First Tom Thibodeau, then Lawrence Frank. For the past four seasons, the Celtics defense has been under the control of pedigreed, respected basketball minds. But with both Thibs and Frank accepting head coaching positions elsewhere, the Celtics defense will turn to a more unknown commodity next season. At a charity golf tournament this morning, Doc Rivers admitted that Mike Longabardi will become the team’s de facto defensive coordinator.

Longabardi has worked on Rivers’s coaching staff for the past three seasons, but a promotion this summer means he will become an NBA bench coach next season for the first time ever. The promoted coach previously worked behind the scenes in Boston and, for four years before that, in Houston. But now he will take the reins of one of the NBA’s top units, a defensive crew that carried an average Celtics offense last season.

Longabardi will need to fill big shoes, and he will need to do so despite the expected, continued decline (however slight or sudden) of Boston’s Big Three. Especially if Kevin Garnett slows down another step or two, Longabardi’s job will become significantly more difficult. After learning underneath Thibodeau and Frank, Longabardi should be well-schooled in defensive technique and well-prepared to run the defense himself. But taking orders from two of the NBA’s finest defensive minds is one thing. Giving the orders yourself is quite another.

There was some discussion that Boston’s defensive would be led by a “defensive coordinator-by-committee” next season, but Rivers instead decided to appoint Longabardi in charge. Just a few years ago, Longabardi was a video coordinator in Houston. Now, he will be barking orders at Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. If he’s anything like Thibodeau and Frank, Longabardi will have plenty of voice-less nights following close games.

Remember, Larry Brown was reportedly interested in an assistant coaching position with Boston. By promoting Longabardi rather than pursuing Brown, the Celtics offered a vote of confidence to the Frostburg State University graduate. And no, I didn’t know that school existed either. In case you were wondering, other notable alumni include a bunch of people I’ve never heard of, and Jim Riggleman, the Washington Nationals manager who resigned after winning 11 of 12 games because the team refused to discuss a contract extension.

The Celtics have heaped a lot of responsibility on Longabardi, a young assistant whose resume pales in comparison to Thibodeau’s or Frank’s. I admittedly know nothing about Longabardi’s coaching habits or skills, but I hope he’s ready for the big time.

Larry Brown is interested in becoming Boston’s lead assistant coach, but the Celtics are reportedly “inclined to promote” Mike Longabardi, an assistant coach, from within the organization. (Yahoo! Sports)

Despite Brown’s credentials and good relationship with Rivers, the Celtics coach is inclined to promote a well-regarded young assistant on his staff – Mike Longabardi – sources said. Nevertheless, Rivers hasn’t ruled out the idea of further discussing a spot for Brown on his bench next season.

Rivers agreed to a new five-year, $35 million contract in June, and the Celtics aren’t dying to pay for a high-profile assistant like they’ve had recently in Tom Thibodeau and Frank, sources said. And yet as one league source close to Brown said, “Larry would do this for less than the going rate.”

It makes perfect sense that Boston would spurn Brown to promote Longabardi. Brown’s a Hall of Famer. He has won 1,098 games as a head coach, earned four Coach of the Year Awards (including one in the NBA and three in the now-defunct ABA), and developed a reputation as one of the best basketball teaching minds in history. He has a tight relationship with Doc Rivers, thrives while coaching veteran teams, and would reportedly coach in Boston “for less than the going rate.” A resumé like that simply can’t compete with Longabardi’s long list of accomplishments.

I mean, Longabardi was an assistant coach at Pfeiffer University! He was a video coordinator for the Houston Rockets! He was on the coaching staff that led the Lafayette Leopards to a Patriot League title!

If the Celtics don’t pass on Brown to offer the position to Longabardi, they’re crazy. Crazy, I tell ya.

P.S. – Longabardi might be one of the brightest young basketball minds in the world. I have no idea.

If there was one thing I wouldn’t want a teammate to say about me, it would be that I have no fight. I’d rather have a teammate say I was the least-skilled player ever, or as ugly as Tyrone Hill, or that I had a jump shot not even Ben Wallace would want. Okay, maybe I’d rather have no fight than be as ugly as Tyrone Hill, but still: One of the worst things a teammate could possibly say about you is that you have no fight.

I now forward you to Charlotte, where that insult is precisely the one Gerald Wallace just hurled at D.J. Augustin, while comparing Augustin to former Bobcat Raymond Felton. (Hang on, folks. I will tie the Celtics into this in time.) Read more »

Whoever that is with Larry Bird has some mighty thick spectacles.

Donnie Walsh vividly remembers his first meeting with Larry Bird. (Boston Herald)

“I’ll never forget that meeting,” Walsh said. “We sat down and talked and he spent 45 minutes telling me what he was going to do from the first day of training camp to the last day of the season.

“And when I look back on it, that’s exactly what he did. Everything. Everything.”

What did that entail?

“He went over everything from how he was going to run practices to what each player needed to do to get better,” Walsh said. “He was totally prepared.

“He started by saying he had to hire two really good assistants because he’s never done this before. And then he said exactly what he was going to do on the first day of practice, and he went from there.”

Walsh said there wasn’t a single facet left unplanned.

“Larry established things and stayed with them,” he said. “He had practice the same time every time. Our team left for the plane the same time every time. . . . It created a routine, and the players, without even knowing it, started playing like that. He made them understand what they had to do and he made them do it by habit – and that carried over onto the floor in games. They knew what to do.

“He gave them a lot of freedom, but he gave them structure, too. I thought he was great.”

How great, though? Walsh, a man who has been around the NBA since 1979, thinks Bird is one of the best coaches he’s ever seen.

Meanwhile, he looks back on a coach he ranks with the best in the game – even with his friend, Larry Brown.

“Larry Brown wants to teach. . . . But when you have a great team,” Walsh said, “Larry Bird will take them as far as they can go. He’s the best manager of a team I’ve ever seen.”

Is there anything Bird couldn’t do?