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Celtics' focus turns toward murky future

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 9, 2001

[AP photo] Rick Pitino's Celtic legacy: a 102-146 record.

BOSTON -- With Rick Pitino's departure official, who's going to coach the Celtics? Well, for now, the answer is easy: Jim O'Brien.

Beyond this season, however, it gets a little trickier. Will the team be sold? Who will be the head of basketball operations? Will the Celtics morph into a defensive dynamo under O'Brien and make the playoffs? With most of the current basketball staff under contract through this season, there is plenty of room for speculation.

It all came to pass Monday, when Pitino resigned as coach and president of the team, 3 1/2 seasons after he was brought in to revive a franchise that once had been the NBA's proudest. He forfeited some $20-million left in his contract.

Pitino's legacy: a 102-146 record and a history of roster churning that left the team strapped under the salary cap and unable to find its groove.

"It has been a great privilege to coach the greatest basketball tradition in sports," he said in a statement released by the team. "I wish we could have accomplished more between the lines, but I am proud with the efforts of my staff and players."

With Pitino's departure a foregone conclusion by Monday, the Boston Globe was quick with a list of potential successors. The paper excluded current coaches such as Dave Cowens at Golden State and Paul Silas at Charlotte.

Danny Ainge: As an ex-Celtic and former head coach in Phoenix, his name undoubtedly will surface. But if Ainge left a winning situation in the Valley of the Sun, why on earth would he come here to coach this group?

Rick Carlisle: He will be the odds-on favorite if Larry Bird emerges as the basketball boss. He was Bird's assistant for three years in Indiana and has been an assistant in Portland and New Jersey. Bird would have liked Carlisle to follow him in Indiana.

Don Chaney: He once was a coach of the year and lately has been one of Jeff Van Gundy's lieutenants in New York. He'd love another chance.

Paul Westphal: After Vinnie Baker and Gary Payton, the Celtics might seem like a picnic compared with what Westy went through in Seattle. He also has head coaching experience in Phoenix and a Celtic pedigree.

The other names mentioned: Quinn Buckner, M.L. Carr, Bob Hill, Mike Jarvis and Dennis Johnson.

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