The Boston Celtics are pretty nice people

It's not uncommon for major sports franchises to do a lot of community service and outreach. But in the past few days, both Boston head coach Brad Stevens as well as the Celtics organization have been doing some pretty awesome things for people struggling with difficult medical situations.

Stevens was able to sneak away from his busy NBA coaching schedule to head to Indiana to visit one of his former Butler players, Andrew Smith, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

From The Indy Star:

Smith has begun undergoing treatment for the disease in his hometown of Zionsville, Ind. And over the past few days, an old friend stopped by.

Per Samantha Smith's twitter account:


It appears Stevens made time amid his hectic NBA schedule to fly back to Zionsville to visit the Smith family. Stevens' Celtics, 19-34 on the year and in fourth place in the Atlantic Division, won Monday night in Milwaukee and host the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night in Boston.

And it's not the first time Stevens has gone out of his way for a former player. It was just this past summer when Stevens, three days after accepting the Celtics head coaching position, turned up in Connersville, Ind. to honor a promise he'd made to Matt Howard's father.


Aside from Stevens' trip, the Boston Celtics organization has reached out to Louis Corbett, a 12-year-old from New Zealand who has learned that he has retinitis pigmentosa, which will cause him to go blind at a very early age. One of Corbett's wishes is to see his the Celtics play live before losing his eyesight. After learning about Corbett's case through a push from Red's Army and social media, the Celtics organization is doing everything they can to grant Corbett his wish.

From Yahoo's Ball Don't Lie Blog:

The Corbetts say that the Celtics have offered to host Louis and Tim at TD Garden for Boston's matchup with the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, March 5, with Bank of America offering up their corporate luxury box for seating, Air New Zealand offering to cover the full fare of Louis' flight and fundraising still ongoing to pay for Tim to travel with him. (As of 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, the family's Givealittle page has raised just over $9,200 U.S.) The Celtics told BDL that the details weren't set in stone just yet, but did confirm that they're trying to get Louis to the Garden.

"The Boston Celtics Team is working on giving Louis a special experience at the Celtics game and assisting with their fundraising efforts in order to get Louis and his family here," a Celtics spokesperson told BDL Tuesday.

These types of feel-good stories are always great to hear, especially when they involve your favorite team.