O'Brien to be back

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

That's what the Globe says... Didn't Richard Pond read my post yesterday????

Anyway, I still think it's a short-sighted view and kind of putting the cart
ahead of the horse. Don't you hire a GM first, then let him find his coach.
If O'Brien is his choice, fine. But why create an uncomfortable situation
from the start?

I don't know, maybe my hesitance about O'Brien traces back to his University
of Dayton days when he absolutely decimated that program. And I'm not
exaggerating. Imagine the worst possible scenario and that's what O'Brien
did to Dayton. It was catastrophic. Maybe it was just recruiting, but you
have to think coaching had something to do with it.

Next season will tell the tale. The players played hard after Pitino left,
but I don't know if that was for O'Brien, or just to prove that Pitino was
the problem--not them. We'll see.

I still have serious concerns about the roster, but maybe the new GM (if
there is one) will make the necessary changes and give O'Brien a different
hand to play. Hopefully they bring in someone who realizes you have to
rebound and defend the interior to win consistently, and the Celtics do
neither. Aren't they 26th in rebounding? It's hard to imagine a team making
the playoffs at all, let alone actually competing in the playoffs, with
those kind of rebounding numbers. The Heat big men were 23 for 34 last night
and scored 62 points.

If they want to build around Walker and Pierce, that's fine. But Walker's a
small forward. Get more big guys!

Mark