Related
Eyebrows were raised when a college coach, Brad Stevens, was hired by the Celtics to become the replacement for Doc Rivers.
Appearing on the Kirk & Callahan Show during Tuesday's Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon, Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck offered some insight as to why his organization made such a move.
"We had a conversation and he said, ‘Doc is leaving, who do you want to hire?’ I said, ‘I don’t know to hire but I know the job specs. I’ve been thinking about this.’ We had an old-school, fantastic coach, but very old-school with certain rules that the starting five had to be the finishing five," Grousbeck said. "It’s sort of like playing baseball. There are a lot of old-school (things) that don’t necessarily make a lot of sense. We wouldn’t have won without Doc. We had a great nine years. But he moved on. I said, ‘I want to a young gun. I don’t want an NBA retread. I don’t want anyone who has been fired in the NBA. I’m not going to have a retread. We’re going to start fresh. Danny (Ainge), I want a mind that matches with yours and you guys can do creative things.’ He said, ‘Oh a partner in crime. Let’s have a college coach.’ Exactly. That’s the point. Let’s go for it. Let’s take a risk. He recommended Brad and we got to know Brad over a period of time and went to meet him in person and got him on the plane and brought him back to Boston."