C's Will Wait And See

Glad to hear DCasey is in the mix.

It’s kind of disappointing to read that Ainge is even considering leaving the coaching position VACANT. That option would represent the height of arrogance and give a clear indication that Ainge doesn’t have a clue as to what ails the fledgling Celtics.

On the other hand I have to believe that getting a “top-talent” will take time and Ainge’s remarks seem to say that he doesn’t want to be rushed filling that position. While filling the position with Doc’s eventual replacement could be an appealing option, it could also create internal problems if Doc emerges as a popular and winning coach. Fans tend to be fickle when it comes to likes and dislikes.

I’m hoping that he aims higher than Casey and Thibodeau because we’re in serious trouble and those two coaches may not have what we need.

It was interesting to read that Indiana wanted Harter as a primary target and that led to the hiring of O’Brien. I have personally disliked O’Brien ever since he coached the Celtic’s and made Prima Donna’s out of Pierce and Walker. He also started the concept of Walker as a “point forward” but Walker pushed it one step further and tried to become another “Magic” PG. O’Brien failed to understand fast-break basketball, was more interested in immediate fixes instead of long term goals (ala Rick Petino), didn’t understand TEAM basketball, traded away Joe Johnson, supported drafting Kedrick Brown and Joe Forte (indicating that he’s a poor judge of talent) and abandoned the Celtic’s necessary transition to youth. I’m glad that he’s with Indiana because that franchise has just taken a step BACKWARD!

It appears that Ainge has doc so high on a pedestal
and feels he is so awesome as a coach that the team
might not even need an assistant coach.
doc can do it all, i mean, does Phil Jackson
really need a assistant so why should doc

Steve Kerr as GM of the Suns?

Moskqq,
  Ever since he quit in the middle of the season, my feelings for Jim O’Brien are similar. Although, you have to admit, they played hard for him and he got the maximum out of their talent.

First we complain about the assistant coaches (except for Clifford Ray), then we complain when one leaves, and now we complain because Ainge didn’t hire someone as soon as it was decided that Brown would not return. Let’s face it, DA can’t make any of us happy because nothing he says is good enough for us. If he tells us nothing he doesn’t know what he’s doing. If he tells us some scenarios he’s being a PR person unless we don’t like the scenario. For all we know he’s talking right now to the greatest assistant coach in the world who’s holding a pen and is about to sign a contract. Maybe we should wait awhile and see what happens.

Tom Thibodeau is well respected. But if they are looking for an heir apparent to good old “45-33-24” I would much prefer a European coach like Blatt, Ettore Messina or Panagiotis Giannakis. Why go for a college coach when there are international candidates who understand how to coach professionals and who seem to outcoach the Americans every time there is an international competition?

A top Eurpoean coach would also help lure international free agents, which is where this franchise should look if it wants to improve in a hurry at a reasonable price— as the Raptors have shown.

Actually, I think 45-33-24 would be a great fit at the U of Florida to replace Billy Donovan. The Gators are losing their top four players to the NBA, so he could just dust off his “we’re too young” speeches and hit the ground running. C’mon Rivers, send in that resume! Just think of all the time you’d have with your family coaching close to home and playing only 30 games a year.

I am ok with waiting to fill that role. Maybe they move on the teaching assistance up toe a bench assistant.

We had more assistants than players by Feb. of last year anyway.

Ainge’s comments may just be a matter of bargaining position.

My predicition – look for Rick Carlisle to be head Assistant when all said and done. He’ll be the man in waiting if Doc can’t turn it around.

Agreed MattD. Waiting is perfectly acceptable. Take your time and find the right guy. Leaving the position unfilled in not acceptable. Negotiating with a good european coach is a good idea. It may help bringing over veteran guys from Europe. Maybe somebody like Papaloukous or Diamantidis.

Okay, let’s wait a while and stop speculating. What else do you want to blog about?

Little D said:

“Okay, let’s wait a while and stop speculating. What else do you want to blog about?”

I’m still waiting for restaurant recommendations in Toronto.

The lottery cost the Celtics millions, and I expect to see a number of cost cutting moves going forward. This is just a small one.

Brick – I really like the 45-33-24. it took me a while to catch on to the reference to Doc. “Brilliant”

Brick

Excellent points as well, no need to go further

It also makes a lot of sense to wait and see who we draft/trade for, and bring in an assistant tailored to whatever situation we’re then in.

For the time being, I’m not rushing to fill the vacancy. I’d rather see what happens with the #5, and what type of team we are trying to be going into the season.

Last season Danny used 2 first round draft choices on speedy point guards to play uptempto and we aren’t an uptempto team.

Danny traded for a injured SF in Wally who as slow and banged up as he was had to try to play the SG position.

Danny tried to develop youth while building a championship contender around Pierce.

These mismanaged moves are more important right now than the assistant. I am giving the team time to do what they are going to do with the #5 and develop a cohesive plan if that is possible before concentrating on the assistant.

I’m not opposed to it being filled with a Rick Carlisle type guy but if it doesn’t happen, they just better make sure they get it right with the #5.

According to 45-33-24 principle, Brick, will we be 16-66 in 2008?

Carlisle will be nobody’s assistant….Let alone embarass himself sitting next to the NBA’s most inept coach.

The next announcement will be as follows: Brian Scalabrine has announced today that he will be retiring. He is expected to stay on as an assistant coach……

Dare to dream people……

 Will Danny fleece or get fleeced by the new GM’S

Any opinions on Steve Kerr? Do the Suns decline? Will they boggle the draft again?

iowa plowboy said:

“According to 45-33-24 principle, Brick, will we be 16-66 in 2008?”
 
No, 18-64. (12 fewer wins, 9 fewer wins, 6 fewer wins…)

So we’ll bottom out at 15 wins and then it will go 18,24,33,45,60,78?

Would have been nice to see DJ in that coaching position.

orrzor said:

“So we’ll bottom out at 15 wins and then it will go 18,24,33,45,60,78?”

No if the sequence continues we’ll bottom out at 12-70 with no assurance that things will get better after that.

How many assistant coaches do we have again? Doesn’t Perk have a diet coach, personal trainer and bathroom assistant as it is?
Good riddance to T. Brown.

MBurke15 said:

“How many assistant coaches do we have again? Doesn’t Perk have a diet coach, personal trainer and bathroom assistant as it is?”

Yeah, and one of them is suing him.
 

I think Danny should have fired Doc and Taken the head coaching job, so we could see him act instead of the see jargain evvvvery year. You guys know that we will be hearing the same crap this year right??? It’s really taken its toll on me….I don’t know how many more 75-80 games i can catch a year anymore… But even though i’m speaking out of frustration, you can’t deny that it’d be more entertaining than that big new score bored and the dancers……and then after 10 games we would be depressed again…make that 6 sigh

Re Legend; I used the term “arrogant” but from the context of your comment, I believe that you misread my statement and missed the point. The Celtic’s lacked a good offensive/defensive scheme, lacked a smart tactician for game-time decisions which indicated the need for a coaching assistant that could supply those ingredients. Should Ainge decide NOT to fill the coaching vacancy caused by Tony Brown’s departure would be ARROGANT because it would indicate that Ainge did not agree that the coaching staff needed help.

I did comment that I thought Ainge would eventually fill that position and his comments about “waiting” to fill the opening might indicate that it would take time to find and sign a top-level coaching assistant..

moskqq said:
  It’s kind of disappointing to read that Ainge is even considering leaving the coaching position VACANT. That option would represent the height of arrogance and give a clear indication that Ainge doesn’t have a clue as to what ails the fledgling Celtics.
 
Actually, it says that he knows EXACTLY what ails the team – our lack of TALENTED PLAYERS. Why do we continue to overrate these players and think that some great coach can get them to progress faster than their talent will allow?

Here we go again….Great coaches get their “rep” because they can make even ordinary players perform better than expected. We have talented players, especially our youth, that UNDERPERFORMED for the most part because they failed to perform to expectation.

  By definition underperformance when potential is present casts a shadow on the quality of coaching. Even a casual observation of the Celtic’s performance last year showed a remarkable absence of a cohesive offensive and defensive plan. We simply failed to respond to defending the pick-and-roll, showed confusion in most aspects of the game.

I should qualify my observation by admitting that the coaching staff “tried” but failure to communicate is not a small issue when it comes to coaching. Underperformance suggests that the coaching staff either didn’t have a clue about devising a working offensive/defensive plan or that they failed to communicate that information.

As an example, until Clifford Ray came on the scene Jefferson languished in limbo…much like the rest of the team. West showed so much promise but his game languished last year. Telfair started the year as a different player than he finished the year. Rondo apparently was doing it all on his own. Our DESPERATE need for veterans is just another indication that we need a finished product here because we’re having great difficulty developing one ourselves. I could add Gerald Green to the underperforming list but you get the idea.

Thus, IMO, we lack a “great” teaching coach and today’s coaching vacancy seems like a wonderful opportunity to correct past mistakes in the way this coaching staff was constructed. Brick’s satirical comment that we can’t get a great coach until all of Doc’s relatives have been hired isn’t far from the truth. Forget finding coaching jobs for friends and start looking instead for coaching TALENT.

Before attempting to attribute Jefferson’s improvement last year to his own “self-discovery”, recall that Clifford Ray has had other success stories and Jefferson isn’t his first. I do recall hearing that there was some initial concern that Doc and Clifford Ray could work together. Perhaps Clifford Ray isn’t a “yes” man and prefers to use his own teaching methods?

I recognize that it’s also important for a coaching staff to work well together but not at the expense of COMPROMIZING the teaching product!

I did comment in the past that basketball is a TEAM effort and contrasted that statement by saying that a coaching staff also, in effect, represents a team effort. On a well designed coaching staff each assist. coach should bring a necessary skill so that the sum total of contributions is greater than the individual parts. For example, one coach may be a great defensive coach, another a great offensive coach, still another may be a great shooting coach etc.

The way this team was managed last year highly suggests that there was was either a lack of teaching talent or a lack of communication. Coaching positions were justified on the basis of past association, or that the staff members had prior experience on other NBA staffs. The PRODUCT didn’t work and failed in it’s coaching mission.

I choose to believe that while the BLAME rests with Rivers, his staff should not get a “free ride” in that there should be a SHARED culpability. They are, after all, Doc’s assistants and it’s their job to complement his teaching/coaching responsibility.

It’s time to hire a well qualified coach not on the basis of family ties, prior association (as in pay-back or friendship) or merely past NBA experience but rather on the basis of past excellence as a coach. I rest my case!