Celtics hire Stevens

The Green are getting greener. With aging stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce on their way to the Brooklyn Nets and Doc Rivers coaching the Los Angeles Clippers, the Boston Celtics hired 36-year-old Brad Stevens from Butler as their next coach Wednesday. The move turns the tradition-bound franchise over to a mentor who is younger than Garnett and wasn’t yet born when Bill Russell won his 11th NBA championship in 1969 (or even when John Havlicek added two more in the 1970s). It’s the first time the Celtics have hired a college coach since Rick Pitino in 1997, and their first coach with no NBA experience of any kind since Alvin “Doggie” Julian gave way to Red Auerbach in 1950. Stevens has spent the last six years as the coach of Butler, leading the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championship games in 2010 and ’11. – AP