When it rains, it pours; and then you find out you have a leak and your roof guy is taking offers from the house down the street.
Tom Thibodeau has been an integral part of the Boston resurgence. Thibodeau is considered a defensive genius, and the Celtics' defense has been dominant, even in the face of aging superstars and injuries. Doc Rivers is great at finding cool phrases and inpsiring his team to play hard all the time, but if you want defensive Xs and Os, it's Thibodeau that may be the man behind the curtain.
After the Celtics got worked over Sunday night in Game 7 by the Magic, they probably weren't expecting more bad news this soon.
Well, while it's not catastrophic (that was the Garnett injury), it's still raining.
My colleague Matt Steinmetz made a compelling case over the weekend that the Lakers are at a crossroads. If this team falls short of reaching the NBA Finals, should Mitch Kupchak do everything in his power to bring back the current core? Will retaining free agents like Lamar Odom, Trevor Ariza and Shannon Brown result in a roster with a championship ceiling? It's too early to say, especially after the Lakers averted disaster with a Game 7 win over the Rockets.
But after watching the Celtics fall to the Magic in Game 7 at home, I can't help but think Boston's GM Danny Ainge now faces the same dilemma. Did the Celtics lose because they were unlucky victims of the injury bug, or did they lose because the roster is inherently flawed?
The Rotation is a weekly study on the NBA by one of our All-Star voices. In rotation this week is Tom Ziller.
An annual tradition regular as daybreak, as the season ends a pack of coaches are mercilessly hacked to pieces by fans, media and often their own bosses. A parade of potential replacements jumps aboard the carousel. They dance, they preen ... one of them wins. A year or two or (fingers crossed) three later, said doll gets torn apart. The cycle continues.
There was a switch this season, though: the bloodletting happened during the season, as a record eight coaches met the iron maiden between opening night and Valentine's Day. Is there anyone left to execute at season's end?
Well ... yes. Of course there is. After the jump, we tell you whom and guess their replacements.
Earlier, today I posted on the Lakers trying to develop a defense similar to the one the Boston Celtics utilized to defeat the them in the 2008 NBA Finals. So what exactly was Boston's defense all about? How was it so successful? The answer may have been disclosed by this Lakers fan's breakdown of the defense the Celtics played against the Lakers in the NBA Finals.
Outside of the obvious Lakers/Kobe bias displayed by this fan, the video does a great job of showing how potent the Celtics defense was last season. Basically Tom Thibodeau is the Dark Lord. The question for the Celtics this season is are they hungry enough to keep that swarming D going for another championship run.
Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has been credited for installing Boston's tenacious defense, so it's not a surprise at all to see his name linked to several vacant head coaching jobs. (If you remember, he was linked to the Celtics job before the season even began.) That said, it seems the rumor mill might be wrong on this one. From Mark Spears of the Boston Globe:
It seems more and more likely that Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau will be back in Boston next season. The Knicks, Mavericks, and Bobcats didn't ask for permission to speak to him before hiring their new coaches, and the Suns and Bulls have yet to ask for permission, as well.
It's possible everyone is waiting for Boston's playoff run to end, but that didn't stop the Suns from requesting (and receiving) permission to interview Terry Porter. Even if the Suns and Bulls think they'll be denied permission, at least going through the motions of checking sends the signal that they're interested. And considering the Bulls have interviewed just about everybody else, there's no reason not to call dibs on Thibodeau, as well.
The Bulls are taking their time with this whole "finding a coach" thing, interviewing just about anyone with a shred of interest in the job. According to Brian Hanley of the Chicago Sun-Times, John Paxson has already talked with ...deep breath ... Lakers assistants Brian Shaw and Kurt Rambis, current Jazz assistant Tyrone Corbin and former T'Wolves coach Dwane Casey -- and that's just this week!
Paxson was also scheduled to meet with Jeff Hornacek today and Kings assistant Chuck Person sometime this weekend, as well as John Lucas and Eric Snow sometime in the yet to be determined future. And, of course, don't forget about Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau, who won't get permission from his current employer until Boston completes their playoff run.
Count 'em up: that's 10 names, and that doesn't include Mark Jackson, who already interviewed, nor Pistons assistants Terry Porter and Michael Curry, who have been suggested as candidates in the past. Do you notice a recurring theme with all these names? With the exception of Thibodeau and Casey, they're all former players, which makes you wonder if a career coach who never had the chance to rub elbows with Paxson as a player stands much of a chance.
They say you can't know where you're going until you figure out where you've been, right? And considering the Isiah Era Knicks went down the toilet ... well, I'll let Alan Hahn from Newsday take over:
A call to Donnie Walsh's phone was met with a grumbling, "Hello?"
After identifying himself, the questioner asked, quite plainly: "There was a report that you're meeting Mark Jackson today at the Garden...."
"I'm not talking today," Walsh abruptly replied. "I'm not at the Garden. I didn't meet anyone at the Garden. So the report was wrong."
OK, so where are you?
"I'm in the bathroom!"
You know, there's nothing wrong with simply letting voice mail pick up sometimes. Just saying.
In any case, even if Walsh hasn't officially met with Jackson, I'm still convinced it's his to lose. Now that Larry Brown has officially unemployed there will likely be some murmurings of his past history working under Walsh, but I think everyone agrees a completely fresh start is what's really needed, which is bad news for current assistant Herb Williams, who interviewed earlier this week.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy endorsed his assistant Patrick Ewing, but the Knicks don't seem to be interested, and even if they were, they'd likely have to wait until Orlando's postseason run ends before Magic GM Otis Smith grants permission to talk to him. Stay tuned, this might take awhile.
Isiah Thomas' reign of terror on the Knicks' sideline is finally over, according to Mark Berman of the New York Post. Berman cites a team source who said Thomas will be informed during a 5pm conference call tonight that he's being relieved of his head coaching duties and reassigned elsewhere in the organization.
So who's going to replace Thomas? As I noted earlier today, Mark Jackson looks like the favorite, especially considering this little nugget from Berman:
Walsh indicated his interest in Jackson before Wednesday's season finale in Indianapolis, saying he knew he would always make a good coach. Walsh tried to interview Jackson for the Pacers last year, but Larry Bird was opposed.
That said, expect Walsh to take his time with the coaching search, especially if he's thinking of giving Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau, widely credited for orchestrating Boston's defensive renaissance this year, a chance to interview. Stay tuned, I have a feeling we'll have more to say about this situation all weekend.
When it rains, it pours; and then you find out you have a leak and your roof guy is taking offers from the house down the street. 
Cherry Picking
Celtics assistant coach 
The Bulls are taking their time with this whole "finding a coach" thing, interviewing just about anyone with a shred of interest in the job. According to 
They say you can't know where you're going until you figure out where you've been, right? And considering the Isiah Era Knicks went down the toilet ... well, I'll let 
