Celtics cast a wide net in their coaching search

Brad Stevens’ last season was marked by a lack of execution and focus that can’t be blamed solely on COVID-19 and multiple injuries.

The Celtics, at their worst, played like a team that wasn’t listening. And upon officially taking over his new position as the president of basketball operations this week, even Stevens admits that a fresh voice in the locker room may be a good thing.

“I’ve been in that locker room with some of those guys for a long time,” he said, turning to the subject of what he’ll be looking for in a successor.

“They’ll get to play for a great coach, with some similarities maybe, but also some great new fresh perspectives,” said Stevens. “That’s a good thing, so I’m looking forward to finding that person.

“Because I do think people can be reinvigorated by that. I think, when I looked at the big picture and Wyc (Grousbeck) and I really talked about it, it made sense. This is a great opportunity to give us a good spark when we’re losing one of the best in his job in the world (in Danny Ainge). That’s something we know we all have to step up and meet the next challenge.”

The Celtics have launched what is considered a wide-reaching search that no one hopes takes too long. They are open to hiring the first female head coach in NBA history. Ownership is especially channeled into the franchise’s past and its precedents, and it would be fitting that the team to hire the NBA’S first Black head coach would also hire its first woman.

But as a source said shortly after Stevens’ promotion, the list is currently long. Some are still active in the playoffs — a factor that will extend Stevens’ timeline for filling the job.

Jay Larranaga (Celtics assistant)

It’s been a few seasons since Larranaga’s name started showing up on coaching search lists, but Larranaga was a hands-on, affable right hand to Stevens with strong player connections. He’s a former D-League coach (Erie Bayhawks) known for great player development skills. Beyond Jayson Tatum’s personal coach — Drew Hanlen — Larranaga has worked individually with the young Celtics star on everything, including his bursting offensive game.

Kara Lawson (Duke head women’s coach)

She didn’t even last a year on the Celtics staff before Duke hired her last summer, and though her debut at Duke received national occasion, the team’s season was cancelled for COVID-19 reason’s following a 3-1 start. But she had almost no trouble winning over the locker room in her time on Causeway Street, and was Marcus Smart’s personal coach when he shot his second highest 3-point percentage ever (.347). Another who won over the locker room — and just about everyone else in the organization — during her time here. What she lacks is a tangible head coaching record.

Chauncey Billups (Clippers assistant)

He’s everyone’s favorite candidate, and maybe even overdue for a head coaching position despite only one season (2020-21) as an assistant on Ty Lue’s staff. But he fits the current ideal of a former player — the 2004 NBA Finals MVP — who can command the respect of a locker room immediately.

Lloyd Pierce (former Hawks head coach)

He was fired in Atlanta this season after a 14-20 start this season, and must now deal with the optic of Nate McMillan turning the Hawks into the whirlwind that’s about to take on Philadelphia in the second round of the playoffs. Lauded as a defensive architect when he took over the Hawks in 2018, Pierce reportedly had trouble holding together the locker room this season, with multiple injuries also responsible for Atlanta’s slow start. Asked this winter about his relationship with players — there were multiple reports that he didn’t get along with Trae Young — Pierce said during a radio interview that, “I’m not there to be their friends.”

Darvin Ham (Bucks assistant)

A stolid member of the Mike Budenholzer coaching tree, Ham has spent seven seasons with the Bucks coach, including four in Atlanta. He’s come close to landing a head coaching job on several occasions, including when jobs opened recently in Chicago and with the Clippers — the latter before Ty Lue was brought in this season.

Ime Udoka (Nets assistant)

This onetime Spurs assistant gets credited for talking his former Portland teammate, LaMarcus Aldridge, into joining San Antonio, and this past winter the Nets after Aldridge was bought out of his contract. Known for his great rapport with players, and now with the star-laden Nets, Udoka is expected to be on everyone’s short list.

Sam Cassell (Sixers assistant)

This list wouldn’t be complete without someone from the Doc Rivers coaching tree, and as a member of the 2008 Celtics, Cassell is wired into what the best of times have been like in the TD Garden. He’s an in-your-face type with one of the most recognizable voices in the league. His voice will fill the locker room, for those who put value on that kind of thing.

Jay Wright (Villanova head men’s coach)

Stevens is the rare instance of a college coach who made a successful NBA leap, and thus has a sense for who else can make that transition. Jay Wright has a tradition of producing NBA-ready talent, and also knows a few things about winning titles.

Becky Hammon (Spurs assistant)

Many feel she’s in line if and when Gregg Popovich decides to retire, and is the most likely on a growing list to become the first woman to coach an NBA team. The Celtics will certainly look her way. She’s learned under the greatest active coach in the game.

Jason Kidd (Lakers assistant)

He has good odds of getting this job, according to Las Vegas — 5/1 according to BetOnline, which lists Larranaga as the favorite at 3/1. But Kidd’s path through head coaching jobs in Brooklyn and Milwaukee were fraught with the kind of Machiavellian maneuvering that would seem to be a turnoff to the plain-talking Stevens. And Kidd has his own issues with the Garden crowd, dating back to the ugly chants he heard with his wife in the Garden stands during the 2002 conference finals, stemming from domestic abuse charges he faced a year earlier. He’s settled in on Frank Vogel’s staff in Los Angeles, anyway. He may be the one candidate with a good reason not to take the job.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3fNXtqG