Brad Stevens Talks About Basketball and Life to Wellesley Rotary Meeting

A nice crowd of about sixty for dinner plus fifteen or so for the program gathered to hear the young Celtics Coach, Brad Stevens. President Elect John Adams welcomed everyone and invited all to learn about Rotary. Andrea Kaiser gave us an update on our upcoming May fundraiser, the song group, Sol y Canto. All VIP seats have been sold along with 200 others.

She urged all Rotarians to get behind the ticket sales. Paul McDonald gave a great introduction to his next-door neighbor-Brad Stevens along with a bad basketball joke. He described Brad as “energetic and congenial” which proved to be the case. He is the 17th coach of the Celtics coming from Butler University in Indiana, 37 years old, and highly respected in that he has signed for a six year contract as the Boston Celtics Coach. Hebrought along his proud father, Mark, from Indiana who described to me that the “last ten years have been a whirlwind!”

Brad was “great to be here” and “great to move to Wellesley.” “It’s a ‘fun’ time to be head of the Celtics”, a team in transition with lots of history and tradition. Once he got over that, he addressed the differences between university and professional basketball. In his description of how he approaches and uses his skills in the sport of basketball, he cited two books he has read: Mindset by Carol Dweck a world-renown Stanford University psychologist; and “Now You See It” by Cathy Davison, on how digital information will change our brains. He described his philosophy as dealing with challenges while continuing to grow. He described the Celtics as “a bunch of good players” -so let them play! He considered it a great opportunity, “The foundation for the playoffs is there!” That is his one goal. Being Coach is a “crazy job” Trying to figure it out is his challenge. There is high excitement this year but he intends to keep building. Stevens came across as warm, articulate, and confident with a down-to-earth approach. He is honest and full of energy. This is going to be an exciting time for Boston and the Celtics. A lively

Q&A followed with lots of “game” talk about personalities, procedures and techniques. Brad Stevens is one to follow!!