Humming along, day before a national holiday, late afternoon, nothing to see here—wait, holy shit, Brad Stevens just took the head coach position with the Boston Celtics. The 36-year-old Stevens had been in charge at Butler for six years, with two NCAA finals appearances, four Horizon League championships, and another tourney berth from the A-10 earlier this year.
Stevens had already turned down a bunch of other big jobs (UCLA, most recently) and had an extension through 2021-22, so it's a little surprising that he'd leave, but, yeah, this is the probably the kind of gig worth leaving Indianapolis for. The Celtics are rebuilding, but they've got money and Rajon Rondo, so they'll be back soon enough.
Butler first announced the news on its own website; the Celtics' Twitter account soon followed suit. (The move appears to have blindsided NBA writers, which is really for the best.) I feel for whoever has to break the news to the dog.