How did Stevens build a championship team?

When Danny Angie announced his departure from Boston in June 2021, the Celtics announced that then-head coach Stevens would take over the position of general manager, which was an unexpected enough decision at the time. Although it has always been impressive since college basketball coaches entered professional basketball, it is a considerable challenge for the team general manager to observe the team and players from different angles.

Tatum and Brown had grown into the team's aces when Stevens took over the team. Although there were always media and fans questioning the pair of Tanhua brothers, according to media reports, when the Celtics had the opportunity to chase other All-Star players, Stevens was always the one on the team who insisted on opposing the team.

After taking over the team, Stevens established the core principle of building a team with the Double Tanhua, and used chip trading in time, took decisive action at critical moments, found suitable players one after another, and finally created a championship-level team.

After taking over the team, Stevens' first deal was to give star point guard Kemba Walker and the 2021 first-round draft pick. Later, this signing became Shin Kyung, who changed from the Thunder to center Horford.

For Stevens, he was very familiar with Horford. When Horford finished two consecutive championships at the University of Florida in 2007, their opponent in the round of 16 was Butler University, where Stevens served as assistant coach. At that time, Stevens had already stated that Horford was the best player in the University of Florida, while Horford believed that Butler was the team with the most complete system at that time.

Then Horford joined the NBA that year and joined the Hawks as Tanhua. Stevens became the Celtics coach in 2013. They would fight against each other on the court, but they always looked forward to each other's outstanding abilities in different identities.

Stevens once said that he had thought about coaching Horford, and this wish was finally realized in 2016. That summer, the Celtics tried to lobby Durant for joining, but they put another target on Horford, and Stevens flew directly to Atlanta to lobby Horford. At the end of the meeting, Stevens showed Horford a video of the 5-out offensive system he designed for Horford. This move left a deep impression on Horford and finally decided to join the Celtics.

Horford played in Boston for three seasons, and reached the Eastern Conference Finals twice, but both failed in the end; Horford then signed with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019, but his final performance was not as expected, so he was traded to the Thunder the next year, but basically had no playing time in the last 28 games of the season.

When Stevens became the general manager of the Celtics, he immediately decided to bring Horford back to Boston. Although he was 35 years old at the time, he was still a key signing for the Celtics to be optimistic about. This deal saved the Celtics at least 20 million in salary space in the next two years. Stevens clearly expressed his policy on the team's lineup, building an auxiliary lineup around the double-Tanhua to maximize the talent of the two.

Offfield, Horford is the mentor of the Double Tanhua. When he joined the Celtics in 2016, Brown was also a freshman who had just entered the league, while Tatum joined the team the next year. The two learned a lot of experience from him, not only how to choose the game, but also how to survive for a long time in the league.

In February of the following year, Stevenson sent Longford and Richardson, adding a first-round exchange and a draft pick, and exchanged the Spurs for defender Derek White.

White was not a star player at that time, but the Celtics had already begun to pay attention to him before the 2017 draft. Assistant general manager Mike Zaren said that he and then general manager Danny Angie had thought about choosing White, but the Spurs took the lead. But starting from White's second year in the league, the Celtics asked the Spurs about White's trading price code every year, but the Spurs' quotes were always higher than the team's standards until Stevens waited until the opportunity appeared.

White signed a four-year, 73 million contract with the Spurs in December 2020, averaging 14.4 points and 5.6 assists per game. White is no stranger to the double-Tanhua. They served as teammates in the 2019 World Cup. At that time, Stevens had already demonstrated the principle of building a team, not only focusing on the short term, but also on the longer term future.

After coming to the Celtics, White significantly improved his three-point shooting percentage and gradually became an indispensable core for the team. In addition to being selected for the league's defensive lineup, there are also signs of being selected as the All-Star. This role player gradually integrated into the team's core rotation and eventually became the team's core puzzle to win the championship.

Stevens also encountered an accident in the process of building the team. The team reached the finals in 2022, and although they failed to get out, at that time, most fans thought that the young and strong Celtics had great potential in the coming year. However, just in September of that year, before the training camp for the new season started, head coach Uduka was suspended for violating the team's policies because of improper relationship with the team's female employees.

Celtics and Stevens did not find a bigger coach to replace him and chose to appoint Mazula as a temporary head coach. Although the latter was only 33 years old at the time, Stevens believed in his coaching philosophy and believed that his philosophy was the most suitable choice that meets the team's current needs.

Mazula was an assistant coach Stevens found in 2019 when he was a coach. The most obvious thing about the two is that they were just small-scale college team coaches before joining the NBA, but Stevens has enough confidence in his coaching discipline and analytical skills. More importantly, Mazula's enthusiasm for basketball directly touched Stevens.

Mazula is full of open mind to the team. The players even say that he is a bit weird. He will use various alternative ways to motivate the players and stimulate the players' growth.. In coaching, Mazula brought football philosophy into the basketball court. He believed that offense and defense should not be separated, but should be regarded as a continuous process. Offensive space and shooting choices will affect defense, and defense will also affect offense. Everyone on the field can be the starting point of the offensive, and through basketball flow, they can find the opponent's weaknesses and attack, creating a three-point gap opportunity.

Mazula's favorite training method is to divide the players into two groups of five, not specifically specifying which side is responsible for offense or defense, but to hand the ball to one of them, asking them to find offensive opportunities from the opponent's lineup as soon as possible. An offensive and defensive strategy like

requires everyone to have quick reaction ability and have no weaknesses in offense and defense. In order to create such a lineup, Stevens showed no sign of reinforcing his pace. In June 2023, the Celtics sent out three players including Smart and obtained center Porzingis and two first-round picks from the Wizards through a three-party transaction.

The Celtics have always wanted to get the Pope in the past. Before the draft, Polygon once planned to participate in the 2014 NBA draft. The Celtics had the 6th and 17th picks that year, but Polygon finally chose to withdraw his decision and played in the Spanish Professional League for one more year, hoping to improve to a better pick.

In 2015, the Celtics unexpectedly made it to the playoffs and finally only had the 16th pick in the draft. Although they tried to trade upward, they still missed the chance to join the Knicks with the fourth pick in the first round.

Porcelain performed well in New York at the beginning, but suffered a cruciate ligament tear on the left knee in 2018 and the Knicks did not plan to renew the contract. According to media reports, the Celtics tried to exchange with Irving to the Knicks at that time, but the transaction was aborted, and the Pope was eventually traded to Dallas.

But he was not used to it in Dallas, and his injury and on-field efficiency were not ideal enough. The combination of him and Doncic was obviously not as expected. He returned to the Wizards two and a half years later. At that time, the Celtics did not have enough trading chips to match the 31 million contract of Popes, and eventually failed to cooperate. When the Celtics lost to the Heat in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, the team owner made it clear that they wanted to change, so they once again targeted Porzingis.

At that time, the Pope was different from before. He began to develop outside projections with simpler and more effective singles steps and pick-and-roll attacks. It just so happened that Stevens noticed these changes. When the Celtics played against the Wizards away, Stevens would also play with him. Although other teams offered higher prices at that time, Boss finally chose to join the Celtics. Compared to playing the core role of second-tier teams, he wanted to join a first-tier team that suits him and leave some results for his basketball career.

At the beginning, the Celtics planned to pull the Clippers into a three-party transaction, but the latter questioned Brogodon's health, so the Celtics had to choose to trade with the Grizzlies and give Smart, while Posses chose to reach a two-year, 60 million contract renewal with the Celtics.

For Stevens, this is a very risky decision. Smart is not only the team's defensive core, but also has a nearly family-like relationship with the Double Tanhua, and the Positives in exchange for it has a potential risk of injury. Fortunately, all risks are no longer important in front of the championship. After winning the championship, Stevens once again handled the contract of Posses again, which is the most critical signing for the Celtics to win the championship. In October 2023, Stevens sent Brogodon, Rowe and two first rounds, and exchanged defender Holiday from the Trail Blazers. According to Stevens at the time, everyone had a list of players in their hearts, whom you thought were suitable for the team but didn't have the chance to find, and Holiday was one of them.

The Bucks had to trade Holiday in order to get Lillard from the Trail Blazers, but the Trail Blazers were in rebuilding, so they considered trading Holiday to leave the team. At that time, the Celtics knew that the opportunity was coming. At Holiday's press conference, Stevens rarely found it difficult to hide his emotions and directly smiled.

For Stevens, he still maintains his team building principles and helps Double Tanhua form a better lineup, but like other previous deals, what is important is not only on-field performance, but also off-field changes and the long-term impact on the team. Holiday signed a four-year, 135 million contract with the Celtics to ensure that he can continue to contribute to the team.

In this way, Stevens built a strong enough championship team with Tatum and Brown as the center. More importantly, this group of core players successfully renewed their contracts with the team. Except for Horford and Holiday, the others were about to reach the peak of their players' careers, laying out future championship opportunities for the Celtics early.

Thanks to this series of outstanding work results, Stevens was selected as the league's best general manager in 2024, but his work has not yet ended. Even if he has won the championship trophy, the subsequent work will not end. As he said after the team won the championship:

"I will celebrate the day and then the draft will begin."