When Brad Stevens took the job to jump from the Butler Bulldogs into the NBA with the Boston Celtics, he enjoyed his job with Butler so he knew he could be selective with his next job choice.

When the Celtics brass went to interview Stevens, it wasn't just Stevens convincing the front office he was right for the job, it was the Celtics convincing Stevens to leave Butler.

Stevens didn't have a ton of demands in terms of what would need to happen, but according to Boston.com, one thing he wouldn't do was go through a rebuild.

Pagliuca said Stevens voiced his love for the team and its extensive basketball history, as well as his confidence that he could make a difference for the organization. But there was also a specific stipulation should he accept the job.

“The one thing he wouldn’t do going forward was try to lose a game, or you know, ‘tank,'” Pagliuca said. “So if we were going to have a strategy, maybe like ‘The Process,’ he was not going to participate in that.”

The group reassured Stevens he would not be put in such position in Boston.

“We said, ‘No, we’re always trying to win. We’re going to try to win on the fly and rebuild on the fly,'” Pagliuca said. “Who knows if we can do that or not, but that was certainly going to be the strategy. Tanking is different than developing talent. We try to keep all the good talent.”

Those words were all that Stevens needed to hear and he accepted the job. For the Celtics, it didn't take long for them to get back to the top with Stevens in charge, and it only looks like it's going up from here.