Boston Celtics History: Top 5 Coaching Fails

I’ll admit I was skeptical when the Boston Celtics hired Brad Stevens back in 2013. At that point he was just 36, coming from being the head coach at Butler University, a school with just over 4,000 undergraduates. True he led them to back-to-back NCAA title game appearances, but Stevens played his college ball at Division III DePauw University (no, that’s not a typo). I thought, no way could this guy handle NBA players, with their money and their egos, especially coming in on the heels of Doc Rivers, who coached the team to a championship in 2008 and was an All-Star himself as a player.

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I’m thrilled to say though that I couldn’t have been more wrong. Stevens inherited a team in transition, after Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were traded days before he got hired. The first year was certainly a struggle, the Celtics went just 25-57, but reports on Stevens were positive, that his players loved him and he really had their ears.

Last season, Boston traded the last of the old guard when they moved Rajon Rondo to Dallas. Yes, there were still players on the roster who played under Rivers, but for the most part it was finally Stevens’ team to really mold. By all accounts, he did a fantastic job. The Celtics improved to 40-42 and grabbed the 7th seed in the East. This offseason, NBA veteran Jared Dudley reported that players around the league are buzzing about the work Stevens has done when he sat down for a conversation with Grantland’s Zach Lowe. This gives the organization hope that free agents will want to come to Boston to play, something that hasn’t been the case in the past.

Stevens looks to be well on his way to a long and successful NBA coaching career, but enough about him. The coaches that make up this list are joined by the opposite, seasons spent manning the sidelines as opponents beat up on Celtics game after game. It wasn’t an easy list to compile, with a franchise as successful as Boston. But of the 17 coaches in team history, here are the top five duds, ranked from bad to worst.

I’d like to note that this list has four Hall of Famers on it, and the fifth has two championship rings of his own. They all experienced tremendous success in the game of basketball, just not while running the show in Boston.

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