Brad Stevens will get the chance to pay his respects to Andrew Smith one final time.
The Boston Celtics head coach will deliver a eulogy Sunday at the funeral of the former Butler player, who died Tuesday at the age of 25 after a two-year battle with cancer.
“Obviously, it’s gonna be hard,” Stevens told the Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach before Friday’s game against the Phoenix Suns. “But I had a good relationship with Andrew and (his wife) Sam. It’s one of those things where I’ll do my best to represent him well.”
Stevens missed the Celtics’ game against the Chicago Bulls last Thursday to visit Smith, who played under Stevens for four years at Butler, after he was readmitted to an Indiana hospital. Stevens won’t miss any action this time around, as he’ll fly to Indianapolis after Boston’s Saturday night game against the Washington Wizards and rejoin the team Monday in Dallas for their game vs. the Mavericks.
He’s also pretty confident he’ll have plenty to say about his beloved former player.
“When you’re really close to someone, you don’t have to put a lot of time into what you’re going to say,” Stevens said. “It comes out pretty easy. Certainly I’ll think about it and hopefully represent him well. But it’s just a matter of cutting back stories so I don’t go over five minutes, because that’ll be hard to do.”
Smith’s legacy also will live on at Butler, where the school on Friday announced the creation of the Andrew Smith Scholarship Fund. Stevens, of course, supports the cause.
“It’s obviously a great tribute to him,” Stevens said. “At the end of the day, I think we all knew that they would do something. I think that will be the first of many types of things established for him. But I know how much he loved Butler and I know how much his wife appreciates that. So that’s a really nice gesture on their part and I’m glad it happened soon. I’m glad it happened really quickly.”
Thumbnail photo via Sam Smith/USA TODAY Sports Images
