Brad Stevens wasted little time in his new role as Celtics president of basketball operations reshaping the roster, dealing away Kemba Walker just two weeks into his tenure. He was also the first executive to fill a head coaching vacancy this offseason with the official hiring of Ime Udoka last week.
Yet as the franchise prepares for a pivotal offseason with Stevens getting up to speed in his new role as a top executive, uncertainty still remains about who will be calling the shots with Stevens in the team’s front office more than a month after the former’s coach elevation from the bench.
Stevens, according to multiple league sources, is spending some time in Las Vegas this week at Team USA training camp along with new coach Ime Udoka and countless other coaches and executives from around the league ahead of the team’s trip to Tokyo. Udoka will be part of the Team USA group heading to Tokyo as an assistant, passing along his Celtics summer league coaching duties to a member of his new staff that is still in the process of being fully put together according to league sources.
Stevens spoke highly of Boston’s current front office personnel that remained in key roles with the franchise after Danny Ainge’s retirement on June 2nd. In his introductory press conference, Stevens signaled that hiring a coach would be the top priority on his list over any potential shifts to the team’s current front office hierarchy beyond his addition.
“I’ve spent a lot less time thinking about the structure of the front office,” Stevens said on June 2nd. “I will, obviously, dive into that. I think there are good people in place and I also think there are a lot of priorities now that need to be tackled with obviously hiring a head coach being one.”
Stevens finalized a deal to hire Udoka as Boston’s new head coach on June 21st. However, according to league sources, he handled interviews for the head coaching position individually before the final round of interviews. At that point, Boston’s director of player development Alison Feaster was the only member of the team’s front office that was a part of the final round of interviews with Stevens along with co-owners Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca.
The 45-year-old Feaster has received rave reviews internally for her role since joining Boston’s front office two years ago, accompanying the team to the Orlando bubble last season. She’s been considered as a candidate for the general manager position according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who also lists Hawks assistant general manager Landry Fields as a potential top choice to be pursued by the Celtics.
Two weeks ago, Stevens hinted he was looking to potentially add some fresh perspective to a relatively small circle of executives and scouts in Boston’s front office under Danny Ainge in the wake of the Kemba Walker deal.
“Right now, I think the fair way to do this from this new role is to really assess everything over time and see how operational we are, see what we need, see what we need to add and we have a lot of good people here,” Stevens said of his plans for the front office. “At the same time, I do think that we will probably become a more robust staff. So we’ll see how that goes. That’s kind of our priority list right now. I wish there were more hours in a day to do it all at once. But I think that the smart move is to evaluate and observe and then figure that out.”
With Udoka’s hiring finalized for weeks and the NBA Draft now just under three weeks away, time is running short for Stevens to make any kind of substantial change to the front office structure under him for this offseason. Any kind of shift could lead to a bigger shakeup in regards to the team’s other executive personnel and that’s a slippery slope for the rookie president in his first year on the job before a crucial free agency season for the franchise.
Stevens’ life preparing for the NBA Draft got easier last month when he dealt away that team’s only first round pick as part of the Kemba Walker trade. However, draft week has always been a pivotal time for wheeling and dealing and it’s essential to have a strong structure and plan of attack in place for the weeks leading up to it.
Monster decisions remain leading into free agency as well. Will team extend Marcus Smart or Robert Williams? How much are they willing to commit to Evan Fournier in free agency? How much will the emphasis be on maintain salary cap flexibility over the long-term versus building a team that could contend next year? There are no easy answers to any of these questions.
It’s possible Stevens will simply keep the team’s current front office structure in place to see how this offseason plays out before evaluating whether any further changes are needed. There have been a number of outspoken members of the front office to some of Boston’s moves in recent years under Danny Ainge, something Ainge revealed to MassLive.com exclusively after his retirement.
“They’ve heard my voice, they know how I think and maybe shapes them, maybe that doesn’t but we’ve had a lot of conversations over the last few years, that staff with Brad,” Ainge told MassLive. “Like I said, most every decision we’ve made has been unanimous but there some things that we haven’t done that others or one of them have wanted to do. Anyway, I’m just really excited that they have to take the shot. I think it’s about that time.”
Whether that current group gets that shot to be heard is ultimately up to Stevens. However, the clock is ticking on a decision as the NBA Draft and free agency inches closer on the calendar. If Stevens wants to bring in prominent outside help for the present, he needs to do it now to avoid others being left in limbo and a potential untimely changeover in personnel. Otherwise, letting what’s left of a highly experienced front office do their jobs is probably the best way to help this group reshape itself for the future with Stevens serving as its ringleader.
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What’s Brad Stevens plan for Celtics front office structure after his surprise elevation? - MassLive.com
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