Danny Ainge decides the veteran coach should stay with the Celtics.
WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) – Danny Ainge looked all over and found the coach he wanted was already working for him.
The new basketball boss of the Boston Celtics added two years Wednesday to the contract of coach Jim O’Brien, which had a year remaining. Now both of them have deals through the 2005-2006 season.
“We have to be on the same page, so that’s why we needed to spend time and that’s why it’s not just a no-brainer decision to extend him. It’s a well thought-out decision,” Ainge said.
O’Brien took over the Celtics when Rick Pitino resigned on Jan. 8, 2001. He coached the team to two straight playoff berths following a six-year drought.
“I am excited and energized and very much looking forward to being joined with Danny in this kind of quest to get this franchise to the next level,” he said. “By no stretch of the imagination are we satisfied in any way where we are right now.”
Under O’Brien, the Celtics reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2002 and the conference semifinals in 2003. They lost both times to New Jersey, getting swept in four games this year. But after eight straight losing seasons, Boston was 49-33 and 44-38 under O’Brien. The 49 wins were the most for the Celtics since they had 56 in 1990-91.
Ainge, named executive director of basketball operations May 9, wanted to undertake a thorough analysis before granting the extension. Financial details were not disclosed.
He met with O’Brien and considered potential replacements among current college coaches, pro assistants, retired players and former NBA coaches. In the end, he said, he and the team owners who took over this season agreed unanimously to give O’Brien two more years.
“I think it’s huge,” Ainge said. “We have some continuity and a person that’s hard working, respected, a person that has a great deal of integrity. It’s a great get for us.
“In basketball terms, we happen to see the game the same way a lot,” he said.
Ainge also said extensions will be completed shortly for O’Brien’s assistants – John Carroll, Lester Conner, Joe Gallagher, Dick Harter and Frank Vogel.
O’Brien’s players have praised the coach for his fairness, dedication and rapport with them. But Ainge said a better gauge of how much they respect O’Brien is that they played very hard for him.
Ainge saw that in his previous job as a television commentator for NBA games on TNT.
“You know from doing the games that people like him, but sometimes when people like him it doesn’t always mean that they respect him,” Ainge said. “People respect him because of his integrity, personal integrity, his character, his work ethic.”
When O’Brien succeeded Pitino, the team was 12-22, then went 24-24 the rest of the 2000-2001 season. O’Brien joined the Celtics when Pitino became coach in 1997-98. He spent the previous three seasons as an associate coach with Pitino at Kentucky.
“He’s the guy we really wanted,” Ainge said. “He’s established a great track record here in Boston under some difficult circumstances.”
And O’Brien was eager to work with the new owners and Ainge.
“We’re all kind of thrown together,” said O’Brien, who described the leadership as an “extremely strong group.”
That may not include general manager Chris Wallace. He was scouting potential draft picks in Europe when Ainge was hired and has interviewed for a position with the Portland TrailBlazers.
Ainge said he was looking forward to working with Wallace. But if he does go elsewhere, Ainge doesn’t expect Wallace to deprive the Celtics of his scouring reports for the June 26 draft.
“That would be pretty underhanded, wouldn’t it?” Ainge said with a smile. “I don’t see Chris being that way, and everybody that’s been around him has a great deal of respect for him and his integrity.”
AP-ES-05-21-03 2024EDT
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