5 potential replacements for Brad Stevens as Celtics head coach

2. Sam Cassell

Most people remember Sam Cassell’s playing career from his days with the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and even LA Clippers, but don’t forget that he won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2007-08 during his final NBA season. Between that and serving under Doc Rivers as an assistant over the last seven years with the Clippers and now Philadelphia 76ers, the Celtics ties are clearly there.

According to SportsLine, Cassell (+300) has the best odds of landing the Boston job, followed closely by our No. 1 candidate. The reason he didn’t snag the top spot on our list? There’s another great candidate with Celtics ties who may narrowly edge him out.

Both candidates would be great hires, however, and Cassell has been patiently biding his time for the right moment to make the leap from assistant to head coach. It’s only a matter of time before he’s reported as a serious candidate here, and it’d be quite a journey for him to serve as Rivers’ assistant for nearly a decade before ultimately graduating to his first head coaching gig on Rivers’ old stomping grounds.

Cassell won three titles as a player and has coached plenty of stars during his stops with the Washington Wizards, Clippers and Sixers as an assistant. If there were a vacancy that made sense for Cassell to finally get his opportunity, it’d be this one.