CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Celtics Assistants Part I

With Doc's extension in place, the Herald reported that soon Doc's assistants will be getting extensions to match his own.

Doc Rivers signed his one-year extension with the Celtics Thursday comfortable in the knowledge that he has control over his assistants. Their contracts will soon be extended to match his own.

“We won’t change anything there,” said Rivers, whose staff received particular boosts last year from the addition of big man coach Clifford Ray (credit him for at least part of Al Jefferson's development) and the return of Kevin Eastman. “I love my staff, and they’re working very hard this summer.

Just who are these assistants that Doc loves? The Celtics have 5 assistant coaches: Tony Brown, Dave Wohl, Armond Hill, Kevin Eastman, and Clifford Ray. We also have 2 strength and conditioning coaches: Brian Doo and Walter Norton. In this offseason while not much is going on, we are going to take a look at each of these to find out who's behind the bench.

First, we will take a look at Tony Brown. There just isn't a lot of information out there on this guy. He graduated from Farragut High School in Chicago, Illinois. He attended the University of Arkansas and was a fourth round pick of the New Jersey Nets in the 1982 draft. He played 7 seasons for nine different teams including New Jersey, Seattle, LA Clippers, LA Lakers, Utah, Milwaukee, Houston, Chicago, and Indiana. He averaged 6.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 16.7 mpg over his career. Brown also played in the CBA and overseas (1992-94) with Reggio Emilia in the Italian League.

He began his post-playing career as an advance scout and college talent evaluator for the Milwaukee Bucks from 1994-97. Brown also worked for four seasons, from 1997 to 2000, as an assistant to Mike Dunleavy in Portland. The Blazers had a 190-106 regular-season record during his tenure there as an assistant.

Brown then spent two seasons as an assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons under Rick Carlisle from 2001-03. During his time with the Pistons, the club recorded a 100-64 regular season record. Before coming to the Celtics, he was the lead assistant under Kevin O'Neil in Toronto. When O'Neil was replaced in Toronto, all is assistants were fired along with him.

Brown was named an assistant with the Celtics in 2004 and he is beginning his fourth season as an assistant under Doc Rivers. Brown and Doc Rivers are longtime friends, going back to their high school days in the Chicago area. Brown had always hoped to be able to be in a position to coach with Doc.

It isn't clear exactly what he does on the Celtics. We know that in March of 2006 when Doc's father in law died, Tony coached a game against the Pacers and the team won. He played some of our young players who at the time weren't getting a lot of playing time from Doc and they responded by winning the game. He gives the half time reports for FSN. I have heard it rumored that he is in charge of the defense but since the team doesn't play any, that should be an easy job.

The Sacbee mentioned Brown as a candidate for their coaching vacancy. Rick Carlisle mentioned Brown as a possible candidate for the Indy coaching job. An ESPN article that listed the top 25 coahcing candidates listed Brown at #23.

23. Tony Brown
There are those who believe Danny Ainge would take over on the bench in Boston if he fired Doc Rivers, but sources say this longtime assistant, who has a seven-year playing career in the '80s, would be more likely.

When he is not coaching the Celtics, Brown makes his offseason home in his native Chicago with his wife, Exquilynn.

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