Bulpett Chimes In With A More Even-Handed Report

[wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

In the end, Celts have most to lose
By Steve Bulpett/The NBA
Wednesday, January 28, 2004 
Danny Ainge cited ``philosophical differences'' as he sought to explain Jim O'Brien [news]'s unilateral decision to abdicate his throne, and it is a certainty those ``differences'' will get a thorough airing as Greenhearts take sides on the matter in the next several days and weeks. 
	
And it will all be such a futile exercise. 
	
Wardrobe sent down no black or white hats for yesterday's latest plot twist in the reality series that is the Celtics. There ain't no good guy. There ain't no bad guy. 
	
For the Celtics, there is only wrong. 
	
The Ainge-O'Brien ticket was built for a long run it will never finish. The skills and personalities of the two were complementary, though clearly O'Brien came to see it differently. 
	
What you had here was a marriage of visions. Jim O'Brien is nearsighted. Danny Ainge is farsighted. And that's how it should be in a basketball operation. 
	
I've spoken regularly to Ainge since I started on this beat in 1985. I have done likewise with O'Brien since he arrived in 1997, after a passing acquaintance when he coached with the Knicks and at my college, Dayton. It was abundantly evident they were different people in their approach to the game, but they shouldn't have wanted it any other way. 
	
Ainge wasn't completely in tune with O'Brien when he took over the Celtics operation last May. The coach was set to examine the marketplace but was told that the more Ainge looked at O'Brien the more he would like him. Twelve days later, Ainge signed him to a two-year extension. 
	
``I just like the way Jim approached things,'' Ainge said. ``I thought it would be a good fit with how we wanted to move forward.'' 
	
Evidently O'Brien wasn't comfortable with the way Danny Ainge ran the front office fast break. 
	
It was expected the two would conflict over specifics at times, and it even made sense. Ainge would deal with the big picture, O'Brien with the smaller and more intimate. 
	
Ainge wants to win an NBA championship. Jim O'Brien wants to win the next game. And while those appear to be discordant lines, in truth they should have been symphonic - a violin offering counterbalance to the timpani. 
	
Time will judge whether Ainge's moves to date will strengthen the Celtics' bid to win or fate them to more visits to the draft lottery. But there is no question that Ainge and the C's needed O'Brien's stability through the storm. 
	
They needed someone who had the respect of the players and could be on their side without coddling them. It is no small feat that in O'Brien's more than three seasons on the Celtics bench there has been no internal strife - no whining about roles or other buzzphrases to indicate unrest. 
	
The team that went to the NBA Finals from the East the last two years was ablaze with player unhappiness. The team that twice last season set the record for worst defeat in franchise history stayed cool. 
	
Ainge swears things were cool still. He talked again with O'Brien yesterday, going over the club's direction and picking at the issues of the day. Perhaps after hearing no questions at all from general manager Chris Wallace, this rankled the coach. 
	
But word from two sources yesterday was that perceived pressure from ownership had more to do with O'Brien's call. Maybe he saw imperfection on an even higher plane than Ainge and sought to avoid an expected crash. 
	
Prophetic in hindsight, O'Brien talked about all the coaching changes in the NBA Sunday, saying, ``That does not surprise me because I am a lifelong coach. That's what happens. We all get fired. We move on. It's part of the job.'' 
	
He moves on in most advantageous fashion. Jim O'Brien the Product is in a far stronger business position than yesterday morning. He gets the rest of his $1.9 million salary for this season and he gets himself immediately available for courtship. O'Brien's will be one of the first names mentioned for coaching vacancies - even before they open (hello, Philadelphia, New Jersey etc.). His performance with the Celtics has earned him that. 
	
And when he does take his next position, it is a lock he will make more than the $3 million he had coming in each of the next two seasons. 
	
Financially, it is a no-lose situation for Jim O'Brien. 
	
The only loss has been suffered by the Celtics. The severity has yet to be determined.