The slippers are still not broken in properly; there just hasn`t been time.
Yet they were a snug fit on K.C. Jones, who hadn`t bothered with socks on this lazy Saturday. Less than 12 hours earlier, the coach of the Boston Celtics was pacing the sidelines of a frenzied Pontiac Silverdome, tugging at his pinstriped suit, trying to keep his final season alive.
It`s over now. He will not coach any more games. He will not drag himself out of bed at 7 a.m. to break down game films. Instead, he will drag himself out of bed at 7 a.m., step into his slippers and watch films of ”Dumbo” and ”Lady and the Tramp” with his 5-year-old son Christopher.
”The strange part,” Jones said, ”is that everything just sort of stopped. When they (the Detroit Pistons) got the 14-point lead, I said, `Well, it seems like the door is closing.`
”But then Kevin (McHale) and Larry (Bird) started going after it again, and then I was thinking, `Maybe we have a shot.` I liked the way we turned it up a notch. But, with 50 seconds to go, down by nine, it was `Hey, this is it.` ”
He has taken pride in his decision to retire, pride in the fact he is walking away by choice and allowing Jimmy Rodgers to carry on the legacy.
”All the talk of being pushed out, of being told to step down, there`s no truth to them whatsoever,” he said. ”I just felt it was time.”
Time has brought Jones full circle in the coaching business, which offered him bitter lessons in the early days. His first head coaching job was with Washington, where, despite his .630 winning percentage, he was gone after three years.
”The general manager (Bob Ferry) was very much against me,” Jones said. ”They called me in at the end of the season to tell me there would be a change, but it turned out he had been interviewing coaches since February.
”At first I wasn`t worried, because I figured there was another job out there, but I`m pretty sure he (Ferry) put the word out on me.”
The next seven years were hard ones. Jones grudgingly settled in as an NBA assistant and tried to shake off the bitterness. His last assistant`s job was for the Celtics and Bill Fitch. At the time, it sounded liked a great opportunity.
”But it turned out to be a very stormy four years for me,” Jones said.
”He (Fitch) did not let anyone else in. He was bad with people. He used to point his finger at me and call me over, the way you do to dogs.
”But I held tight. I suffered through the indignities, yet I never sacrificed my principles.”
He became Fitch`s successor in 1983. He encouraged input from his assistants, developed a reputation as a laid back coach who let his players do their thing.
”A player has to have room,” he said. ”Take Kevin (McHale). Conversation is his masterpiece. We`d be stretching on the court and he`d scoot around talking to guys. We`d be going through drills and he`d be talking, talking, talking.
”But I never interfered. That`s part of Kevin. I`d never take that away.”
Juggling the personalities was a job in itself, but does one Celtic stand out?
”Robert Parish,” Jones answered without hesitation. ”He came from a brutal situation at Golden State. When they won, they said it`s about time, and when they lost, he got all the abuse and the blame.
”When he came to Boston, I was immediately impressed with his attitude and his demeanor. I guess I knew what he went through. I`d been abused myself.”
There has been abuse this season. Jones was under fire just Saturday for taking out his starters in the final minute of Friday night`s game. The irony is that the most persistent knock on Jones throughout his tenure had been his unwillingness to play the bench.
”This game is so mental,” Jones said, ”that once you lose the mental edge, you`re going to be easy prey. As far as the bench goes, you`ve got to be able to go out and maintain that edge.
”I don`t believe in putting the bench in just to get experience at the expense of winning. You lose the mental edge by doing that.
”It`s not just winning ballgames; it`s what the winning does to the opponent. They start thinking you`re invincible.”
Boston has proved itself decidedly mortal these past two weeks, and with fans disappointed and concerned for the future, Jones has braced himself for what`s ahead.
”I`m ready for what the losing coach gets,” he said. ”I can handle the windfall.”
He believes the Celtics will return to the finals in a year`s time with the help of Reggie Lewis and Brad Lohaus ”and the most fantastic nucleus of five you could ask for.”
Each of the starting five dealt with his coach`s departure in his own way. McHale talked, talked, talked about it. Dennis Johnson and Robert Parish chose a quiet moment to make sure this is what K.C. really wanted. Friday night, when it was final, Danny Ainge offered his best wishes. Larry Bird, without speaking, offered his hand.
Oh, Jones will be around, of course. He`ll be scouting in Europe for the Celtics this summer.
That would be in between Bird`s golf tournament, a trip to Vegas with his wife Ellen, and a couple Saturday mornings in slippers with ”Mary Poppins.” ”I won`t be as busy now,” Jones said. ”They aren`t mine anymore.”
