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Fire Doc!?

Firing a coach/manager during the season is the last refuge of the clueless. Small wonder Celtics' fans should be the ones calling for their team to do so.

For every team that's losing because it's demoralized and/or disorganized, there are a hundred teams that are losing because their players aren't good enough to win. Singificantly, the one sport where mid-stream horse changes work most often is baseball, where the season is long enough, and the differences between winners and losers small enough that a new emotional tone in the clubhouse can create dramatic improvement. But even there, mostly it doesn't. The new boss soon meets the old boss in the unemployment line.

In pro basketball, I can recall only two midseason coaching changes that did, in fact, turn a struggling team around. One was when Magic Johnson forced the Lakers to replace Paul Westhead with Pat Riley, whose instructions as new coach were pretty much, "let Magic run the offense and keep your eye on when Kareem needs to take a blow." Riley fulfilled his duties flawlessly. It may surprise younger fans to know that before becoming a Genius, Riley was the epitome of the laid-back mentor.

The other successful switch involved the Celtics. When Jim O'Brien replaced Rick Pitino, a team in a classic death spiral righted itself in apparent defiance of the law of hoop gravity. Of course, Pitino wasn't merely the coach, he was the Boss, the ruler of the Celts' domain, with hiring and firing powers Rivers sure doesn't possess. Almost any business does better without a Boss in mental breakdown mode hanging around the office.

So firing Rivers would be a terrific idea if only he was running the Celtics and if the 1982 vintage Magic could then play point guard for the new coach. Otherwise, dumping this garden-variety NBA coach would be a move that'd only impress the gullible-a large percentage of the Celts' fan base.

Look people, isn't it obvious by now the Boston franchise's failure is a total group effort? Sure, the Celts could use a new coach, but only if he came as part of a package. This team needs new owners, a new front office, and about ten new players before the identity of its bench boss would make the slightest difference in its performance.

posted by Michael Gee @ 8:41 AM