams function together so we try to make it is as easy for a team to to complement one another to bring out the best to one another and for you know the coaches to you know have a group that you can easily create roles and role definition around and I think that that’s that’s kind of what we try to do and yes you’re always thinking about it and um tomorrow whoever we draft wherever we draft oh uh in the next couple of days you know I think that we’re just going to try to keep adding people that are that are really good people that are interested in competing and uh that are ready for the responsibility of wearing this uniform which is not normal it’s just it is a it is a real responsibility um when you play for the Boston Celtics and it it hits you pretty quick most championships in the history of the NBA that happened this year 18 Lakers 17 congratulations when you talk about the pressure of being a Celtic and you said you got 30 for now and then you said wherever we pick tomorrow or the next couple of days and with all the money you got a lot of money out there more money on the way from what I’ve been told yeah that’s right more you got a lot of money and I don’t know how your NBA salary cap Works feels like you guys just pay like yeah we pay luxury tax whatever we need we can do it and you guys obviously you’re in a standpoint where you got incredible players but I would assume being able to draft somebody who’s potentially young and cheap would be great addition to a team that has a lot of money is that how you’re viewing it and whenever you I I should know this I should have done more research before this conversation you’re trying to move up in the draft from 30 I don’t want to give away your entire leverage but you’re obviously trying to move is that a I would say there are certain scenarios where maybe we we look at moving up and there’s certain scenarios where maybe we look at moving back nice you know the the way that the draft Works in basketball is is all of the salaries are slotted in the first round so it’s slotted one through 30 exactly what those you know contracts will look like really over the course of four years and then in the second round you know you can you can be a little bit more creative with contracts um but you know and even to the point where you know later in the second round there’s a lot of people that will be drafted that in the past will either continue to play overseas for a while or you know we’ll be on two-way contracts in the g-league so there’s there’s all kinds of things that we could do um on draft night but you know if the right person’s there and and we’re and we feel like they’ll come in and help and somebody we can invest in then you know we’re looking forward to to making that pick and if not then we’ll you know we’ll think and obviously talk to everybody in the league about moving around that it’s it’s going to be it’s it’s fun I mean if we get everybody back and we hope you know that we look pretty similar to last year barring any health issues then you know it’s going to be hard for whoever we draft to crack the rotation but we got to start we’ve got to continue to build and grow some of these young guys so that when we you know when we do have to transition um we can do so while again trying to be sustainable I didn’t even know there was more than 30 guys getting drafted right and it just it’s that one french guy yeah s and then there’s another guyon the only two guys yeah I thought that was literally the only two right so congrats on one of I guess congats holy one of those guys going in Celtics he’s going to do it he said he’s drafted somebody I didn’t know there was anybody else to get drafted I somebody from Purdue perhaps oh big TGA yeah big Z big whoa whoa look out Indiana hey he can move too you saw much sh he got in great shape for the uh for his last year here he’s he’s moving around he’s got good mocky too you guys did you jump Pat did you jump on the Purdue bandwagon when they went to the final this year yeah that was sweet H yeah I mean coach I will hop on a bandwagon if we’re going to have a good time you know I’m here for it you know we can boiler up if we have to and Butler I was let’s go Bulldogs whenever you guys good need to get over there to some games no I was it was so much fun to see paint and that Purdue team go to the final they ran into a juggernaut but damn right it I was I was really happy for Coach payter he’s one of the best okay Coach pner obviously awesome guy and there was a lot of doubts about the Purdue team ever getting over the hump so them making it to the finals is obviously a huge combo taking on Dan Hurley in the huskys okay do you pay attention to all the that’s happening around the NBA I guess you would have to in president basketball Ops Dan Hurley right in your backyard seemingly there at uh Yukon in the area did is there a thought of like these Co because Joe Missoula young he coach in college I think and then he’s assisting with you guys and then bang he becomes head coach Dan Hurley was potentially going to be the coach of the Lakers JJ reick now the coach of the Lakers like whenever you have Joe moula is there like certain traits you’re looking for in these young guys and are you scouting all these people that are potentially coaches or players because you never know what’s going to happen in the future while it’s taking place yeah I don’t think that I actually go into Jim’s thinking about it in terms of scouting um but I leave practices you know you know incredibly impressed a lot and one of the things I really enjoy about my new job is going to college practices and watching different people work and that could be the head coaches the assistant coaches running the offense or defense whatever whatever the case may be with Joe in particular we had Joe in Maine um on our g-league staff in in I believe 2014 or 2015 but after he left I used to do a um a round table where we’d bring in coaches from across the country in the summer so I could learn it was it was pretty selfish right it was I wanted to bring people in to talk and learn and I would steal things or plays or defensive drills or whatever the case may be but it also became something where we tried to have a couple of speakers a year that were these kind of young coaches that you needed to keep an eye on and Joe actually was one of our speakers I think in 18 or 19 and um and then we hired him I think it must have been an 18 because we hired him in 1920 and um he’s been with us ever since but yeah you’re you got to keep your eyes open and um you know Danny obviously is a great coach and and great great coaching is not monopolized at any level there are great coaches in the in the youth basketball area there’s great coaches in high school and middle school and college and and um you got to keep your eyes open um and uh and certainly if Danny ever wants to make that transition I think he’ll do that well hey there’s a fourth grade basketball team that had JJ redit coaching it though yeah before he got up here to the NBA and they were they’re good splash spash splash they shoot the rock yeah these fourth graders were traveling a bit I think they were but that’s going to happen but they are shooting a rock don’t want to give things away but I think the Lakers uh they’re going to be running like that fourth grade team you talk about the Celtics and obviously the weight of the logo being on your jersey it also happens I assume to everybody go ahead Ty yeah coach how jarring was that when you first leave Butler and you go from just being like The Lovable Cinderella and obviously everyone knows fans in Indiana are basketball craze but kind of just affable people in general and everyone wanted to see you guys win and then you go to the Celtics where let’s just say I know people on the East Coast maybe have a little bit more hard Edge and uh like the expectation is hey you’re going to win you’re coaching now for not just one of the the most historic teams in the NBA but in all of sports how jarring was that jump from just like hey we’re just kind of happy to be here in the final four to like okay that’s great coach like let go win a title now and uh how long did it kind of take for you to to kind of get used to that and and just like that entire culture change of going from Butler to the Celtics well one of the things that really drew me to the Celtics was that Danny and the ownership group had always really stuck by coaches and really like they they were patient with the process and they understood that they weren’t going to ride the roller coaster of an 82 games even in this market where you know obviously people always will have an opinion and you know are enormous fans um but I think that one of the things that and I’ve said this before I don’t know why this is the case and maybe it was because when I was coaching at Butler I was you know between 30 and 36 um and maybe it was just my age but coaching in your hometown where you went to high school you know basically where you went to college and then where you’ve worked your whole professional life that that’s a that’s a pressure too and um in moving out here the responsibility of putting on the Celtics Jersey and having um was a was was an intriguing part of doing it and at the same time you know I I think that the pressure of coaching in your hometown really prepared me well that this there have been so many you know pinch yourself moments as a member of the Celtics organization in 2013 when I became the head coach we had just traded Pearson Garnett we weren’t expected to be very good at least in that first year and we you know we got better soon thereafter but that first year was tough but you knew the weight of the of the Jersey when you know Tommy heinson would stop by practice when Sach Sanders would come by John havich you know would would come off the cape before he headed down to Florida and would swing by and you know Bill Russells at the first game I coached um you know these are like like as a kid from Indiana who grew up only about basketball those are like incredible moments but also you just you talk about impostor syndrome you’re like yeah and I really don’t belong here you know I I I didn’t think I was good enough to be the coach at Butler there’s no way in hell I’m good enough to be the coach here but those are moments that I’ll never forget and and I think our guys Embrace that like Tatum knows that and brown know they know the responsibility that they have and being the Celtics that everybody looks towards and they’ve always I think they’ve always done a great job with that how old you were 37 I was I think I was 36 when I moved here um but it was hard to leave there man it was hard to leave no but I’m saying you looking in the mirror as a 36-year-old got Bill Russ you you look up in there seven banners okay so this is my team and we’re getting rid of and we all of our players are gone yeah see they’re gonna be out one thing one thing I will tell you very certainly I have never once thought or said this is my team as as Conor knows this is Boston’s team H yeah it’ll be great long it was great before we got here it’ll be great long after we’re here but man it’s uh it’s it’s pretty cool to be a part of you’re a holder of a seat I appreciate the fact that you acknowledge that especially with where you guys are now because the past is littered with Hall of Famers go ahead DB absolutely and it pains me to say this as a Heat fan but congratulations on congratulations congratulations on 18 uh and a lot of things that come with greatness obviously as a Heat fan I’m going to look for some potential problems down the road possibly you’ve been a former coach former player you know how important jersey numbers are with you guys having so many damn jersey numbers retire and uh Brown and Tatum may be the next two has those conversations ever come up in free agents or trade talks with players like one a certain number because you know how important those are to players I mean it’s hilarious when we get like you know guys sign a minimum contract or get traded here in the middle of the season it’s like hey you got like six numbers to choose you know and none of none of them are traditional numbers you know like um and it’s yeah that’s we’re going to you know hey let’s my goal Barry said let’s be good enough for long enough that we don’t have enough left let’s just get them all up there make it all so special um but I see the Florida Panthers jersey hell yeah congratulations to you that was a night huh hell yeah great night first one first one 17 Tatum Tatum and kachuck Shaman High School in St Louis H pretty good class A few years ago how’ you feel about the boys heading down to Miami immediately after winning flight flight is at noon to Miami how’d you feel about that I got the old hey you want to go I said nope I’m good Pat Pat I am an Indiana guy that has grown to love the Northeast I’m good hey our our type of uh Caucasian skin burns quick down there in Miami yeah yeah smart decision smart decision because you had that parade right hey man that parade was epic I assume you guys knew that while you’re in the middle of it you’re looking around going holy this has got to be one of the greatest parades of all time it was it was awesome uh man I’ll tell you we turned the corner onto Causeway Street we were underneath the garden and we come up the ramp and turn the corner on the causeway Street and to see the mass of people to see people um every Walk of Life every age all wearing Celtics gear all smiling all happy all together you know and and think about all the world’s been through in the last five years just to see that yeah was super special to see them all wearing Celtics skar and celebrating this team um yeah that of all the things like I think winning you know winning it had you know you move on to the next day you try to get better you try to do it again whatever but uh man that that parade will be maybe the most memorable part of the experience for me it was it was unbelievable sports are amazing you know there’s there there’s nothing else on earth except for I guess Taylor Swift if Taylor Swift come to town you can have one of these moments where my daughter would agree with that yeah yeah yeah yeah my wife I mean literally everybody that we know but whenever those parades happen it is like a celebration of a city like look what we did it’s so it’s a beautiful thing can’t wait to see how uh South Florida does you got to follow the Boston we we’ll have the beach in the background it’ll be it’ll be beautiful yeah of course found the ring though has Jaylen Brown found his pinky ring or yeah Co or coach how we figure I can’t keep track I can’t keep track everything draft AJ’s got the last question for you here Brad coach when you look at your roster you guys have a great mix I think obviously some vets giving you huge minutes and and huge plays for you Horford and holiday and and everyone else like when you’re putting a roster together how important is it to have not only vets that are playing but also some vets you know that maybe don’t get as much time just to kind of help the young guys along and kind of teach people what it means to be a pro yeah I think I think I think the right vets um AJ are really important and I think you know I’m 47 now so the the older we get the more self-awareness we gain and I think you know kind of how you fit what’s important um what really matters being a part of a team um being able to communicate that you know I’m willing to give a little bit for the benefit of the team you know I think if you look at 30 plus year olds in the league you’d be hard hard pressed to find any people better to lead a group than Al Horford and Drew holiday um incredible players but just totally selfless um willing to do whatever it takes play both ends of the floor and I think are great role models um for our not only our players but um you know our our g-league Affiliates and really every other kid that wants to Aspire to be a part of a team and be part of something bigger than themselves and so yeah that to me is what a vet can bring to the table you know it’s it’s not always easy as people transition to later on in their career to not have the same individual responsibility that they once had and so some some guys struggle to to let go of that um and we’re just lucky that our guys still do it at a high level and they’re also willing to to give um you know that sets a tone don’t you think Drew holiday is way too old to be playing the defense that he was playing he more specifically against like the Pacers that he he was playing right here in India hey what the Pacers were really good oh shut up yeah no listen this I said today we could have come back to Boston down 3-1 yeah we know yeah we were there what could have should yeah we were there rad they had they had a heck of a team um I thought Drew Drew was unbelievable the whole playoffs and but those that that game three where he had the an one on seum and then took the ball um in transition I think it was from n hard at the Yen was happy you have a great memory dude all right happy you have a that’s really good news you know that’s to serve you hey I was a kid it was nothing I was the like most excited person on our whole travel party that we were going to play Saturday night race weekend and then play game four Monday that was when I was a kid it was Pacers Knicks race weekend Eastern Conference Finals and those were like the best weekends of you know ever so it was cool to be on the other side and ruin yeah ruin it yeah try to ruin it yeah yeah you did great thanks yeah we appreciate hey congratulations on all the success obviously everybody here in Indiana loves you is incredibly proud of you and uh hopefully next year you guys lose to the Pacers all right we appreciate you so much man good luck the rest of the [Music] [Applause] way NBA is

Boston Celtics President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens joins the show to discuss:

0:00 The transition from coach to executive
7:30 Boston’s sports dynasties
11:00 Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown working together
16:30 Looking ahead to next season and the draft
23:00 What coaching was like
26:30 The Championship parade

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