If the Celtics want to create an environment of personal accountability, they should start by holding accountable the person who brought in Telfair by trading away the rights to soon-to-be Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy. Everybody in the league knew that Telfair had negative issues as a defender, playmaker and gun holder -- he had been caught two years ago bringing a gun onto the Trail Blazers' plane in Boston.

VP Danny Ainge knows how to draft young players, and he's done an exceptional job at it. But the record shows that he doesn't apply the same investigatory work to scouting the more than 400 players in the NBA. The Celtics are vulnerable on trades for existing NBA players because they don't do their homework. While they are exceptional at seeking out the minute details of 19-year-old college sophomores, the Celtics -- unlike most of their rivals -- don't have a pro personnel scout traveling the league and collecting behind-the-scenes information on veterans who may be traded to Boston. Rival teams are fully aware that Boston is vulnerable on trades for NBA talent, but the Celtics have yet to address this weakness in their front office.

If the Celtics finish third in the upcoming lottery, should the owners trust Ainge to trade the pick for an NBA veteran?

I come not to bury Ainge but to praise him. His assessments of the draft are proof that he has the potential to become a winning GM. Imagine how successful Ainge could be if he applied the same resources to scouting the NBA as he does to scouting the colleges. If the Celtics want to express accountability in a meaningful way, they should spend less time worrying about a player at the end of the bench and invest more resources to improve their own administration.

Coaches for hire

The dismissal of Indiana coach Rick Carlisle has added to the flood of experienced candidates on the market: Rick Adelman, Larry Brown, Sam Mitchell, Jim O'Brien, Stan Van Gundy, Del Harris, Bob Hill, P.J. Carlesimo and Terry Porter have all had winning seasons.

Carlisle might still be coaching a championship contender in Indiana if not for the Detroit brawl that destroyed a Pacers team that had won 61 games the previous season. Carlisle will be accused of being a control freak who needs to call every play from the sideline, but above all else he is a winner. It wasn't long ago that he was regarded as one of the most innovative offensive coaches in the game, and with a fresh start in a new city he will figure out how to win again.

Another provocative candidate is Mitchell, the reigning Coach of the Year who will be a free agent after the playoffs. Considering the Raptors' reticence to sign him for the long term, friends are urging him to accept an offer from a team that really wants him. One such franchise may be the Pacers, for whom he played from 1992-95.