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Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics

It’s not gonna get any easier. If there was anything to be taken out of the very direct press conference given by Celtics president Brad Stevens on Wednesday following the disappointing end to Boston’s 56-win season–they coughed up a 3-1 first-round series lead against the Sixers–it was the fact that the head honcho was openly saying his team just might not be good enough at this point.

Certainly, that theme was an annoyance for Celtics fans throughout the year, especially early in the season with the way some from the outside diminished how well the team played despite shuffling off very big and expensive pieces from the roster while also dealing with the rehab of star forward Jayson Tatum. Some felt that they were overrated, that they’d played well but had done so in a watered-down Eastern Conference and with a clearly flawed roster.

Such notions might have infuriated Celtics fans trolling Twitter/X. But in his season wrap-up presser, here was Stevens basically saying it out loud.

Celtics Won’t Get Easy Wins Next Year

Stevens warned clearly that the Celtics had an easy path in 2025-26, and that path was not going to be as smooth next year. In doing so, he suggested that the 56 wins Boston collected were a bit of a mirage.

This portion of Stevens’ remarks stood out the most: “The other thing you have to consider, especially for next year is, there were a lot of teams that were playing for draft positioning this year. And that will not be the case next year. So the league is going to be a lot better. The regular season is going to be a lot harder. And it will probably give you a better indication of what everybody really is.”

There is no denying that point. The East had three blatantly tanking teams–the Wizards, the Pacers and the Nets. The West had four–the Mavericks, the Grizzlies, the Kings and the Jazz. The Celtics went 16-3 against those teams. They won’t do that against next season.

Brad Stevens Baffled by Playoff Struggles

Stevens was also asked about the nasty habit the Celtics have developed in the playoffs, the one that cost them this year but has plagued them–as Stevens himself pointed out–even going back to the championship run in 2024. The Celtics never seem to know what to do when things are going their way. They get complacent. They kick away big leads. And they lose series because of it, like they did against the Knicks last year and the Sixers this year.

Stevens had no immediate answer. But he did say it’s no doubt a problem.

Here was his full statement on the issue: “I think that’s a legitimate question. I would say, the prosperity—human nature is human nature for a reason. But we win Game 1 and played pretty well and then we did not play well in Game 2 and it goes back 1-1. Doesn’t matter how much you win by in these series, they all count as one. Doesn’t how much you lose by, they count as one.

“So to me it is somewhat, prosperity within the game. And being able to, in those moments, being even more dialed in and locked in, and recognize that yeah, we could have played better in Game 7, we had a chance on the road in Game 6, but we had a chance to close that out in Game 5. … Those are things we’ve got to get better with. I don’t think we’re the only team. I think there’s a lot of teams with how many teams shoot as well as they shoot and how people go on flurries that deal with that. But I don’t think we should ignore it, I think it is a big talking point. I think, for whatever reason, we slowed down.”