ALT LAKE CITY - Jim O'Brien heard the news yesterday. Another coach had resigned, with Dan Issel calling it quits in Denver. A top assistant, Mike Evans, took over in midstream in a reeling situation.

The one-year anniversary of O'Brien's ascension in Boston is still a couple weeks away (Jan. 8), but he talked yesterday before the Celtics-Jazz game about the task facing Evans, as well as Don Chaney in New York, Brian Winters in Golden State, and, for now, Bill Berry in Chicago. In many cases, it's a lost cause (Chicago, Denver). In others, it can be an opportunity. O'Brien has clearly made the most of his situation.

''You really can't afford to dwell on what precipitated the change,'' O'Brien said, referring to the tumult surrounding Rick Pitino's final days. ''You have to be who you are and you try not to change a lot of things.''

O'Brien said he also thought it was important to speak to the players and ''tweak them mentally'' so they can be refocused on the task at hand.

But he also said it was simpler for him because he had been in Boston so long and was familiar with the players' strengths and weaknesses.