What about Doc?

There has been a lot of talk about the players on the Celtics this year, but what about Doc? It seems that with the added talent the Celtics have brought in, it wouldn't be hard to coach this current Celtics squad. However, I think it could be one of his most challenging coaching jobs yet.

I've gone back and forth on Doc as a coach throughout his tenure, but at the end of the day he is probably in the top 10 or 15 coaches in the league right now. Everyone knows great players make great coaches, but this isn't baseball, coaching does play a huge role.

Doc did a great job with the 2008 title team. He was a tremendous influence on the big 3 meshing together so well. I also thought he did a great job with substitutions during their playoff run, besides a few miscues in the early rounds. Last year I feel like he made some mistakes. Namely putting Tony Allen in the game in a crucial situation in the Bulls series. Why would you ever put Tony Allen in the game? How many times does he have to screw up for the Celtics to realize he should be in the NBDL.

This year his challenge is how to keep the bench, namely Sheed and Big Baby, happy. Wallace is saying all the right things now, but probably still feels he should be starting. In Garnett's absence last year Big Baby played huge minutes, but how will he adjust to being a 15-20 minute guy again? Also, how much do they play Scal? Being a red head I've always had a soft spot for Scal, but I think everyone would agree he played pretty well last year and deserves at least spot duty.

Doc has to figure out a way to keep the front line rotation happy without disrupting chemistry. He has the opposite problem in the back court, where the lack of a backup for Rondo leaves a question mark at that position. Marquis Daniels and Eddie House will be okay for now, but they are not true point guards. It would've been great to have been able to pick up a quality veteran at that spot.

Whether or not Doc succeeds this year as a coach will all depend on how the players accept their roles. This is why I think he will succeed. A "player's coach" is a huge cliche in sports, but it describes Doc perfectly. His biggest strengths are not the X's and O's, but the way he interacts with his players. Being this type of coach is especially important in the NBA, where egos run so high. Even though it's a star driven league, at the end of the day you can't win without a solid coach.