It’s safe to say that Brad Stevens sees All-Star voting as more than just a popularity contest.
The Boston Celtics head coach shared some pretty interesting insights on Monday into his approach towards casting his All-Star ballot as a coach. Stevens said that his tiebreaker is his level of fear when coaching against a player, per Jay King of The Athletic. He also added that he takes the voting process seriously and even asks his assistants for their opinions.
The ballot of Stevens, who coached the Eastern Conference All-Stars in 2017, carries fairly significant weight, as coaches vote for the All-Star reserves in their own conferences and cannot cast a vote for their own players.
NBA coaches have lamented the failure of players to take their votes seriously, so this could be Stevens’ way of balancing the scales a bit.
