Celtics head Brad Stevens may not have garnered the votes needed by his peers for the NBA Coach of the Year honor, but considering the star firepower that Stevens has had to go without following the losses of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward to injuries, the Celtics, who currently hold a 2-0 playoff series lead over the Cavaliers, have overachieved by anyone's standards.
In fact, exactly zero of the 30 NBA head coaches voted for Stevens to win the award which went to Raptors head coach Dwane Casey as the NBA's best coach. Shortly after that, Casey was inexplicably fired. The idea that Brad Stevens is one of the best coaches the NBA has to offer is really, really tough to debate when you look at his body of work.
So sharing the professional sports city of Boston, where arguably the best coach in the NFL also happens to currently coach one of the most impressive dynasties in the history of sports, Stevens has had to have visited with Belichick and the Patriots...right?
Here, in this interview with NFL Network, Stevens talks about how important it is for him to spend time with people that you can learn from.
"I have taken advantage of going over there on a number of occasions," Stevens explains. "Whether it's sitting through OTAs, practices, or meetings, whatever the case may be. I got to know Josh [McDaniels] really well, and Josh was kind of my conduit in there, so I've watched him go through all the quarterback work and all the stuff they do on the offensive side of the ball."
"I think that when you walk out of there, and I've said this before, you feel inadequate as a coach because their culture, and the way that they move from drill to drill, how they pull together, how connected they are...it is special and that does not happen everywhere."
"The one thing that the Patriots have always been great about, is they don't beat themselves, and they pride themselves on that. I think that, plus the idea of doing your job and that everyone has a role to play and to be a superstar in your role, those are all things that coaches are talking about all the time, but they just do it better than everybody else."
Hear more from coach Stevens in the clip.