Brad Stevens finishes in 6th place in NBA Executive of the Year voting

Brad Stevens in his first season as President of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics finsished in a respectable 6th place in NBA Executive of the Year voting. For some odd reason, in contrast to the other awards where the media votes, this award is decided by fellow executives. I suppose either way its a popularity contest. The Memphis Grizzlies' Zach Kleiman is the winner of the 2002 award.

Stevens signature moves in his first season were not trading either of his young stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, hiring head coach Ime Udoka, and trading 1st round picks to acquire Al Horford and Derrick White. Stevens also inked both Marcus Smart and Robert Williams to long term deals.

Stevens was a bit hamstrung at the deadline, similar to his predecessor Danny Ainge, in that he wanted to improve the team, but ownership also wanted Boston to stay below the luxury tax line. Boston had to sacrifice some depth and the aformentioned first round pick capital to accomplish this. In a similiar fashion Boston was the only team willing to offer the Thunder an asset for Horford, though that 1st round pick was really for Oklahoma City being willing to take on Kemba Walker's contract.

In the end, Al Horford has played even better than Stevens could have hoped for in his second go in Boston, and that trade has paid huge short term dividends. Also after a very shaky start to his coaching career, Udoka has impressed as a leader and defensive minded head coach.