Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens knows Micah Shrewsberry very well and actually lobbied for his friend and former assistant coach to get the Penn State job.
Stevens on Tuesday commented for the first time about Shrewsberry landing the position with the Nittany Lions.
“He’s as good as it gets. He’s got great perspective. He’s a great basketball coach,” Stevens said, according to Jay King of The Athletic.
Brad Stevens said the whole Celtics organization is thrilled for Micah Shrewsberry after he was named the Penn State head coach. Stevens ordered a huge bag of Penn State gear as soon as he heard the news. He thinks Shrewsberry will be incredible for Penn State.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) March 16, 2021
Shrewsberry served as an assistant to Stevens at Butler, helping the program reach the national title game in back-to-back years (2010 and ’11). Shrewsberry then joined Stevens in 2013 with the Celtics and was an assistant for the NBA team for six years.
Stevens had more to say about Shrewsberry, according to this story from MassLive.
“Couldn’t be a more deserving person,” Stevens said, “and a guy that I think will be incredible now that he has his own opportunity.
“The greatest compliment you can give somebody on a sports team is that they made everybody around them better,” Stevens added. “I used to play with Micah in open gym, traveling across the city of Indianapolis when we were 16, 17 years old, when we didn’t hardly know each other. And it was obvious then he was a guy you wanted to play with, because he knew how to play and he’d get everybody the ball and he made his team better.
“It’s just gratifying to know that good things happen to good people like Micah,” Stevens added. “Again, I could talk all day about that. Can’t say enough good things.”
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