Brad Stevens will adjust his system to the strengths of his players, instead of insisting that players fit the system.

"I don't think style of play is defined by coaches,” Stevens said. “I think it's defined by who the players are. You try to fit with your players to the best of their abilities at both ends of the floor, while at the same time provide a framework for which we can all work together.

"What I would like to do and what I see as a really positive thing with this group, is playing in transition with a lot of spacing. We have bigs that can really shoot the basketball. We have guards that are very athletic that can get into the paint.  We got a couple of wings that can run the floor and do things in transition that are really high level. And then we got guys that can score off spacing, that can score off cutting and score off the bounce."

The Celtics finished near the league average in pace in 2012-13 with 91.7 possessions per game.