No red flags, no jumping the line: Getting Boston’s coaching hire right is critical

Brad Stevens doesn’t just need to hire the right candidate regardless of sex or gender; there are several he should also avoid.

The Boston Celtics have long been a leader when it comes to hiring the right person for the job, regardless of race or gender. Now in the midst of a head coaching search, the front office lost an opportunity to continue that tradition during the decision-making process that led to the need for a new coach in the first place.

Just months after making some of the NBA’s most substantive commitments to racial equity as part of a deal struck with the Player’s Association to resume play in the context of some of the most intense civil rights protests in decades, the Celtics could have been the leaders they have been in the past on such issues when it came to choosing a new team president.

For whatever reason, they chose to forego an open hiring process and instead elevate former head coach Brad Stevens to team president immediately.