Insert Clever "Doctor" Pun Here

So then...Doc Rivers. The former Orlando Magic coach that started out 1 - 10 this year and got the boot. Resident genius Danny Ainge surprised EVERYONE in Celtic Nation by hiring his former adversary for the role of head coach in Boston. Par for the course,Peter May hated it. Last night, unofficial ilb polls show that Celtic Nation was against this move by a 3 to 1 margin and that's being kind. Like many of Danny's moves, this appeared to be idiotic, but if you look under the surface, it actually makes alot of sense.

I'm paraphrasing here, but some of the things Danny wants our team to become are 1) play a more uptempo style, 2) incorporate more passing and screening into our offense, 3) play the rookies more, and 4) have a coach NBA players want to play for (i.e. attract free agents). All of this will hopefully lead to the mythical "# 17" (as in the 17th title for the organization).

So using those criteria, this isn't a bad hire at all. By all accounts, Doc is one charming bastard. He won coach of the year in 2000 when he almost led a team of rag tag, scrappy players to the playoffs, so he obvs. has some modicum of respect. His teams averaged over 100 points during his stay in Orlando. Under his tutelage, Tracy McGrady became one of the Top 5 players in the L. Players such as Chucky Atkins (yes, our current PG), Ben Wallace, Matt Harpring and Darrell Armstrong really came into their own during their time in Orlando. Mike Miller won the Rookie of the Year award under Rivers care. Also, RIvers has already gone on record saying he wants Ricky Davis and PP to move more without the ball and come off screens to get their shots as opposed to running endless isolation plays. In short, we will play like a team and not rely on our All Star as much. Rookie PG Marcus Banks, who really showed flashes of brilliance at the end of the year, figures to improve exponentially.

The biggest knock against Rivers are his player personnel decisons, which may or may not have been made by him or by ex-GM John Gabriel. The players drafted by Orlando in the first round of the last three drafts are Reece Gaines, Ryan Humphrey, Steven Hunter, Jeryl Sasser. Not exactly a list that knocks you out, is it? Still, everyone in Boston knows that Danny Ainge is in charge of personnel decisions and so far, I think he is doing a good job.

Many people thought Ainge acted to quickly in hiring Rivers, (interim head coach John Carrol was only fired three days ago) but I don't buy it. Ainge knew Carroll wasn't coming back and obvs. started the search to permanently replace Jim O'Brien as soon as he stepped down. Rivers was the hottest head coaching candidate out there. Danny knew what he wanted and he went out and got it. Again, it's hard to find fault in that.

The crucial thing now for Rivers and Ainge is to assemble a top notch cadre of assistants that can impart their knowledge on this young Celtic team. I swear I can count on one hand the times we ran a pick and roll last year. This needs to change. Dave Wohl, Paul Pressey, Jeff Hornacek, Dwayne Casey, Dennis Johnson and soon to be fired Golden State head coach Eric Musselman have all been mentioned. With the right assistants, Rivers can leave most of the game management to his staff and focus on motivating his new team to play to the best of their ability. I know our season just ended, but this figures to be a very active off season and I can't wait for it to get underway.