Do Celtics, Brad Stevens Have Enough Urgency To Finally Break Through?

Brad Stevens projects himself as someone who is mild-mannered, even-keeled and even a bit quiet, which are all good qualities in a decision-maker. And after his Celtics blew another chance -- their best yet -- to win an NBA title, Stevens stayed true to himself.

The Celtics president of basketball operations got his chance to explain himself Thursday in a year-end press conference after Boston bowed out of the Eastern Conference finals. It was a disappointing ending to the season for the C's, no doubt, given the fact few teams could match the depth of their high-end talent. Not to mention, the path to the NBA Finals completely opened up for them along the way.

That the Celtics couldn't get past the No. 8 seed Miami Heat in the conference finals only adds to the misery. Stevens, to his credit, built a roster that was considered the title favorite all year long. Yet, on the day his team should have been hosting Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Stevens instead sat at the dais and tried to polish a turd.

He opted to focus on the positives from the 2022-23 Celtics season. That perspective and inclination are understandable. However, it doesn't mesh with where his team is on its championship ascent. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum now have a combined 13 seasons between the two of them. Marcus Smart just wrapped up his ninth year in the league. This team is no longer super-young.

They have five Eastern Conference finals appearances and just one NBA Finals series to show for it. Patience is often required, but with a clear baseline established, at what point do you wonder how the ceiling actually is? And if the ceiling actually is a championship, why aren't you able to break through?

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So it was slightly befuddling if not aggravating that Stevens spent Thursday largely focusing on the regular-season success and the oh-so-close nature of the playoffs both in the press conference and an interview with Celtics.com.

"I thought we did a lot of good things early, obviously, to come together the way the team did through the coaching (change) and leadership with the way our season started," Stevens told Celtics.com. "To come out of the gates 21-5 and play some good basketball and not have (Rob Williams) that whole time, I thought was a really good kickstart for us."

But ...

"I thought our playoffs, obviously, were very difficult as they always are," he continued. " ... At the very end of the day, we had a shot to go to the NBA Finals again with a home game in Game 7, and there were a lot of things we'd like to have back. There are a lot of things we did really well. From my standpoint, as I look at it, No. 1, I think it's really hard to be in the mix in this league to truly have a chance to be one of the last teams standing and to give yourself those opportunities. We have to improve to go a little bit further than we did."

No one questions the difficulty of winning games in the NBA, but the Celtics largely have that part figured out -- only Milwaukee has more regular-season wins the last two seasons. Do they have the wherewithal to get to the next level beyond that, though? Do they have the urgency to do so? Stevens ultimately is the one who can answer those questions with his team building, and lamenting how difficult it is to get to the NBA's final four isn't exactly what fans wanted to hear. That Boston seems intent on running it back once again, presumably with nothing more than tweaks, is becoming just as much of a risk as it would be to make some sort of seismic change.

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Those expectations are lofty, no doubt, but that's a testament to what Stevens and the Celtics have been able to do. The organization loves to tout its 17 banners, so when the team has the NBA's best roster, it's Banner 18 or nothing, right? It was a bit humorous, in that regard, to see Stevens in his state media interview sitting in front of championship banners from 1962 or 1984 and speaking glowingly about a 21-5 start to the regular season.

Stevens also touted the club for its resiliency and how it was able to fight back with its back against the wall, focusing largely on the team's ability to dig itself out of holes -- even if they were the ones doing the shoveling.

"We have an incredibly resilient group," he told reporters. "With their backs against the wall, they're amazing. At the same time, we came up short, and certainly I thought a big part of coming up short was our early play in the last two series."

The job isn't easy, of course. Stevens hit on that in his press conference. He knew the Celtics' offense needed to get better after sputtering against Golden State in the Finals last season, but did the changes come at the expense of the defense? Finding a way to balance that very delicate scale could be the difference between glory and another missed opportunity.