Fansided

Power ranking NBA head coaches: 2015-16 season

By John Buhler

Oct 23, 2015; Manchester, NH, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens gestures from the sidelines during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Verizon Wireless Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 23, 2015; Manchester, NH, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens gestures from the sidelines during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Verizon Wireless Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
26 of 31
Next
Oct 23, 2015; Manchester, NH, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens gestures from the sidelines during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Verizon Wireless Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 23, 2015; Manchester, NH, USA; Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens gestures from the sidelines during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Verizon Wireless Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports /

6. Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics

Brad Stevens took a team full of nothing but NBA role players and turned them into a playoff team in 2014-15. The former head coach of the Butler Bulldogs is one of the greatest basketball minds of his generation.

He took Butler, a school that was a mid-major, to two straight National Championship games with his star players of Gordon Hayward and Shelvin Mack. The Butler Bulldogs are in the Big East due almost entirely to what Stevens accomplished in Indianapolis for the his college program.

It was a tough task to pry Stevens away from Butler, but Celtics general manager Danny Ainge was able to bring aboard one outstanding basketball coach. Watching Stevens draw on a clipboard is for basketball enthusiasts like watching van Gogh paint: pure genius.

Stevens isn’t even 40-years-old yet and he has his up and coming Boston Celtics team 2nd in team defense (97.6), 5th in pace (99.1), and 11th in team offense (104.9). If and when Ainge is able to turn some of these assets currently on the Celtics roster into a superstar via trade of through the draft, the Brad Stevens will become an unstoppable coaching force in the Eastern Conference.

The stars are aligning in Boston once again. With their head coach all but set indefinitely, Brad Stevens could become a Hall of Fame coach not only for Butler but for the NBA’s most storied franchise in the Boston Celtics. Time and basketball acumen are so heavily in Brad Stevens’ favor.

Next: 5. Doc Rivers

Home/NBA