{"id":1870791,"date":"2026-04-08T00:17:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1870791"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:17:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:17:27","slug":"brad-stevens-on-nba-solving-its-tanking-problem-i-think-its-really-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1870791","title":{"rendered":"Brad Stevens on NBA solving its tanking problem: \u2018I think it\u2019s really important\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

BOSTON \u2014 Count Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens among the prominent figures who believe the NBA needs to find a solution to the tanking problem.<\/p>\n

Stevens said Tuesday night that he is \u201ca huge proponent of doing everything we can to make sure that every night is as competitive as humanly possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing like the competitiveness and the energy and the talent that you see on the court in these playoffs,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cThe more we can get every game to be incredibly meaningful to every team is really important, in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Tanking has come into focus this season, with several teams clearly prioritizing their lottery odds over the desire to win games in the short term. The issue has grown pressing enough that NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said the league intends to curb some of the tanking by changing the lottery process.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span>
\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n

Stevens hopes the NBA can find a way to produce a more competitive landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the best players in the world,\u201d Stevens said, \u201cand I think it\u2019s important to let them be that on that stage. There are a lot of discussions going on about how to best focus on that, both in the near term and long term, and maybe there is a near-term solution that is a stopgap before a longer-term solution, when people have time to really think about it and break it down. But from my own perspective, I think it\u2019s really important because we\u2019re about to embark on these playoffs, and there\u2019s nothing like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

{“endpoint”:”https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql”}<\/p>\n

Stevens also responded to recent rumors linking him to the University of North Carolina coaching vacancy before the school decided to hire Michael Malone. Though Stevens\u2019 name often comes up when a prominent college job opens, he said he is happy in his current position with the Celtics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not motivated to do anything but what I\u2019m doing is the bottom line,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m really happy with the people we\u2019re around and everything else. And that\u2019s been the best part about being here. And really, as you get to this age and stage, I think that\u2019s the motivator for me. I don\u2019t really have any other motivation than being around people that I want to be around.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Though Stevens said it is \u201calways flattering\u201d to see his name brought up in such talks, he said that \u201cthe whole idea of the coaching carousel being news is a little bit tiresome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI get why, in this day and age, why people want to talk about it,\u201d Stevens said. \u201cAs you know from being around me, I\u2019m not quick to make decisions where I\u2019m all over the place. And I like being here. They\u2019ve been great to me, and I haven\u2019t been seeking anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOSTON \u2014 Count Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens among the prominent figures who believe the NBA needs to find a solution to the tanking problem. Stevens said Tuesday night that he is \u201ca huge proponent of doing everything we can to make sure that every night is as competitive as humanly possible.\u201d Advertisement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1870791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1870791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1870791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1870791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1870791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1870791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}