Re: new coach

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

"Ozersky, Joshua A" wrote:

> You know, we all have this same dilemma.  We all feel
> good about blowing up the team when they play bad, but
> when they are winning it is so easy to believe in these guys.
>  It's so hard to swallow that Tony Battie isn't a shot blocker,
>  that Kenny Anderson can't run a team, etc. etc.  I want
>  the guys we have, including Pitino, to do well.  BUT if he
> goes, I think we can go in two ways:  a former player, a la
>  Doc Rivers, who can relate to the players and is also from
> nside the Celtics family; or an ultraprofessional Xs and Os
> guy, like Larry Brown or Bill Fitch.  For me it boils down to
> Dennis Johnson or Del Harris.

For some reason, probably irrational, I don't feel comfortable with
Dennis Johnson stepping in as a head coach just yet. Although he has
shed his "cancer" reputation as a player, I think he might blow a fuse
or lack the sustained ability to get through to some of the Celtics
players. They have established several bad offensive habits as a result
of the kamikaze headless chicken outbreak. These are things DJ never
had.

A Bird and DJ combo makes the most sense. Seriously, I see this
happening after next season (give Bird at least a year off) rather than
this summer. Pitino isn't going to walk away a total loser unless he
gets an awesome college offer (from UCLA, for example). Luckily, Boston
is so far above the salary cap that we probably can't trade any of our
upcoming lottery picks for the short-term veteran solution he'll need to
barely make the playoffs next year and leave on a high(er) note. He
could trade Kenny for a zero dollar cap figure and probably still be a
few million over next year's cap.

Regarding Doc Rivers, if it weren't for the La La Land situation he
would IMO be an obvious choice as NBA Coach of the Year. He was one of
my favorite color commentators last year. Amazingly cool and thoughtful
and almost as polished as Reggie Theus, who comes across as a bit glib.
Doc Rivers could have been one of the best if he chose that as his
career. Also, whenever they re-broadcast Bird's 60 point game on classic
sports channels, Doc comes across in his interview recollections as very
generous in spirit and funny etc. Remember when Bird hit the 3-pointer
falling back onto the scorers table, and the entire Atlanta bench
reacted by laughing so hard (because Bird had "called" the shot just
before the inbound play) that they tipped over their chairs like
dominoes?

Doc Rivers first made the cover of a major sports publication in
highschool, when he was hyped by Dick Vitale (I think) to be the college
impact freshman of the year once he matriculated at Marquette. Sorry to
meander on.