BOSTON (AP) 鈥� Make no mistake about it, Brad Stevens still expected to be watching in the playoffs right now.
鈥淚鈥檓 pissed. I鈥檇 rather be playing New York tonight,鈥� Boston鈥檚 president of basketball operations said Wednesday during his end of season news conference.
Stevens鈥� bitterness is not just about the second-seeded to mark the third time in the last four years that they have lost in the playoffs as the higher seed.
It鈥檚 more about how a team that started the season with sidelined, and with such low outside expectations, overachieved to a point that Stevens and the front office were thinking anything was possible when the postseason opened a few weeks ago.
鈥淚f you would have told me last summer that we would have won 56 games in the regular season; that the young guys would all become contributors; that people would have great impacts, and all up and down our roster; that we would get Tatum back for (22 games) … I would have been thrilled with those results,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淏ut the reality is, is that we came up short and, so now the job is to do an honest assessment.鈥�
Stevens said that introspection will begin with first taking a breath following Boston鈥檚 earliest postseason exit since Stevens鈥� final season as Boston鈥檚 coach in 2020-2021.
It got him thinking about a small sign that hangs in his office that says, 鈥淲hat do you want, what鈥檚 true and how do you get there.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 no question what we want. There鈥檚 no question when you look at what鈥檚 true that, though we did a lot of good things, we lost in the first round,” Stevens said. “And we鈥檙e also 3-11 against the top three seeds in the West (Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Denver) and the other top two (Detroit, New York) in the East. And so, we鈥檝e got to get better.鈥�
Even before Tatum made his season debut on March 6, just shy of 10 months after rupturing his right Achilles tendon in the second round of the playoffs last season against New York, the Celtics were thriving with the feisty group led by All-Star Jaylen Brown.
Brown set career scoring (28.7), rebounding (6.9) and assists (5.1) averages while getting into the MVP conversation for the first time.
That continued when Tatum returned and played in 16 of the final 22 regular-season games, in which he averaged 21.8 points and 10 rebounds. He looked mostly like himself playing at what Tatum said was about 80-85% as he continued to rehab and prepared to play more minutes in the playoffs.
But it also could have contributed, Stevens acknowledged, to Tatum leaving Game 6 of their first-round series with the 76ers early with an unspecified left leg issue. By the morning of Game 7 two days later he was experiencing , and the decision was made for him to sit it out.
The Celtics lost 109-100 without him.
Stevens said everything about Tatum鈥檚 return will be looked at by their sports performance staff, including how the ramp up in his minutes may have factored into the new knee ailment.
Tatum averaged 36.3 minutes in his six playoff games, twice logging 40-plus.
鈥淗e did play a lot of minutes,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淒o we think that had an impact on his knee stiffness and in the injury in Game 6? It鈥檚 hard to tell, but we can鈥檛 cross it off. So we have to look at that. And, I know that they will.鈥�
How much change to the roster will take place is unclear. The only unrestricted free agent this summer will be Nikola Vucevic, who was acquired from Chicago in exchange for Anfernee Simons at the trade deadline.
But the Celtics received about a $27.5 million trade exception in that deal that Stevens could use this offseason. He said everything is on the table.
He was coy about what they might pursue but did note that figuring out how to get to the rim more would be a priority.
鈥淚 think that one of the things that we鈥檝e got to figure out is how to have more of an impact at the rim,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淎nd I think we need to add to our team to do that.鈥�
As for who will be in charge of the roster once it鈥檚 constructed, Stevens said he still has confidence in Joe Mazzulla and his staff.
鈥淚 think our coaching staff, like all of us, can continue to improve and get better. That said, I think they鈥檙e very good, and we need to continue to provide them the resources to grow and to get better and to continue to be the best that we can be.鈥�
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