# Report: O'Brien resigns as Celtics' head coach.



## AL9045 (Nov 27, 2003)

Go to Yahoo! Sports.

Report: O'Brien resigns as Celtics' head coach 

Jim O'Brien has reportedly resigned as head coach of the Boston Celtics. According to sources, O'Brien's decision came after a major argument over personnel and playing time issues with director of basketball operations Danny Ainge. Assistant coach John Carroll is expected to take over as interim head coach.


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## Johnny Mac (May 6, 2003)

Good find. Interesting news definitely.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

What took so long? Should've happened after the ECF against NJ 2 years ago...


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## ErikDaniels14UK (Dec 8, 2002)

another good coach fired........... :no: 
it was probally danny ainge's fault once again


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## ErikDaniels14UK (Dec 8, 2002)

at least he got them to the ECF...... some coaches wont do that in their careers


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## tpb2 (Oct 23, 2003)

RICKY DAVIS STRIKES AGAIN!


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## AL9045 (Nov 27, 2003)

Stupid link.


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## Big John (Sep 11, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>tpb2</b>!
> RICKY DAVIS STRIKES AGAIN!


No, Walter McCarty strikes (but not again). Ricky has been a model citizen in Boston. Whether or not that continues remains to be seen.

When you play a complete stiff like McCarty 46 minutes a game, you better call a broker and list your house.


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## MLKG (Aug 25, 2003)

How can you call O'Brien a good coach? Whenever I watch a Celtics game I am appaled at how many threes the team jacks up. The Celtics as an organization are in complete dissaray. I don't know what Danny Ainge's plan is, but this may have been the first good move he's made.


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## Arclite (Nov 2, 2002)

Wow. Who is the most tenured coach in the atlantic division now?? It's like a revolving door for those teams.


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## MJG (Jun 29, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Sovereignz</b>!
> Wow. Who is the most tenured coach in the atlantic division now?? It's like a revolving door for those teams.


Off the top of my head, amazingly enough, I believe it is Eddie Jordan in Washington. Maybe it is Ayers in Philly -- either way, every coach in the Atlantic is on their first year.


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## tpb2 (Oct 23, 2003)

> RICKY DAVIS STRIKES AGAIN!


just kidding


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## spongyfungy (Oct 22, 2003)

Atlanta's Terry Stotts from last year. the WHOLE eastern conference. man that's alot of coaching changes

Yikes. I wonder who is next to go?


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## ErikDaniels14UK (Dec 8, 2002)

he made that team had a really bad losing record into one with an above 50 percent winning record for 2 years strait....... this year he couldnt cuz the idiot danny ainge came into town...... the next to leave the celtics: paul pierce


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## Big John (Sep 11, 2002)

In two weeks no one will care about Jim O'Brien or Byron Scott. Neither one is a HOF coaching candidate.

I said at the beginning of the year: run or die. They didn't run, O'Brien died.

Yes, O'Brien resigned, but if you listened to the press conference, Ainge didn't wait too long before accepting his resignation.


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## De_dauntless (Oct 2, 2003)

*Jim O'Brien has resigned*

Damn what is the NBA coming to


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## Premier (Oct 30, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Sovereignz</b>!
> Wow. Who is the most tenured coach in the atlantic division now?? It's like a revolving door for those teams.


SC said it was Terry Stotts (Atlanta)


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## Premier (Oct 30, 2003)

Celtics Fans Thoughts


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## lastlaugh (Oct 30, 2003)

Boston radio's take on this is that Danny Ainge re-upped O'Briens contract to make him the scape goat.
Knowing that Ainge wanted to tank the first year they re-hired O'Brien to take the fall.
It makes perfect sense and it worked because Celtics fans were blaming Jim O'Brien from the start of this season and not blaming the man who put this pathetic team together.
The running game didn't end because of O'Brien it ended because Pierce wouldn't run. The whole team would be up the court and Paul would be walking behind. Jim tried Danny's sceam and when it didn't work he went back to throwing up the 3.
I don't get what people expected Jim O'Brien to do with these stiffs DANNY AINGE put on the court by DANNY AINGE.
Jim got out before he could be blamed.
Like I said in another thread. NO ONE walks away from 7 million dollars for nothing.
Ainge says they have been disagreeing all year long and that he was willing to work through there differences but Jim was not.
Those are DANNY AINGE'S words off of 1510 the zone.

A big fight happened today (according to Boston news. All 5 stations) and Jim resigned.


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## Bad Bartons (Aug 23, 2002)

*Jim did a good job*

He was a big step up from Pitino in terms of knowing how to coach pros and respect people.

Jim turned the C's into a playoff team.

Love ya Jim, but it is time to try to move to the next level.

O'Brien has been criticized and rightly so for not developing young talent. Now with Danny Ainge slowly trading off O'Brien guys (Walker, Battie, Williams, Delk, Bremer) something had to give. Obie was stubborn. "If you are only leaving me with a few of my guys then I'll play them the entire game."

Danny's three draft picks have become bright spots on a team that is very average. The Boston fans want more of them and Danny has just made that happen.

Bring on the younguns even if it means we are back in the lottery.


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## Premier (Oct 30, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>lastlaugh</b>!
> Boston radio's take on this is that Danny Ainge re-upped O'Briens contract to make him the scape goat.
> Knowing that Ainge wanted to tank the first year they re-hired O'Brien to take the fall.
> It makes perfect sense and it worked because Celtics fans were blaming Jim O'Brien from the start of this season and not blaming the man who put this pathetic team together.
> ...


C'mon, you can't blame Danny. He was trying to implant a "youth" movement. He was trying to get a running game going. Obie just didn't listen to Ainge and that isn't smart to ignore your boss.


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## Mattsanity (Jun 8, 2003)

I'd be surprised if Terry Stotts isn't replaced by Jim O'Brien, or atleast Byron Scott.


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## lastlaugh (Oct 30, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Celts11</b>!
> 
> 
> C'mon, you can't blame Danny. He was trying to implant a "youth" movement. He was trying to get a running game going. Obie just didn't listen to Ainge and that isn't smart to ignore your boss.


Jim is the coach. He was re-signed because Ainge said he agreed with O'Brien. Why would he resign a coach he had no intentions of letting run the team.
That says it all.

You don't win championships with just scoring. Danny wanted all offense and Jim knows (as does any coach with a brain) that you win championships with defense.

Ainge thinks that out starting 5 is the team that will lead the Celtics to number 17. He is an idiot.
Paul Pierce maybe but Jiri Welsch, Chris Mihm, Ricky Davis and Marcus Banks were going to lead this team to a championship?
That is just plain stupid.


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## shazha (Nov 20, 2002)

shucks thats a damn shame, he was a really good coach too. I feel pretty bad for celts fans, this year has been just so up and down. After the walker trade the celts just havent been the same anymore. 

Hes just rubbing it in bostons face by being in shape and playing great ball in the west. I guess you guys can only wait and see how jeri pans out, and for raefs return.

Byron scott is available, so is doc rivers isnt he? I think the doc would be good for this team. He makes underachievers overachieve.


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## ErikDaniels14UK (Dec 8, 2002)

u might as well get rid of the only person on your team who coached or went to kentucky (mccarty). cuz it seems like ainge isnt a kentucky fan


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## Big John (Sep 11, 2002)

Wanna know what the "philosophical difference" between Ainge and O'Brien was? Here ya go:

YEAR TEAM 3PM-A 
96-97 BOS 52-159 
97-98 BOS 91-292 
98-99 BOS 65-176 
99-00 BOS 73-285 
00-01 BOS 221-603 
01-02 BOS 222-645 
02-03 BOS 188-582 

And they blamed it all on Antoine. As Jerry Sloan said... How many 3's did he take... and the coach is still alive?"

I'm with you Danny. The Celtics under O'Brien were incapable of running a coherent fast break or defending the post. They fronted the post almost exclusively because O'Brien wanted his pet McCarty in there at power forward, and McCarty is incapable of keeping an NBA post player from getting position down low.


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## lastlaugh (Oct 30, 2003)

Your not with Danny Ainge.
He wanted Jim O'Brien to stay and was shocked that he resigned.
We all know how he always speaks the truth and I heard these words out of his very big mouth.
Shooting the 3 wasn't the issue. Danny never brought that up.

I cannot believe you are still blaming Walter Mcarty for this lol.
Only Boston fans logic could come up with that. When the team sucks lets blame the guy who makes 2 million.


The actual philosophical difference was Jim wanted to focus on defense first and Danny Ainge wanted to turn the Celtics into the perceived Dallas Mavericks.
Shoot, shoot, shoot but play no defense at all.
(Dallas has been playing great defense lately but they are perceievd to only be a shooting team)





> Originally posted by <b>Big John</b>!
> Wanna know what the "philosophical difference" between Ainge and O'Brien was? Here ya go:
> 
> YEAR TEAM 3PM-A
> ...


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## Big John (Sep 11, 2002)

lastlaugh, you have been an Ainge hater from day one. That is you perogative.

If O'Brien was a "defense first" coach then he was a flop. They had just lost 5 out of 7 and were getting killed by every team with a .500 or better record. They barely managed to beat the Heat and the Wiz. Every other recent game was a disaster.


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## PatBateman (May 26, 2003)

As Big John put(who btw is the most knowledgable celtics poster on this board) this quote, from the best coach in the NBA right now, says it all when told how many 3's Walker took over the past few seasons:



As Jerry Sloan said... How many 3's did he take??.......And the coach is still alive???"


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## Bad Bartons (Aug 23, 2002)

The Celtics offensive strategy, which is the coaches responsibility, has been so one dimensional and predictable since Jim took over. Jim is a defensive coach...pure and simple. But it takes some offense to win. Jim just said play my defensive strategy or you will not play. Then he let Walker and Pierce do whatever they wanted on offense...as long as they shot any open three they got.

Offense should be a team's right leg and defense its left leg. If a team neglects either it starts walking funny. Obie's teams bounced on their defensive leg like a pogo stick. The only reason they did not fall down is because of two excellent offensive players who did what they could to score some points.

I will repeat that I love what Jim O'Brien did for the Celtics. He is a good coach. He will catch on somewhere else. Will he be able to sell his defense to an entire team of new players? A few of the guys he had (Walker, Delk, McCarty, Williams) had taken that message before he was coach. It can be very hard to get NBA players to play hard defense. We will see what happens. I wish Jim success...except against the Celtics.


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## ATLien (Jun 18, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>Mattsanity</b>!
> I'd be surprised if Terry Stotts isn't replaced by Jim O'Brien, or atleast Byron Scott.


Hard to hire a coach w/o a owner..


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## lastlaugh (Oct 30, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Big John</b>!
> lastlaugh, you have been an Ainge hater from day one. That is you perogative.
> 
> If O'Brien was a "defense first" coach then he was a flop. They had just lost 5 out of 7 and were getting killed by every team with a .500 or better record. They barely managed to beat the Heat and the Wiz. Every other recent game was a disaster.


I hate anyone who comes into a team. Doesn't do his research, then trades for a player who is injured (when he knows he is injured) anyway. (mind you he didn't know Raef was injured till after the physical but when he found out how bad his knee was he traded for that useless piece of crap anyway)

Ask anyone at this board.
Would they trade for a player they knew had a knee injury just for the sake of getting rid of a player they didn't know and admitted in a radio interview that they never wanted to get to know?
Gee why would I ever hate (hate is strong word. Try dislike) a guy like that.
Research, what a waste of time.

When you can show me that taking too many 3's was the philosophical difference between Jim and Danny then I might agree with you but since Danny Ainge said he didn't want Jim O'Brien to go that could not have been a reason. Obviously if it was a reason he would have been gone along time ago.


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## PatBateman (May 26, 2003)

As Big John put(who btw is the most knowledgable celtics poster on this board) this quote, from the best coach in the NBA right now, says it all when told how many 3's Walker took over the past few seasons:



As Jerry Sloan said... How many 3's did he take??.......And the coach is still alive???"


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

I think it's foolish to attack O'Brien's strategy when it took a team that didn't really have the talent to do so, to the playoffs year in and year out. O'Brien gave the Celtics the best scheme they could have to win.

The philosophical diffrence is that Danny Ainge wants to rebuild and O'Brien just kept finding a way to win no matter how many of his favorite guys Ainge traded away.

This started with Kenny Anderson and Vin Baker. And in a lot of ways seemed to end with Eric Williams.

The odds have been consistently against O'Brien in Boston. He was wise to leave now before it got too much worse.

Pierce is next to go.

Boston fans, you want to see your future? Take a good hard look at Bulls basketball. Fun times. Ainge is criminally bad.

I like him though, because I think he is going to get the Cavs into the playoffs. He's given them the right mix of youth and experience, in addition to gutting his own team...if the Cavs make the playoffs, Lebron and the NBA need to send Danny a new Mink coat.


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## Big John (Sep 11, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>futuristxen</b>!
> O'Brien gave the Celtics the best scheme they could have to win.


Baloney. It was the only scheme he knew. Harter's defense and Ricky P's offense but without the press. We've seen the exact same plays year after year, and so has every other coach in the league.


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## Kunlun (Jun 22, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>ErikDaniels14UK</b>!
> another good coach fired........... :no:
> it was probally danny ainge's fault once again


Actually, he resigned.


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## jokeaward (May 22, 2003)

When you think about it, didn't Waltah have to have a lot of minutes at the 4 or 5? Who else is it? Williams when he was there perhaps, but who else? On/off Vin? Rodney Rogers (so different, lol)?

Danny Ainge favors running. O'Brien favors more focus on D, as well as the three. Why not?

But who's right?

P.S. I don't even remember why I was going to say this, but Ricky, Jiri, etc. are not defensive marvels or low-post threats.


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## alchemist (Apr 11, 2003)

I feel for O'Brien, he can only do so much with what Ainge provides him. I mean, they had a team that could contend for the EC Championship, and now they're lottery-bound.


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## Big John (Sep 11, 2002)

> Originally posted by <b>alchemist</b>!
> I feel for O'Brien, he can only do so much with what Ainge provides him. I mean, they had a team that could contend for the EC Championship, and now they're lottery-bound.


Only for this year, and maybe not even then. If you want to consider the views of those of us who actually watch the Celtics, read this:

http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_6985.shtml

It's a good antidote to the drivel that has appeared on ESPN, and in the Globe and Herald.


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## Premier (Oct 30, 2003)

> Originally posted by <b>Big John</b>!
> 
> 
> Only for this year, and maybe not even then. If you want to consider the views of those of us who actually watch the Celtics, read this:
> ...


Is that you writing the article Big John. Really good points. 



> The one thing I thought you could expect from O'Brien was professionalism.* If Danny Ainge doesn't want to see Walter McCarty playing 46 minutes a game, or Paul Pierce trying to create offense 30 feet from the hoop, O'Brien should be making the adjustment the next night. Not because Ainge is his boss; because Ainge is so obviously right.* The pig-headed O'Brien steadfastly refused to ever consider that his three-point offense was a counter-productive abomination that required super-human defense to win. He was never embarassed by the shameful brand of stand-still basketball he inflicted on us for three years.* He never felt he had to answer for developing the team's best young talent, preferring instead to go with the less-talented but more obedient veterans who would fit his "system."* Ryan and other casual observers of the Celtics still credit Obie with creating a system in which Pitino's leavings could flourish. But anyone who watched the Celtics closely knows that O'Brien can't use a player UNLESS they fit in his system, and will always prefer "blitz defenders" and stand-still shooters to the more chaotic, creative, and harder-to-control players, like Ricky Davis, who can actually generate offense on the run.* If the Celtics ever ran and passed under O'Brien it was an accident, and one he soon corrected.* To say that he just lacked the horses down low is ludicrous. Vitaly Potapenko spent his whole career in the high post;* Kendrick Perkins and Chris Mihm have hardly even had a chance to produce in the paint.* Why? Because centers have to be out chasing point guards in the System; and the number of "centers" who can do that and play low-post offense are basically nil.





> But now we'll finally get to see the players play.* Walter will go back to his rightful place at the end of the bench.* Marcus Banks will have a free hand. Brandon Hunter and Kendrick Perkins and Ricky Davis will finally get a chance to flourish without O'Brien's fingers at their windpipe. I can go back to writing about the Celtics without having to scream at O'Brien's madness and mischief every week. Let the sports-radio callers and fat-cat columnists rant about Ainge's lack of direction, and the sorry state of the Celtics. They may not realize it, but the major factor holding the Celtics back from glory has just been removed.


Terrific Article.


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## agoo (Jun 1, 2003)

So I have this astounding combination of being a realist and actually watching the Celtics that from the looks of it, not many people here have.

The reality of O'Brien's dilemma is that when you're coaching a team (ANY team in ANY sport) that can't score, all you can do to win is stop the other team from scoring. That's why O'Brien focused on defense. Think about, when he started coaching here, he had Walker, Pierce, and cast offs, Pitino's boys, and other assorted nothing. All he could do was create an offense where the focus was conserving energy for defense and it worked. He made it to the ECF with an awful team. In the off-season, then owner Gaston took away the chance of developing an offense here by dealing Kenny Anderson for Vinny Baker and let Rodney Rogers walk. Despite that, the Celtics made it to the playoffs again and would have gone to the ECF, if they didn't have to play the Nets in the second round. This season, he had Ainge inplace to take the team away from him by dealing Walker for players who were hurt or never did anything in the league and then dealt two of the guys that thuroughly understood the defense in Battie and Williams. Despite that, O'Brien was going to be in the playoffs again this year and probably would have gone to the second round again.

O'Brien will land somewhere and honestly, I wouldn't be shocked to see him win a championship if he's in the right situation with players who will put in the effort on defense and he can run a ballance inside-outside offense.


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## Big John (Sep 11, 2002)

Agoo, your post represents the conventional wisdom about O'Brien. In substance, it says the same thing as Bob Ryan's column in today's Globe.

1. There is a myth that Obie won without talent. In fact, in the weak eastern conference, the Celtics, with Pierce, Walker, Williams, Anderson and Battie (the starting five on their ECF team), plus Rodney Rodgers, had just as much talent as any team except New Jersey.

2. And why couldn't the team score, even though the team had two very good scorers? It's because the offensive schemes were terrible. O'Brien didn't design anything. He simply continued using Ricky P.'s offense without the press.

3. O'Brien is a competent coach, but he is too stubborn and inflexible to be a great coach. He takes players and shoehorns them into his system, rather than adapting his system to the players.

Let's see how the Celtics do without him.


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## walkon4 (Mar 28, 2003)

*john*

Hey John

I just want to see what your opinions of Coach O'Brien are. 

I thought he was an Ok coach. 

thanks
(and check out the pic, I guess it is now a photo of the past)


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