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After seeing Steve Kerr have his players coach themselves during timeouts during their game on Monday, Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was definitely inspired by it. He also pulled off the same scheme in practice, and had two of his players call the plays on the sidelines.
With the team divided into two in a scrimmage, the 41-year-old assigned Al Horford and Gordon Hayward to act as coaches for their respective sides. He even called the injured small forward better at him at coaching, according to Scott Souza of GateHouse Media.
#Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he pulled a Steve Kerr & had Al Horford, Gordon Hayward coach sides in recent practice. Horford: I wasn't very good at it. Gordon was probably a lot better.
— Scott Souza (@Scott_Souza) February 13, 2018
Kerr turned a lot of heads on Monday when he handed the play board to Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green, who then took over the timeouts to give instructions to his teammates. The veteran coach designed the plays, but had the former Finals MVP and reigning Defensive Player of the Year discuss it with the rest of the team, who were all receptive and even gave their inputs during the huddles. They did not appear to be surprised by it, which goes to show how focused they are with their jobs, and that Kerr may have already told them about it before.
It will be interesting to see if Stevens will also try to pull it off during games just like how Kerr did. There’s no rule against them doing so, and it also promotes better communication amongst the players, and makes them understand how the coaching staff does their jobs. For what it’s worth, it could also prepare them for a possible career after their playing days, especially those players who have been showing potential to become coaches in the league someday.
