NEW YORK -- Now that Rick Pitino has left the Celtics, the reins have been turned over to his long-time lieutenant, Jim O'Brien. But only for the short term.

	O'Brien will inherit some talented players, like swingman Paul Pierce.

O'Brien has been with Pitino for almost 20 seasons, including stops with the Knicks in the mid-80's and at Kentucky. Once the season ends, he could opt to rejoin his old boss, wherever Pitino ends up. Maybe he will only if Pitino gets another NBA job. At this point, UNLV is being mentioned as the place most likely to welcome Pitino with open arms. Pitino's connection to The Strip is with the Mirage domo Steve Wynn.

O'Brien, not to be confused with the Ohio State coach of the same name, was a college coach at Dayton for six seasons, until 1994. He's spent the better part of 600 games sitting right alongside Pitino.

"Coaching is all I ever wanted to do," said O'Brien, whose father-in-law is Hall of Fame coach Dr. Jack Ramsay. "The basketball environment is special."

In Boston these days, it's treacherous. Over the last week, the Celtics players again stopped listening to Pitino, who, in turn, didn't even bother yelling at his assistants anymore. That's when everyone knew his hours in Boston were numbered.

O'Brien has a 1-0 record as an NBA head coach, filling in for Pitino in a win over Cleveland in 1998. He's known to be thorough in his preparation and knowledgeable.

But expect the losses to begin piling up on his resume. The Celtics, who play Portland Monday in the Fleet Center, are in the midst of killer stretch in which they'll play 14 of their next 19 games on the road. That includes two major West Coast swings. There's a seven-game Odyssey after the All-Star Game, with stops in Portland, Utah, Dallas and San Antonio.

O'Brien is part of the Kentucky entourage Pitino brought on board three and a half years ago. Other members of the group are also expected to leave the Celtics at season's end and follow Pitino, whose name should automatically go to the top of most college coaching vacancies.

"Rick Pitino is still a great coach. Not a good coach, a great coach," said New York's Jeff Van Gundy, who worked for Pitino briefly at Providence College. "I know it didn't work out for him in Boston. But he's still one of the top guys in this business. There is a still greatness there."

	Potapenko

	Andersonont>

But he left the Celtics in a mess. It seems that every move he made as team president backfired, with his trade for Kenny Anderson one of his biggest blunders. If he had been patient after losing out on Tim Duncan, instead of trying to rebuild hastily, the Celtics could have wound up with Andre Miller. But Pitino never had anyone with him in Boston who would tell him he was nuts to trade for Anderson or Vitaly Potapenko. Rather than have a voice of reason on board to prevent him from ruining his own club, he surrounded himself with yes men.

Now who gets to clean it up?

Larry Bird wanted the GM job back in 1997 when Celtics chairman Paul Gaston hired Pitino to coach and run the entire operation. Friends of Larry Legend say although he is enjoying his daily rounds of golf near his Naples, Fla., home, he would like to get back into the league as a GM or coach. Meantime, an investment group wants to buy the Celtics and would put Bird in as GM, but it doesn't seem likely that Gaston will be selling the most storied franchise in NBA history anytime soon. But perhaps Bird could still be in the Celtics' future.

"He's very interested in seeing what Gaston ends up doing," said one of Bird's golfing pals. "Larry still has great feelings for that organization."

Danny Ainge is another ex-Celtic who could be approached about joining the team in an executive capacity.

	Pierce

	Walker

Whomever gets the job of GM, it's going to take a lot of work and patience to bring the Celtics back. They lack superstars and are capped out for the next few seasons. Some scouts think that Antoine Walker is beginning to get a clue, to go along with his star-quality talent. But others are down on the talented Paul Pierce. Team insiders say Pierce's selfishness could be a long-term problem. Otherwise, there are a lot of backup-type players making big money, including Anderson, Tony Battie and Vitaly Potapenko. Those three account for over $100 million in salaries.

"There's not a lot of talent there," said one Eastern Conference GM. "Whoever coaches them is going to keep losing, like Rick did. Whoever the GM is is going to have a tough job rebuilding them."

But right now, the toughest job belongs to Jim O'Brien.

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