Top-to-bottom look at ways to restore respectability

	Danny Ainge has stockpiled a lot of young talent, but is still waiting for the payoff. Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images
	MAILBAG Submit a comment or question for Chris. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

There is no joy on Causeway Street, not even after a franchise-worst 18-game losing streak was finally halted Wednesday against Milwaukee at TD Banknorth Garden. Boston has fallen on hard times before -- witness the 15-win season of 1996-97 -- but even then there seemed to be a method to its madness. In 1997, it was an open secret that general manager M.L. Carr had installed himself as head coach in order to sink the team to where it could land the top pick in the draft, one Mr. Tim Duncan (hey, nobody said it worked out). In other words, Carr was trying to tank the season.

This year's team is not quite as bad as the '97 bunch, but it is far more frustrating. This is a team built by design. Outside of Paul Pierce, current management, a group fronted by GM Danny Ainge and ostensibly supported by owner Wyc Grousbeck, acquired every player on the roster. The Celtics have placed an emphasis on youth, but to date that youth has failed to meet their expectations.

What to do? Let's take a look:

The Front Office

While Boston's triumvirate of Ainge, Chris Wallace and Leo Papile has been successful in acquiring young talent with low draft picks -- Delonte West and Kendrick Perkins were late first-round selections, and Ryan Gomes was a second-round choice -- it has struggled finding the right blend of veteran talent to play alongside those players.

Joke all you want about Antoine Walker's skill level, but the fact is Walker took a lot of pressure off of Pierce both on the court (he had embraced the role of No. 2 star) and off (nobody took more of a beating for the Celtics struggles' than Walker). Replacing Walker with a one-dimensional player like Wally Szczerbiak and bringing in Brian Scalabrine -- no matter how popular he is -- for an absurd $15 million contract have hamstrung the franchise.

One Eastern Conference executive says Boston is "one of two teams in the league that needs to be blown up" (Minnesota is the other). What was once considered a "three- to five-year plan" in Boston has now become a six- to seven-year exercise in futility. Ainge seemingly has the unwavering support of ownership (Grousbeck gave Ainge a vote of confidence last week), but with Boston being a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately kind of town, expect public pressure to put a strain on that confidence.

Should Ainge go, Boston must turn to a more experienced hand. Far-fetched as it seems, disgruntled Memphis president Jerry West would be a perfect fit with the Celtics (yes, I know he was a Laker). Ownership has shown that it is unafraid to open the vault for the right kind of talent, and with West at the top calling the plays, Boston would have the kind of stability it hasn't had since Red Auerbach gave up the day-to-day duties in the mid-1980s.

The Coaching

The Celtics are playing hard. There are no looks of defeat on the bench, and rarely does a hustle play not go Boston's direction. They simply do not have the talent to compete with the majority of the league for four quarters. That they have been sloppy at times is attributable to their youth, but it is also a result of coach Doc Rivers' failures as a tactician. League and team sources suggest Rivers is a notch below other coaches in the X's and O's department.