But in the case of Oden, the other key is that the relationship between height and career length changes once we get to the tallest players. The players who have the longest careers are 6-10 and 6-11, but career length starts to shorten again once we hit the 7-footers, and accelerates sharply downward as we deal with players who are taller.

The reason is injuries. Think of players like Arvydas Sabonis (7-3) and Rik Smits (7-4), who were good enough to play several more years if nagging injuries hadn't made it impossible to continue. In the present day, look at 7-6 Yao Ming, who is the league's most dominant post player but has missed 59 games the past two seasons.

Danny Ainge presented Rivers with the most celebrated Big Three in Beantown since Bird-McHale-Parrish. All that Rivers has to do now is at least coach the Celtics into the Finals.

The roster still has some gaping holes at the point and in the middle, and the team's ultimate success will depend on how well Rajan Rondo and Kendrick Perkins can compliment Allen, Garnett, and Pierce. Aside from this necessity, and ignoring the possibility of injuries, there remains one overriding question: Can a mediocre coach direct and motivate his core trio of superior players?
Rivers has one shot to get the job done.