2 key Celtics assistant coaches in the mix for NBA head coach positions next year
Good. Hopefully one gets the HC gig elsewhere and Joe is forced to add someone with HC experience to the staff.
The coaching staff took a major downgrade when Charles Lee (and Jeff van Gundy) left after the title year, and they haven’t been replaced.
The addition of an experienced assistant would likely cut down on the “didn’t make adjustments fast enough” issues. An additional voice, with weight, needs to be added to the mix.
Couldn’t agree more with this and your other comment about Sam Cassell.
Larry Drew, Roy Rogers, Jeff Van Gundy and Terry Stotts are some of the experienced guys I wouldn’t mind pursuing for an assistant coach.
Jerry Stackhouse and James Posey are some of the younger coaches I wouldn’t mind. Stack a no none sense kind of guy and gets straight to business, I think he would also be relatable to the Jays on and off the court cuz he was a scoring elite wing at one point of his career while trying to lead a team.
Posey won twice as a player, one with us and was a very very key piece to say the least. He also won in 2016 with Cleveland as a coach. I wouldn’t mind pursuing him. Corey Brewer I’m on the edge about because he is really young and the only team he’s been with are the Pelicans who are trash but he’s won in college twice and as a player with Dallas, plus he had a great career so he’s probably very knowledgeable.
This is an all star quality post and not because it agrees with me.
This is actual, useful information. Thank you.
Also, Roy Rogers is a former Celtic but if you blinked, you missed him.
Losing Charles Lee definitely hurt. He’s shown himself to be a good head coach. Gaining some experience, especially a guy who can help with some ATO’s would be valuable
It’s crazy that Joe is a championship winning HC and we are still hoping HE adds an experienced HC to the staff.
If Wemby and co wins the chip this year, does he no longer have any knowledge to gain from other experienced big men?
This is a great take but not where most fans are coming from. Joe is a great coach but if you aren’t getting better you are getting worse.
10% chance this is Mazzulla’s burner
I hope Sam will stay and be next HC sometime
That Cassel was passed over by FSU (his Alma mater) and isn’t one of the two assistants named in this article suggests that Sam Cassel might be an “assistant for life”.
Which would probably make you happy.
That said, apart from being a beloved former player I’m not sure Cassel is a “good coach”. His job performance as the top assistant has been…acceptable? Certainly not good enough to get him HC interviews, or an HC job.
And we should read that exactly how it is: other teams and colleges don’t think Cassel is an HC. We should believe them.
He knows how to coach guards. But not sure it will translate to coaching a team
Maybe Cassel just simply doesn’t want the responsibility of head coaching? Just assuming he’s mediocre at his job seems weird to me, but I don’t know, maybe you know something I don’t (genuinely, not sarcasm, to clarify)
He was actively pursuing the FSU job and they passed him over.
That’s…a data point.
mediocre
Not every coach is a Head Coach. (Patriots fans know who I’m talking about). Some assistants are great at being assistants. Some are best at drawing up ATO plays and talking players through playing time concerns.
I don’t disagree with this comment at all. If you meant in your original comment “there’s no reason to believe he’d be a good coach” as in head coach than I understand. I more so thought you meant assistant too and was thus seeking to understand what led you to that conclusion
Celtics coaching staff has been really, really young for several years. i think we’ve been biased by being so young, it’s too bad JVG got away to the Clippers. If we lose guys, hope we hire older coaches who have been around… I wonder if Kevin MCHale would be interested in coming back to coaching as an assistant, MCHale was making some good points in that Globe piece… Or if Doc Rivers would be interested in being assistant? Gotta get some guys who aren’t so prone to being misled by some of the fads like the young guys tend to
Yeah that’s what Giannis wants is to come to Boston with Doc. And no way is Doc going to play second fiddle in Boston to Joe.
Doc is done coaching. He’s going back to doing media stuff
Hope the next guys can fill the gap and they don’t jump to the new teams for a higher assistant role. Maybe they can bring some new guys in that can talk Joe into driving to the hoop instead of the perimeter chuck 3’s.
Is Brad threatened by hiring true heavyweight coaches? First Ime, then Joe. While the Jays are in their prime, why not go all in?
I love and trust BS, but I am perplexed. Even as a coach, he had a bias towards “development” and “equal opportunity” rather than going for the jugular when it was time.
What? Brad hired Jeff van Gundy (who then left for a better paying, same role with the Clippers) and Jeff van Gundy is absolutely a “heavyweight”.
And Charles Lee! Who has proven himself a “heavyweight” with Charlotte.
And the idea that a “heavyweight” would be preferable to Joe or Ime is…extremely dubious.
I’m not sure what the complaint here is, but how it is worded makes it a poorly-informed post. Take a lap.
Did he ever hire them as head coaches? A heavyweight is someone without a multi-year learning curve. Also, Charles Lee is not a heavyweight coach and definitely wasn’t one when BS hired him (at least now he has actual experience as HC).
Joe just got coach of the year… but yeah he’s weak and should be replaced
I did not say he’s weak or that he should be replaced. I pointed out that Brad appointed two consecutive head coaches with no head-coaching experience. That’s very unusual for a contender during a limited window.
It’s very unusual to do it even once, and he did it twice.
Intentionally obtuse isn’t working for you.
Brad has hired two coaches, both of whom have taken their teams to a Finals and multiple Conference Finals, and BOTH of those coaches are now “heavyweights” who’d be out-of-work for about 15 minutes if their current employer fired them.
Your definition of “heavyweight” is nonsense: Doc Rivers is a “heavyweight”? Really?!
Charles Lee
Not sure why you’re continuing to show your ignorance but this is wrong. Lee was a MASSIVE “heavyweight” when he was an assistant coach - one of the most sought after assistants and a guy who when he was hired was touted as a future HC. And he has become a HC and got a poverty franchise into the play-in.
Take the lap.
I was kind enough not to mock your reading comprehension issues, so not sure why you try to describe me as “obtuse”. My post was very clear: Brad has not hired a heavyweight coach. Neither Ime nor Joe was ever an HC when Brad hired them. And no, being a “sought after assistant” does not count as a heavyweight head coach either.
I didn’t say they were terrible failures, only wondered whether he is threatened by bringing in someone with more receipts than him.
Your point that “they ended up getting better a few years later” does not counter what I said. We did not have a few years. We have even less than that now. The Jays were ready to win a title while Brad was still a coach, so I wondered why he gambled on two inexperienced coaches rather than go all in and bring a true heavyweight (which I am sure Brad could have recruited).
Incoherent.
Again, Doc Rivers is a “heavyweight” by your definition.
I’m not sure what your point is but your attitude really sucks.
Bye.
Did I mention Doc Rivers? Are you sure you’re in the right thread?
The younger and less proven coaches have generally been better.
Look at the top COTY candidates this year:
Bickerstaff is the only coach on that list who has been hired as an experienced coach.
Teams that go for “proven” coaches are often disappointing.
You have to remember that coaches rarely quit, so you’re often looking at guys who have been fired.
Plus as we saw with Phil Jackson, tried-and-tested ideas often have an expiry date. It doesn’t matter how great the coach is, ideas that were great and transformative eventually become stale and out of date.
Typically, if a “more experienced coach” is on the market, they lost their last job for a reason. Obviously not a general all inclusive take, but grass isn’t always greener