Coach has earned his keep

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Coach has earned his keep

He deserves a reward for working wonders

By Peter May, Globe Staff, 5/22/2003

AN ANTONIO -- Jim O'Brien got exactly what he deserved yesterday -- a chance
to keep coaching the Celtics and a vote of confidence from his new boss. Yes,
his team jacks up too many threes. Yes, his team's offensive ''style'' can
sometimes have one reaching for the clicker -- or the hemlock. Yes, his
development of young players hasn't been the best. Yes, he coddles Antoine
Walker and Paul Pierce.



But he richly deserved yesterday's two-year extension for one simple reason --
he won. And that's what pays the freight, and the salaries, in the NBA. You
find a coach who can win with the type of roster O'Brien has had, and the type
of ''style'' he decided to play, and you get to the conference finals one year
and the semis the next year? He didn't deserve an extension. He probably
deserved a statue. Or at least a tunnel bearing his name. (Does he know
there's already a bridge?)

O'Brien has had to coach five different Celtics teams in 2 1/2 years. He has
not lost with any of them. For those who consider him rigid and inflexible,
consider that he has had to adjust on the fly not once, but twice in each of
the last two seasons during the season. And, of course, let's not forget what
he inherited.

In January 2001, the Celtics were a Chernobyl-in-waiting. They were 12-22 when
Rick Pitino wisely did what he should have done much earlier. O'Brien had a
team 10 games under .500 that had come apart at the seams. He also had a team
that had already played a majority of its games at home and, even more
revealing, had yet to play a Western Conference game on the road. O'Brien took
that team and went 24-24 and gave long-suffering Celtics fans at least a sniff
of what the postseason might be like.

Then came his second team, the one with the now infamous three No. 1 picks. He
started one of them, Joe Johnson. Then, in one of the most mystifying moves
I've ever seen in more than 20 years of covering the NBA, he took Johnson and
sat him on the bench and replaced him with another of the picks, Kedrick
Brown, who had been racking up DNPs. That team was 31-23 through 54 games.

Before Game 55, Johnson was sent to Phoenix and along came Rodney Rogers and
Tony Delk. Another challenge presented itself to the coach and he took that
Celtics team and went 18-10 and then within two wins of the NBA Finals. He
wanted that team back, but ownership wouldn't pay for it. So he got his fourth
Celtics team, one without a point guard and one with an overpaid slug named
Vin Baker who, it was hoped, would finally turn around his game and his life.

We already know this story. Still, O'Brien had the Celtics over .500 with
Baker contributing nothing, with Tony Battie playing on one leg, with no point
guard, and with Walker and Pierce forced to do everything. Then came yet
another move -- the suspension of Baker and the re-arrival of Mark Blount.
O'Brien won with that team as well and then did the still unthinkable:
eliminated the Pacers in six games. (Come to think of it, how does that make
Isiah Thomas look now?)

New basketball boss Danny Ainge has some legitimate concerns about the
Celtics' style. But, really, squeezing 44 wins and a playoff series victory
out of that team was, in retrospect, remarkable. I mean, Walter McCarty was
winning games for them. No, they're nowhere near championship-caliber, but,
aside from the Nets, who in the East really is?

Ainge undoubtedly will keep a keen eye on how next season progresses. If he
wants to see an end to the unconscious 3-point shooting, he can bring in guys
who don't shoot threes. Or he can bring in guys that actually do make threes.
That was my one constant beef with the way the Celtics played. O'Brien kept
telling us he had good 3-point shooters. The statistics kept telling us they
didn't. It is still mind-boggling that O'Brien could sanction Walker's
profligate 3-point shooting when Walker didn't even rank among the top 50 in
3-point percentage. Then again, how many coaches could get Walker onto an
All-Star team?

Ainge did understand that this particular Celtics team relates to O'Brien and
plays for him. It is a shotgun marriage of sorts, but, to date, it is hard to
quibble with the results. It isn't a roster that is going to have other GMs
slobbering over Ainge for players. In other words, you'll probably see a lot
of the same faces around next season unless they're summarily dismissed.

But Ainge is now the boss and if he doesn't like what he sees, he can do
something about it. He has a right to expect O'Brien to develop the kids and
there could be two new first-round picks in town. (Danny: Don't let Red make a
choice, OK?) He made the right move yesterday because O'Brien and the Celtics
are inextricably linked and, now, for Boston, that is a good thing.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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