It's a far cry from when Danny Ainge was a young third baseman in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system, but the Celtics announced a partnership yesterday that brought them several steps closer to the way Major League Baseball teams develop talent.
As expected, the Celtics joined forces with one of the newest members of the National Basketball Development League - the Maine Red Claws. Red Claws president Jon Jennings, the former Celtics assistant coach, also has formed a partnership with the Charlotte Bobcats, but there's no doubt about the benefit to the Celtics of having a minor league affiliate two hours away in Portland.
Like the new NBA D-League franchise in Springfield - an affiliate of the Knicks, Nets and Sixers - the Red Claws were established with proximity in mind, save for that tie with the Bobcats.
Ainge learned by experience the value of a local minor league affiliate.
``A couple of years ago we wanted to get Gabe Pruitt some reps, and we had to fly him out to Utah,'' Ainge said. ``But the next day someone had an ankle sprain, and we had to fly (Pruitt) right back.
``The challenge with trying to send players to the NBDL is that it can just be unpredictable. The way this is now, there will be times when players can come to our games and still be able to practice with the Red Claws. The proximity of Portland to Boston is going to be of a great benefit to us.''
Jennings, who has interviewed more than 20 coaching candidates, believes the two NBA affiliates will have a great influence on his operation thanks to the coaches - Doc Rivers and Charlotte's Larry Brown.
``We'll run Boston's offense and defense, and the other affiliate is comfortable with that,'' said Jennings, who went on to clarify his initial comments by saying, ``When I allude to the Celtics' system, it's more the style of play - as a very aggressive defensive team and an up-tempo offensive team.
``But the coach we do hire will be very fortunate to be working with Doc Rivers and his staff and Larry Brown and his staff. Hopefully the next couple of weeks, we'll have a coach in place.''
It's hard to conceive of another D-League coach who will benefit from a better set of advisers.
``It's a good situation with us and Charlotte, because they're not in our division,'' Ainge said. ``Doc and Larry have a good relationship. We nearly (hired) Larry (as an assistant coach) a couple of years ago. But it's important that there isn't an adversarial relationship between the two teams that are involved.
``I do think it's hard,'' Ainge said of the balance a D-League coach must strike between his various NBA affiliates. ``A Development League coach has his own system. But in this case he will have two great coaches to draw from, and he will be able to develop his own system.
``He can develop something that brings something new out of one of our players, or helps us as the Boston Celtics to do something new with that player.''
- mrmurphy@bostonherald.com
