New Celtics veterans connecting with Brad Stevens



New Celtics big man David Lee has wasted no time in validating Celtics fans feelings for head coach Brad Stevens. When asked what he thought of his new coach so far, Lee was quick to compare him to Steve Kerr, who in his rookie season as a coach, helped to guide the Warriors to their first title in decades.

“(Stevens is) very similar to Steve Kerr last year, actually,” Lee said. “They have a lot of similarities — they’re very positive, and they’re teachers on the floor. It’s important for (Stevens) to be a teacher with the amount of young guys we have. But all the little details are very important to him, and those details are the things that win basketball games.”

 The praise didn't stop there. Lee, who is expected see his minutes increase from last season in Golden State, was impressed with the level of detail that Stevens puts into coaching. Having a veteran acquisition like Lee buying into the system can only help to strengthen Boston's young core of players.

"He's a numbers guy and a technical guy as you probably all know, so there's a lot of stats in there of where the team can get better from last year nad how thin the line is between being the fourth or fifth seas in the (Eastern Conference) and being the 12th and missing the playoffs...

He did a really good job of illustrating those things, and telling us defensively we need to be where we were last year and get even better, and offensively there's a few categories we can get better at to improve that efficiency. I think it's good for players to know Day One what needs to be accomplished, and you work every day to get better."

Not to be out shined, the Celtics other offseason acquisition Amir Johnson was quick to compliment Stevens' work over his first two years as head coach for Boston.

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Follow Padraic O'Connor on Twitter @padraic_oconnor

Source: Darren Hartwell; NESN

Photo Source: OTGBasketball.com via Boston Globe

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