James J. Pallotta, a legend of the hedge fund industry, is calling a do-over.

After shutting his giant fund following a humbling loss, Mr. Pallotta, the money manager who is an owner of the Boston Celtics, is doing what hedge fund types do in tough times: he is opening a new fund.

There have been plenty of mulligans in the rarefied realm of hedge funds these days. Mr. Pallotta, 52, is one of a number of prominent money managers who are trying to start afresh after the tumult of the financial crisis.

By closing one fund and opening another, managers can, in a stroke, wipe clean their investment records and start collecting fees from new investors.

Who would entrust their money to a hedge fund washout? Plenty of people, it turns out. Before the financial collapse, Mr. Pallotta had a record of handsome returns. His new fund, called Raptor Evolution (his old one was Raptor Global), will in all likelihood have no trouble drumming up investors, analysts said.