The team that preaches freedom and looseness will continue to do so while squeezing more efficiency from its shiny roster than ever before.
Conventional wisdom says that teams have two avenues by which to improve: better personnel, and/or existing personnel getting better. The Stevens’ era has so far been marked by ingenious resourcefulness, which in reality was code for coaching smartly and forging success from absence. This year, abundance is the name of the game: the Celtics have both flavors of “better.”
The media, doing what media does best, spent a good part of the last week sounding the same dilemma: “well, gee, how’s it all going to work?