Return of The Notebook: C’s Round Out Coaching Staff, KG Talks, Players & Owners Meet
Posted by Brian Robb on Sep 1, 2011
Before we get to this flurry of Celtics news, I’ll start with a bit of an apology/explanation. For the past couple weeks, our updates here at CelticsHub have been non-existent. Obviously, significant NBA news had come to a bit of standstill over this period and the entire CelticsHub break took advantage with a bit of an extended respite.
We didn’t plan on it lasting this long, but clearly we couldn’t resist the allure of warm August days and a little vacation (to go along with our “regular” jobs). In any case, the break is over and the good news is moving forward we will be back at full steam to start the month of September with daily updates. We aren’t going to try to “reach” with news that isn’t really news during the lockout (unconfirmed reports, etc.) but we’ll be there for the ride with plenty of Celtics news and analysis as the players and owners start their negotiations again finally (more on that later in this post). So to our readers, please excuse our absence and welcome back aboard.
Now onto the news…..
We’ll start with the news confirmed by Danny Ainge yesterday that the C’s had finished assembling their coaching staff by promoting longtime scout Jamie Young to an assistant position on the bench. Here’s more from Gary Washburn at Boston.com:
“I think we’re done with our coaches,” said Ainge after helping present refurbished athletic facilities at the Dorchester Education Academy. “Mike’s been an assistant coach behind Lawrence, behind Tom Thibodeau, under Jeff Van Gundy for many years. He’s ready for a chance.”
When asked about the “defensive coordinator” role, Ainge said: “We may do it different. That’s a question to ask Doc. Mike has sort of been an assistant defensive coordinator up to this point. So it would be a natural progression for him. It may be tweaked around (All our assistants) know our defense. Time will tell how Doc implements all their roles.”
In terms of a big man coach, Ainge said assistants Armond Hill and Kevin Eastman will primarily work with the big guys but former NBA guard Tyronn Lue will also help out.
Earlier this morning, Kevin Garnett joined the Dan Patrick Radio Show for a candid interview covering a variety of topics from the lockout, to his future with the C’s and what could have been a potential trade to the Lakers back in 2007. A few of the highlights courtesy of Gary Dzen of Boston.com once again:
On the lockout: “You trust no one in this, to be honest. You know you trust the players, because we’re communicating and negotiating. But you never trust the other side. Because you don’t know what they’re thinking and they don’t know what you’re thinking. You’re trying to come to some common ground going forward.”
On his future and signing a potential extension with the C’s: “Truthfully no, I haven’t. Danny [Ainge] — I think in passing, every joking moment that we have, he’ll throw something up in the air and we’ll laugh at it. But it’s not concrete, no.”
Asked if he’d even come back when his current deal is up, Garnett said, “I haven’t gotten to the point where I’ve made that decision. I’m enjoying the guys I’m playing with. I’m enjoying the game.”
On a move to the Lakers back in 2007: “”I was pretty close to be honest. What disturbed me about the whole Lakers situation was Kobe and Phil at the time. They were at each other pretty bad, and it was a new situation I didn’t want to get into … It was my choice, yeah. There was a lot going on and I didn’t want to be a part of it.”
A lot of interesting tidbits from the interview, certainly worth a full read from the link above over at Boston.com. We’ll touch on a couple of these storylines in the next couple days.
Finally, here’s the latest on the first round of negotiations the league and its players union had in weeks yesterday afternoon. Howard Beck of the New York Times was on the scene and had this on the first of hopefully many more negotiating sessions:
Negotiators met for six hours on Wednesday at a hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It was just the second bargaining session since July 1, and the longest in many months. If the duration was a sign of progress or a reason for optimism, neither side would say so — at least in part because they have promised to keep the negotiations private.
“We’ve just decided it’s not in anyone’s best interest to get into what actually happens in the meetings from this point on,” Derek Fisher, the president of the National Basketball Players Association, said after emerging from the meeting just after 4 p.m.
David Stern and Adam Silver, the commissioner and deputy commissioner, spoke 15 minutes later and echoed Fisher’s sentiments. It was their first public agreement on anything in some time.
More on the way tomorrow…..
The Ticker