Two Questions

A couple of ideas circulating in my brain while I get ready to tell my students that Mikhail Gorbachev was planted in the USSR by the CIA...

1. Is Claude Julien destined to be the Bill Fitch of the Bruins?

No, this is not a knock on Coach Julien. 

Bill Fitch coached the Celtics for four years, taking over for Larry Bird's rookie season (1979-1980) and departing after the 1983 playoffs.  His reign started because the Celtics were starting over after some dismal years in the late 1970's and they needed a coach who would stress defense and instill toughness.  His teams won 242 over those four years and the 1981 NBA Championship.  Fitch's run in Boston ended after being swept by the Bucks in the second round of the playoffs and the realization it was time to find a coach capable of catering to the talents of Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish.  The Celtics would go on to win two of the next three championships under K.C. Jones.

Claude Julien is currently in his sixth year as coach of the Bruins, having taken over for the 2007-2008 season following two consecutive last place finishes in the Northeast Division.  He was brought to Boston to instill his defensive system and turn around the team's performance.  Under Julien the Bruins have made the playoffs every year and won the Stanley Cup in 2011.

The issue with Julien is the team's lack of consistency in the postseason.  In four of his first five seasons, the team lost in a Game 7, including the 2010 playoffs when the B's lost to the Flyers after having a 3-0 lead in their second round series.  They also nearly lost in Game 7 on Monday night to Toronto, needing a legendary third period comeback to tie the game before winning in overtime to win a series they had once led 3-1.  The players must take a lion's share of the blame for losing those games and those playoff series but I also wonder if Julien's defensive-minded system limits the Bruins more talented offensive players.

Julien is obviously a successful coach and he'll forget more about hockey than I will ever know but I do wonder whether the Bruins would be better off going forward if they bring in a new coach that would better serve the talents of players like Tyler Seguin and David Krejci.  I'm not ready to reserve places in the Hall of Fame for Seguin and Krejci but maybe they would be more productive if they played for a more offensive minded coach.

2. Should the Red Sox transition Jacoby Ellsbury to the third spot in their order?

In 2011, Jacoby Ellsbury hit 32 home runs, drove in 105 runs, and sported a batting average of .321 and an OPS of .928.  Career year or not, those are the numbers I want to see from the best hitter on the team (who usually occupies the third spot) and with the Red Sox offense struggling to score like a ginger at a Boston College fraternity party, maybe it's time to shuffle the deck at the top of the lineup and slot Ellsbury third behind Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia and in front of David Ortiz and Mike Napoli.

And yes, I did ask this question over a week ago.