Doc Gives Mike Longabardi Defensive Specialist Duties

Posted by Brian Robb on Sep 20, 2011 218331 commenthttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F09%2F20%2Fdoc-gives-mike-longabardi-defensive-specialist-duties%2FDoc+Gives+Mike+Longabardi+Defensive+Specialist+Duties2011-09-20+14%3A10%3A50Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D21833

Celtics articles came out of hibernation yesterday, as both Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge spoke at the C’s annual Shamrock Foundation charity golf tournament in Weston. There was a number of no comments regarding NBA matters from the two, but a few confirmations were made regarding the C’s coaching staff. Rivers acknowledged that mike Longabardi would be handling Lawrence Frank’s defensive specialist duties, while long-time assistants Kevin Eastman and Armond Hill will coach the bigs with Roy Rogers’ departure.

Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald attended the event and also had a few intriguing quotes from the Head Coach and President of Basketball Operations:

Ainge on the lockout: “It’s been interesting,” he said. “We have, what, seven signed players. But as a staff, we’ve still watched film, we’ve prepped. We’re meeting in a week again as a staff. I know some staffs have gone on business like normal, where they’ve been in the office every day. I made a conscious choice not to do that, because you just don’t know. The tough part is not knowing the rest of your roster. But we pretty much know who we are. We’re not changing much as far as our identity defensively and stuff like that. But there are areas we want to improve on, on offense and defense, and we’re going to do that.”

Rivers on Longabardi (Via Peter May at ESPNBoston): “They do it with the amount of players they have, so we should be able to do it with the amount of players we have,” he said. “You just have to do it. You have to let go. It took me years to do it. But I do think it’s the right thing to do. Whoever that guy is, it gives him the opportunity to focus in on one thing, like that’s his baby. It’s a good thing.”

The reason Rivers took so long to embrace the concept, he said, was because “I kept looking for the right (person). Thibs (Thibodeau), for me, was that guy. He loved doing it. That’s what he wanted to do and it really allows you to coach the team.”