Ainge Retires - Stevens to Front Office - Celtics search for New Head Coach

[Froob]

Cool nugget, Sam Cassell has ties to Maine. Spent a year playing High School in Pittsfield. He's officially my guy.

[bucknersrevenge]

Ainge on Toucher and Rich said Kara would be unlikely to leave Duke, thinks highly of her but, they seem to want a more experienced person. It's not his decision though he did state.

Ainge sending Brad encrypted suggestions through the radio.

I wonder if the lack of experience will exclude Billups.

[return2glory]

Will J. Howard leave Michigan? I doubt it. That’s like a dream job for him for now, but he is an up and coming coach who was also an assistant for the Heat.

[Celtic Esquire]

Ainge on Toucher and Rich said Kara would be unlikely to leave Duke, thinks highly of her but, they seem to want a more experienced person. It's not his decision though he did state.

Ainge sending Brad encrypted suggestions through the radio.

I wonder if the lack of experience will exclude Billups.

As opposed to hiring someone like Lawson?

[cloverleaf]

Cool nugget, Sam Cassell has ties to Maine. Spent a year playing High School in Pittsfield. He's officially my guy.

I'd be thrilled with Sam. But I bet Stevens doesn't want someone with connections to the '08 team.

[cloverleaf]

Ainge sending Brad encrypted suggestions through the radio.

I wonder if the lack of experience will exclude Billups.

As opposed to hiring someone like Lawson?

Danny actually made a pitch for a veteran coach who had been fired somewhere else already, saying that most coach of the year contenders had that profile.

[cloverleaf]

Ainge sending Brad encrypted suggestions through the radio.

I wonder if the lack of experience will exclude Billups.

As opposed to hiring someone like Lawson?

Yeah, he squashed that Lawson idea like a garden bug.

[GoGreen]

I personally think it's 90-100% going to be Kara Lawson as the next head coach of the Boston Celtics but we will see.

Me too. I really, really want Cassell. I think that dude is EXACTLY what this team needs. But I also think Kara is very well liked, and they're more comfortable/familiar with her.

[cloverleaf]

I'm kinda out on Chauncey after reading about the rape case from around 2000...I don't know what went on there but rather not be involved in whatever happened there. I would hope Brad and co if they do with Billups do their homework there and dig into it first. I can't find many details on it.

Sam Cassell is another former player that's been an assistant coach for sometime and used to be here. Cassell is my number one guy right now.

I'm in the same boat. There's basically no information on the case, but it certainly doesn't look good. If he was guilty, I want him as far away from this team as possible. Plenty of better/more experienced candidates available anyways.

Agreed. (Though with Kobe so much the hero to JT, maybe Billups would get bonus points in his eyes.)

[GotDaSauce]

I dont want larranaga.

I'm afraid itll be too much of the same.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Him on the sidelines never blinking might unnerve some people!

[Disinformation]

I dont want larranaga.

I'm afraid itll be too much of the same.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

Him on the sidelines never blinking might unnerve some people!

[Curmudgeon]

What are the odds that the new Celtics coach will be someone whose name has not been raised in this thread? 75%?

[themoneyteam2]

Cool nugget, Sam Cassell has ties to Maine. Spent a year playing High School in Pittsfield. He's officially my guy.

I'd be thrilled with Sam. But I bet Stevens doesn't want someone with connections to the '08 team.

Why not?

[rywith22]

Any reservations on hiring a Doc Rivers assistant? He doesn't seem very popular among Celtics fans after his time in Boston ended.

I feel Doc is a far superior coach to Brad and would welcome anyone from his staff. But that's just me

If Doc Rivers was the coach of the 18-19 Celtics I think they would have made the finals...Doc was/is the master of managing egos and getting players to buy-in. Brad on the other hand is likely the better X's & O's coach. However, Brad hasn't proven that he can coach egos/superstars.

This is why I think the next head coach will be an up and coming former player...Cassell/Billups...those guys make the most sense because they can look at Tatum or Brown in the eyes and say, "I've done it. I earned this ring....I was around players like you. I've been in your shoes...." If they can be good with X's & O's and buy-in to some analytics as well then it's a great recipe.

This is the reason I believe it will be Billups. Cassell is smokescreen IMO.

[Feed Your Head]

Cool nugget, Sam Cassell has ties to Maine. Spent a year playing High School in Pittsfield. He's officially my guy.

I'd be thrilled with Sam. But I bet Stevens doesn't want someone with connections to the '08 team.

Why not?

Made up reasons.

[RondoToKG]

Brad going to FO says a lot about how much the players really wanted him as a coach

[bucknersrevenge]

I wonder if the lack of experience will exclude Billups.

As opposed to hiring someone like Lawson?

Yeah, he squashed that Lawson idea like a garden bug.

Yeah, if if it excludes Billups, it certainly excludes Lawson (not sure either are excluded, just opining right now). Wondering if that gives guys like Pierce and Cassell the lead. Pierce obviously has the most experience but still.....



EDIT: I think it's gonna be Pierce. The more I read about him, the more he seems like Stevens kind of guy and will certainly be a guy that will resonate with the Jay's.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patbenson/2020/04/21/atlanta-hawks-coach-lloyd-pierce-is-finding-new-ways-to-innovate-and-inspire/?sh=4a8e4f17989e

This is a pretty good article on him. When he was fired by Atlanta, the coaching community about revolted. He is clearly well-liked in those circles and the players that come through USA basketball (again, Jay's included) all know him. Brad is known to be a big Lloyd Pierce guy already. He's a big time skill development guy who's worked with a lot of ballhandlers. For a young team, this makes sense.

[denmuscles]

Female will be a new Celtics coach

[sully00]

Wyc doesn't save any money by promoting Brad to do nothing. it's sunk money. If Brad Stevens is appointed POBO that's because Wyc believes he's the man for the job. You can disagree with that decision, but it's ridiculous and illogical to say Wyc saves money by promoting Brad when simply firing him would cost the same.

Not sure if this was indirectly a response to my post or not since it didn't quote me. If it isn't, just ignore this.

I wasn't saying that Wyc saves money by promoting Brad. I was saying Wyc didn't want to pay Brad NOT to work for the Celtics. Correct me if I'm wrong, and someone familiar with coach contracts might know, but if Brad resigns from the job, Wyc doesn't have to pay him anymore. But if Wyc fires him, he does. That's the point I'm making. Wyc can certainly spin it all he wants that Brad can do a job in this role. Ad he might. But if Wyc still wanted Brad as the coach, he would've just replaced Danny with another candidate and kept Brad as coach. I don't believe for a second that POBO was a position Brad ever aspired to. And when both Brad and Wyc were asked "why is Brad better as the POBO than coach?" neither really gave a straight answer I thought. Wyc wanted change at both spots and he got it, sort of. But nobody gets fired into a bigger role.

This can be nuanced. Some teams "reassign" guys within the organization instead of terminating which you could argue is what is happening here. I disagree I don't think Wyc wanted any of this he would have been plenty happy to stay the course for another year. I sense other parts of ownership were not as patient. As frustrating as the year was lots of stuff was outside both Ainge and Brad's control. At the same time some of it isn't going to necessarily get better on its own. Brad is always going to be a white guy from Indiana and Danny is always going to be this swindler that people don't trust to trade with.

It is interesting that it seems that Ainge and Brad where on the same page with this but the way Ainge made it come together was to give Wyc a list of bad options to replace him.

The other part that is kind of unique about this and may also be problematic going forward is that it can easily be undone. I expect that the next coach will be someone internal whether Kara Lawson or Jerome Allen. If it doesn't go well then they can just go back to Brad. They didn't fire him he just moved into Ainge's role to help the organization.

[GotDaSauce]

As opposed to hiring someone like Lawson?

Yeah, he squashed that Lawson idea like a garden bug.

Yeah, if if it excludes Billups, it certainly excludes Lawson (not sure either are excluded, just opining right now). Wondering if that gives guys like Pierce and Cassell the lead. Pierce obviously has the most experience but still.....



EDIT: I think it's gonna be Pierce. The more I read about him, the more he seems like Stevens kind of guy and will certainly be a guy that will resonate with the Jay's.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patbenson/2020/04/21/atlanta-hawks-coach-lloyd-pierce-is-finding-new-ways-to-innovate-and-inspire/?sh=4a8e4f17989e

This is a pretty good article on him. When he was fired by Atlanta, the coaching community about revolted. He is clearly well-liked in those circles and the players that come through USA basketball (again, Jay's included) all know him. He's a big time skill development guy who's worked with a lot of ballhandlers. For a young team, this makes sense.

The drastic turn around by Atlanta after he left would have me extremely worried about him coaching here.