OCTOBER 5, 2019 3
we have coming back, who’s
availableandwhowe’reinter-
viewing,” Stevens said. “And
then I just present a plan that
says, ‘Hey, I’d like to hire this
many people for this.’ And
[Ainge]justsaysyeahandtogo
for it.”
This summer, Boston’s
coaching roster expanded sig-
nificantly. In addition to Bai-
ley’spromotionfromMaine,
the Celtics made Kara Lawson
the first female coach in fran-
chise history and also hired for-
mer West Virginia standout Joe
Mazzulla.
“I think it speaks to how
valuable Micah was,” said Celt-
ics assistant coach Jamie
Young, the lone remaining
holdover from the Doc Rivers
era. “One leaves, and we add
three. I told him that, too. But I
just think it gives us an oppor-
tunity for more people to work
with all our guys. It gives us a
lot of different opinions on
things, and different view-
points and ways to look at
things.”
The Celtics will whittle their
roster to 15 players by openinguCELTICS
Continued from Page 1night, and they will have eight
full-time coaches, including
Stevens. Also, the team hired
Allison Feaster as its director of
player development, a newly
created role. And there are four
more people on the “player en-
hancement” staff, which in-
cludes video coordinators. In
all, the Celtics generally have 12
staff members on the court at
each practice.
“We decided to do that be-
cause especially with pre-prac-
tice stuff that we do, it’s really
organized, and we can always
have coaches in action,” Stevens
said. “So we can have three
players on the court with three
coaches defending and those
types of things. It helps to make
drills more game-like.”
Stevens breaks up responsi-
bilities among his seven assis-
tants, usually making sure sev-
eral of them will have a role in a
specific task. For example,
when preparing for an upcom-
ing opponent, one will scout
the offense, another will scout
the defense, and another will
eye the personnel groupings.
The end result is that three as-
sistants will have knowledge of
an opponent each night.“The best thing about our
staff is there’s no egos and ev-
erybody works well together,”
Young said. “So that’s been
great. And then there’s a lot of
different guys that have seen
different things or work on dif-
ferent sides of the ball.”
With so many coaches, there
is also more time for individual
development. For example,
soon after summer league end-
ed, rookie Romeo Langford re-
turned to Boston to continue
working his way back from off-
season thumb surgery, and
Mazzulla was by his side for the
entire time.
“You have more opportunity
to be hands-on with just two or
three guys and just kind of put
your focus on developing those
guys on and off the floor and
building those great relation-
ships,” Mazzulla said. “The staff
isn’t spread too thin, and Brad
does a great job of just allowing
the people around him to play
to their strengths and coach to
their strengths.”Adam Himmelsbach can be
reached at adam.himmelsbach
@globe.com. Follow him on
Twitter @adamhimmelsbach.New York Jets quarterbackSamDarnold’s
return will have to wait at least another week,
with the team saying Friday he will miss Sun-
day’s game at Philadelphia while recovering
from mononucleosis. Darnold, who was cleared
Monday for non-contact activity and had been
taking the bulk of the first-team snaps, was di-
agnosed Sept. 11, three days after a season-
opening loss to Buffalo.LukeFalkwill make his
second straight start.
Newtontomissthirdstraight
Panthers quarterbackCamNewton(foot)
will miss his third straight game when Carolina
hosts Jacksonville Sunday.KyleAllen,2-0filling
in, will start. The Jaguars will be without cor-
nerbackJalenRamsey(back) for a second
straight week... Rams linebackerClayMat-
thewswill miss several weeks after breaking his
jaw in Thursday’s loss to the Seahawks when Se-
attle running backChrisCarsoninadvertently
kicked him in the face... Bills quarterbackJosh
Allen(concussion) was a full participant at
practice and is questionable for Sunday at the
Titans. If Allen can’t go,MattBarkleywill start
... Giants running backSaquonBarkley(ankle)
will miss his second straight while linebackers
AlexOgletree(hamstring) andTaeDavis(con-
cussion) will also sit when New York hosts the
Vikings Sunday... The Packers will visit the
Cowboys Sunday withoutDavanteAdams(turf
toe), while Dallas will be minus left tackleTyron
Smith(ankle)...Eagles receiverDeSeanJack-
son(abdomen) is out Sunday vs. the Jets, but
offensive tackleJasonPeters(knee) will play.
TENNISDjokovicinJapansemifinals
Novak Djokovicbeat fifth-seededLucas
Pouille, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the Japan Open
semifinals at Tokyo. The top-ranked Djokovic
will meetDavidGoffin, who beatHyeonChung,
6-2, 6-2. Also, 6-foot-11-inch AmericanReilly
OpelkabeatYasutakaUchiyama, 6-3, 6-3, and
will faceJohnMillman, a 6-4, 6-0 winner over
TaroDaniel... Former world No. 1AndyMur-
raylost to top seedDominicThiem, 6-2, 7-6
(7-3), in the China Open quarterfinals at Bei-
jing.AlexanderZverevousted AmericanSam
Querrey, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, whileStefanosTsitsi-
pasdispatched AmericanJohnIsner, 7-6 (7-3),
6-3. Top seedAshBartyreached the women’s
semifinals by beatingPetraKvitova, 4-6, 6-4,
6-3. Barty will faceKikiBertens, who defeated
ElinaSvitolina, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.CarolineWozni-
ackibeatDariaKasatkina, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), and
will face two-time Grand Slam champNaomi
Osaka, who ended US Open champBiancaAn-
dreescu’swin streak at 17, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
GOLFNareboundstosharePGAlead
KevinNahad two back-nine eagles and shot
a 9-under-par 62 for a share of the second-
round lead in the Shriners Hospitals for Chil-
dren Open at Las Vegas. Na followed up his
first-round 68 by eagling the par-5 13th and
16th holes, and adding birdies on the par-3
17th and par-4 18th to matchLucasGlover
(63),PatrickCantlay(64), andBrianStuard
(65) at 12-under 130 at at TPC Summerlin.
MattJones(63) was a stroke back.. .Alena
Sharpshot a 6-under-par 65 for a share of the
second-round lead withBrittanyAltomareof
Shrewsbury andCheyenneKnightin the LPGA
Tour’s Volunteers of America Classic at The Col-
ony, Texas. Sharp closed with a bogey on the
par-4 18th to finish at 9-under 133. Altomare
had a 66, and Knight shot 67.StephanieMead-
owwas 8 under, following her opening 63 with
a71...AdriArnausandRafaCabreraBelloare
tied with a one-shot lead at the Spanish Open in
Madrid. Arnaus had an eagle and five birdies in
a 5-under-par 66. Bello made six birdies.TRACK AND FIELDMuhammadbreaksherownmark
DalilahMuhammadbroke her own world re-
cord in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in
52.16 seconds at the world championships at
Doha, Qatar, topping by .04 seconds the mark
she set in July in winning the US national title.
Muhammad took a slim victory over fellow
AmericanSydneyMcLaughlin, whose 52.23
would’ve been a record 10 weeks ago.MISCELLANYCubsschedulemoreinterviews
The Chicago Cubs will speak to former
catchersDavidRossandJoeGirardinext week
about their managerial opening. The team also
plans to interview first base coachWillVenable
next week. Bench coachMarkLorettainter-
viewed Thursday... The St. Louis Blues signed
centerBraydenSchennto an eight-year exten-
sion worth $52 million.. .AlinaMueller(goal,
3 assists) andAerinFrankel(16 saves) led the
No. 4 Northeastern women’s hockey team (1-
0-0) to a 5-0 win at Union (0-3-0)... Tennessee
dismissed linebackerJeremyBanksafter video
showed him cursing and saying ‘‘where I’m
from, we shoot at cops’’ during his arrest last
month following a traffic stop... The Los Ange-
les Sparks fired general managerPennyTolerin
the wake of her tirade after the team lost Game
2 of their sweep at the hands of the Connecticut
Sun in the WNBA playoffs last month.SportsLog
Jets’ Darnold out for third in a row
Celtics coaching staff balloons
CHARLES KRUPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Assistant coach Kara Lawson is one of 12 on-court staffers for the Celtics this season.