Friday, March 23 - Celtics at Trail Blazers
Pregame – Celts Will Receive Coaching Help in Wake of McCarty's Exit
PORTLAND, Ore. – Just days after Walter McCarty exited Boston’s coaching staff to become head coach at the University of Evansville, the Celtics will receive a pair of boosts to their staff from Northern New England.
Brad Stevens revealed before Friday’s tip-off against Portland that Maine Red Claws head coach Brandon Bailey and Red Claws associate head coach Alex Barlow will rejoin Boston’s staff after the completion of Maine’s season this weekend. Stevens said that this has been the plan all along.
“They knew that part of their deal was they were going to go up (to Maine) for a couple of months and then come right back here for the stretch run and then into the Playoffs,” Stevens explained.
With that plan in mind, Stevens said that he has been communicating with Bailey and Barlow “almost every day” to keep them up to speed with what the C’s are adding to their system.
“They know exactly what we’re doing,” said Stevens. “They’ve kept up with exactly what we’ve added and everything else.”
McCarty’s former responsibilities will be dispersed throughout the entire coaching staff, with added assistance from the arrival of Bailey and Barlow. Maine’s season ends Saturday night, when the Red Claws play the Raptors 905.
In his first season as a head coach, Bailey has guided the Red Claws to a 17-32 record thus far. He joined the Red Claws after spending six seasons as a member of Boston’s coaching staff, originally as a video intern under Doc Rivers. Bailey went on to become the head video coordinator for the Celtics during the previous two seasons.
Barlow, meanwhile, joined the Celtics during the summer of 2015 and served for two years as a video assistant. He and Bailey worked hand-in-hand for those two seasons, cutting up all of Boston’s film and scouting upcoming opponents.
McCarty’s exit could have easily affected the Celtics in a negative manner had this plan for Bailey and Barlow never been assembled. Boston has only 11 games remaining on its schedule, including tonight’s against the Trail Blazers.
The C’s will be understaffed for a couple of those games, but once Bailey and Barlow arrive, they will be in great position from a coaching perspective.
As Stevens put it, “I feel really good about the group we have here and getting done what we need to get done.”
- Marc D'Amico