Hiring a Black coach won’t move the needle on the C’s race problems, because those problems are a reflection of the city rather than the franchise.
With the C’s current roster, I’d lean toward hiring a coach who played in the league — so, most likely, a Black man. But it’s unfair to think any coach is going to come here and address a situation much bigger than basketball that has been sitting in plain view (at least in the sight of the rest of the country) since the 1970s.
I'm certainly not against the inclination to appoint a former black-NBA player as coach (shoot - if I were a baseball GM, a Spanish-speaking candidate would be a prerequisite) who can connect with today's young stars....
Normally - I would say "best candidate available"....white, black, male, female, straight, gay....who cares....but I agree with the sentiment to lean towards the demographic that is the composition of your future / current stars. So no problem there.
What I "do" have a problem with (at the risk of throwing a grenade and turning this thread into a V&N shit show) is the bullshit that's being spewed about The Celtics and the City of Boston as some kinda' northern version of Dothan, Alabama. The Boston of 2021 is not even "close" to the Boston of the 70's with forced busing. The neighborhoods of South Boston, Charlestown and East Boston (which were - by far - white only enclaves with peoples from European descent) are now comprised of a great mixture of people that have minority representation(s) in local government.
Additionally - the police force has made "enormous" strides to integrate via affirmative action....
The Boston Public Schools are "largely" minority and a "ton" of money has been spent on education and resources to make them better.
This may or may not be a popular position....but Kyrie can go screw himself. His father's 4 years of playing basketball on Comm. Ave. in the 80's does not make him some sort of expert on Boston's race relations past or present.
And this may very well be a less popular position....but Jaylen Brown's comments (while deserving of a larger discussion) could be scrutinized also. Within his comments, he singled-out the Boston Public Schools with a hint that it was not serving the minority (African American?) communities in an optimal fashion. That's bullshit...busing, METCO programs, and enormous amount of spending per student have been in full-force for decades. He parachuted into Boston a few years ago....has a $100 million contract to play a game...and now wants to be a catalyst for a sociology discussion? Let's have it - but he better be objective and open to "all" answers for "all" the challenges on the table for "all" people(s).
Interesting week in Celtics-land....
Rant over....sign Sam Cassell.