Even with the recent spate of losses, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens is happy, according to his former assistant coach Micah Shrewsberry.
The former Celtics assistant, now a Purdue Men’s Basketball assistant coach, has a long and deep tie to the Zionsville native, having served as his assistant at Butler before Stevens departed the college ranks to join Boston in 2013.
After six seasons with the Celtics, Shrewsberry moved on to Purdue, but the two Indiana natives have stayed close since.
After watching the disaster that was the 2018-19 season take its toll on the former Butler coach (who blamed himself for much of the turbulence derailing a highly-anticipated season), Shrewsberry believes this iteration of the Celtics has inpired a decidedly different feeling in his friend.
“I think he’s thrilled with how they’re playing, but how they’re going about handling their business is the biggest point,” Shrewsberry said (via the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach).
“He just looks and sounds happier. He always used to talk about the teams that make Boston proud, and I think that’s what this group is kind of doing. They bring it every single night, and even the nights they’re not at their best, they fight back into it. That’s the kind of fighter’s mentality that I think Brad wants his groups to play with, and it looks like that’s what they’re doing.”
“That’s who they are this year,” he added.
It’s been a long journey since the former Boston assistant picked up fellow Butler basketball alum Gordon Hayward from the airport as he first joined the team in 2017, only to see the injury to his ankle moments into his Celtics tenure derail much of Boston’s plans.
So, seeing Hayward returning to form has been lifting Shrewsbury’s spirits as well, in the sort of way a wrong made whole again tends to.
“I didn’t want that to be his experience in Boston, because in my mind it was going to be such a great experience for him, coming to Boston and being a focal point and having a great career there,” Shrewsberry explained.
“[Hayward’s] a guy Boston fans would love, the way he plays, and he didn’t get that experience his first two years. Now the way he started the season he was really determined to have a great year. I was kind of floored by his start, and so happy for him. He looks so confident again.”
The evolution of the Jay Team has been another point of joy for both Shrewsberry and Stevens. Fourth-year wing Jaylen Brown and third-year swingman Jayson Tatum are finally coming into their own in a way that’s been hard to miss, even for assistant collegiate coaches with their own teams and schedules to worry about.
“For Jaylen, each year how he handles the ball and how he handles situations has gotten so much better,” the Purdue assistant offered when discussing the Georgia native’s leaps in key areas to expanding his game.
“He’s becoming so skilled with the ball where you just trust him. Early on he’d do stuff and you’d be like, ‘Uh, I don’t know what’s going to happen here.’ But more often than not now, good plays are happening because now he’s seeing the floor, he’s handling it. He’s not trying to score all the time.”
“He’s setting guys up as well,” noted the Indianapolis native. “That part of his game is really flourishing.”
Boston’s most celebrated Duke product is making strides as well, according to Shrewsberry, who feels Tatum’s hiccups with accuracy are a product of growing his game and taking on a bigger role.
“It’s fun to see him step up in those moments where they need a big shot or a big play, and he’s stepping into that moment,” said Shrewsberry. “He’s just going to continue to grow in that role.”
With the team going all-in on their youth movement, it’s been a pleasant surprise to most fans and analysts alike just how well the duo has bounced back from the issues which plagued last season during which both showed little growth as prospects.
Celtics have 4 players in ESPN's Real Plus/Minus top-50 https://t.co/Hdt9njVXyz
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) December 12, 2019
The increased willingness of both to grow their game in ways which compliment the roster construction, passing often and well for Brown and playing a more diverse offensive game for Tatum has paid dividends for the team more generally.
“With those guys, you don’t know what their ceiling is,” gushed Shrewsberry.
“What you thought they’d be at a certain point in time, now they’ve moved it to a totally different level, and how they keep growing from here, the potential for those two is limitless,” added the 43-year old assistant.
“They’re 23 [Brown] and 21 [Tatum]. They can be as good as they want to be, because they keep growing at such a quick rate,” said Shrewsberry, alluding to the pair’s rapid growth over the course of a still-young season.
It’s easy to get negative when the wins slow down after a sip from the cup of enjoyable Celtics basketball. But Boston’s fanbase, thirsty for wins, would do well to take a page from Shrewsberry’s friend and former boss to go neither too high nor too low.
The season is long, and the roster — despite some painful losses — is doing very well in the present, practically bursting with promise.
No wonder Brad Stevens is happy.