Brad Stevens, Boston Celtics, Betting Big On Jayson Tatum

You might not peg Brad Stevens for a big-time gambler, but there's no doubt his job makes him place some big bets.

Having been at the forefront of the apron era, Stevens has had a head start on understanding the impacts of old thinking on the new system. At the same time, he has watched championships won by teams that were less loaded at the top, and more built around a singular force of nature surrounded by a deep cadre of complementary pieces. 

As the Boston Celtics get ready to begin their post-Jaylen Brown era, Stevens is pushing his chips in on the concept, with this season serving as a bit of a soft launch.

“I really like this team,” Stevens said in a recent SiriusXM appearance. “I think they're really smart. I think we're really versatile. I think we're really deep. We have 14 players under contract and a couple of two ways and every single one of them I think can add value to our team.”

But the only way to get maximum value is through Jayson Tatum. 

 there isn't a single way to build a team in sports, and that's still true in the NBA's apron era. but it's becoming clear that unless you hit big on some young players that stick around for a while, that one, singular star is going to have to become the engine that drives everything.

Obviously,  you look around the league and see a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, or Victor Wembanyama  as those players who will always give their teams a chance. The New York Knicks showed that high level role players can support a non-MVP candidate and win a championship. What Stevens is hoping for is a little bit of both.

“When we're looking at where we were four or five years ago, one of our biggest challenges was how do we win around the margins?” Stevens said. “Because we're picking in the late 20s or in the second round. We don't have the ability to bring in mid-level exceptions. We don't have the ability to pay free agents. We're gonna have to bring in some guys on two-ways and bring in some guys as minimums and hope they hit. And huge kudos to the players and their work ethic and a huge kudos to our coaching staff and our player development staff. It built a really deep group. And that's what you need to be to win in this day and age.”

The depth is important, but how it complements Tatum, and how much Tatum raises everyone else's game, will determine how much of success this season is. Tatum heads into training camp next week with his most unique challenge to date. The Celtics traded away his running mate of the past decade. They brought back someone capable of feeling some of the statistical loss, but someone who is very clearly in a supporting role.

“We have a superstar, and that's JT,” Paul George said last week. “I'm not here to not necessarily steal the shine or try to reinvent who I am. I'm here to help JT, and he's the guy.”

He's going to have to be “the guy” more than ever. Obviously, there is an assumption that what we saw at the end of last season is a precursor to him  being back to his normal self. but as great as his normal self has been, the bat Stevens is making is that Tatum is capable of more than that. It's a bet that Tatum can not only score the majority of Boston's points, it's that he can control the game better and longer than he has in the past. 

Fair or not, Tatum is going to be asked to find another level to his game. Because if he can, the next move Stevens makes will be much different than if Tatum can't. Who Stevens targets with the assets acquired in the Jaylen Brown trade will depend on whether his bet on Tatum pays off.

“We had Jaylen Brown here for 10 years. And 10 years is a long run in the NBA,” Stevens said. “And 10 years with that kind of success, and the experience that he brought to the table, and all of his teammates around him brought to the table, and what they were able to do collectively, was a heck of a run. And we're just trying to sustain this now, so that we can be sustainably in the mix moving forward."