The philosophical divide between Brad Stevens and his predecessor that’s fueling the Boston Celtics’ rise in the East

Brad Stevens may be a Danny Ainge disciple, but it's clear that Stevens is going to run this team, his way. It's different than how Ainge would do it, but...so far it looks promising.

When Brad Stevens was elevated to the position of president of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics, there was a sense that fans would be getting the same old, same old as his predecessor, Danny Ainge.

It was Ainge who convinced Stevens to leave Butler for the NBA, and Ainge who educated Stevens on the ins and outs of the league beyond the X’s and O’s of the game.

But as the team’s final shot-caller, the differences between Stevens and Ainge are evident.

And those differences have played a major role in a Celtics team that seemed stuck in the mud for years, into one that’s slowly but surely moving in an upward direction and in doing so, closer to their ultimate goal - an 18th NBA championship.

Having been the Celtics head coach for eight seasons, Stevens has a unique perspective when it comes to team-building that we see play out with the decisions and non-decisions he has made in his role as the team’s basketball czar.

Ainge made a habit of stockpiling draft picks, hoping to land a difference-maker that could propel the Celtics above and beyond the success of the Paul Pierce-Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen Big Three era which generated an NBA title in 2008.

While a number of his draft picks didn’t pan out, Ainge absolutely nailed it with the No. 3 picks in the 2016 and 2017 drafts with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, respectively.

And Stevens did his part as the head coach, leading Boston to the playoffs in all but his first season which included three trips to the Eastern Conference finals (2017, 2018 and 2020).

Ainge’s approach involved the drafting and later development of players.

But Stevens, he’s more concerned with using draft picks to bring in more established, experienced players.

In trading for Derrick White from San Antonio earlier this month, the Celtics shipped out Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford (Boston’s 2019 first-round pick, 14th overall), and Boston’s own first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft.

And in conversations with league executives, they have indicated Stevens has been more open than his predecessor to include draft picks as trade “sweeteners” if that’s what it takes to get deals done.

“That’s not how it was with Danny who was always looking to get picks, not give them away in deals,” said an Eastern Conference executive.

As the Celtics head coach, Stevens spent the bulk of his time developing young talent or trying to find success with teams that weren’t as deep or star-studded as their opponents.

And when he had stars like Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, the team was never quite able to get over the hump and win a championship.

In his role as president of basketball operations, Stevens has shown a greater willingness to be patient with this team compared to his predecessor (hence the nickname, Trader Danny), while still making moves building towards the future.

Calls for Stevens to make a move when the Celtics hovered around the .500-mark record-wise, were largely ignored.

That patience has been rewarded.

Boston was among the biggest underachievers for most of this season, with a spot in the play-in game looking as though it would be a best-case scenario.

They have won 11 of their last 13 games, are currently sixth in the Eastern Conference standings, and now trail East-leading Miami by five games.

Tatum and Brown have grown in both their understanding of how to impact the game beyond scoring and maybe, more importantly, do so and still be successful.

Grant Williams has become a solid role player whose impact off the bench has been critical to Boston’s success of late.

The addition of White, a 6-foot-4 wing who can play multiple perimeter positions, was not just for this season.

He has three years, $54.8 million left on his contract after this season. And judging by what he has shown thus far, adding him has been a huge boon for Boston’s current and future potential success.

But as much promise as the Celtics have shown under Stevens, there’s still room for improvement to this roster.

Miami has the best record in the East, while the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks are well-stocked to be in the title hunt for years to come. Brooklyn's new Big Three of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons will be a threat in the East, as well as the new-look Philadelphia 76ers led by Joel Embiid and recently acquired James Harden.

Boston has their own dynamic duo in Tatum and Brown. Center Robert Williams III has shown the most promise as being that third superstar all teams in the NBA covet these days.

Short of Williams’ continued growth into a major player, Stevens will have to continue to find ways to improve the roster via trades and continue to do so his way which thus far, has been working.