Doc Rivers wanted to go to the best coaching position available, and he did. All this talk about bailing and loyalty is silly. He had leverage, he used it. Isn't Bill Simmons itching to bail on NBA Countdown? This is classic sportswriter inferiority complex. Simmons can't do what Rivers does, all he can do is comment on it from the peanut gallery.
Basically everyone here, and Simmons, is criticizing Doc not for wanting to leave, but for his duplicitousness and refusal to own up to his reasons. Not a lack of loyalty. But sure, use that as an oblique means to whine about something you don't like.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>When I get home I'm signing up my 5 and a half year old son for Twitter so he can defend me against Doc Rivers' kids.</p>— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/statuses/350616925669306369">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> LOLOL
Hilarious. Simmons is a fan first and that makes it hard to be a broadcaster. I'm sure their are tons of Boston fans that are butthurt over this but he's the only one working for ESPN.
What should be interesting is Simmons has been a Clippers season ticket holder and fan since he moved to LA. Now that Doc is the coach...we'll see what happens
I thought I was one of the very few that thought Rivers was quite overrated...Great motivator for his players, but not that great of a coach... I too agree with Simmons, even though he is a die hard Celtics fan. As as someone has mentioned this in a post above, Doc has always held his team and players hostage at the end of the season with his noncommittal view towards his team at the end of the season. Once he decided that is was best for him to move, while under contract, he decided to make a move to the Clippers. And to top that, he made sure the Clippers FO didnt make moves while still being employed by the Celtics. That is absolutely player/team tampering and Rivers should be fined, and so should the Clippers. Remember that initially the Clippers deal was Garnett and Rivers, till the league decided to intervene. The truth of the matter is that Doc Rivers has had the privilege of coaching some terrific talent. And under his watch, he coached one Tracy McGrady. But it was McGrady efforts that got them into the playoffs, and not Rivers' superior coaching skill. Regardless of the circumstance, Rivers either needs to say what really happened in Boston, or just remain quiet and take the criticism. He did leave Boston high and dry(while on contract) and any justification for him leaving shouldnt be accepted by Boston fans... Just tell it like it is Doc, you didnt wanna stay for the rebuild. Period.
Oh I agree, Doc should be more transparent, but the reason he isn't is because sports media would jump all over him. It's the same reason soon to be free agents (LBJ/Melo/Dwight) or coach killers are afraid to be honest about things.
I agree with this. Who says Doc has to own up to anything? Teams are a product that people buy. If the Rockets get Dwight and have a good team, I'll spend and by season tickets. I give two flips if McHale bolts after getting a championship for the city because his crotch itches. Simmons is nerd with small peepee that wouldn't know how to pleasure a woman, and in my life, that's all that really matters.
It may just be me, but it seems like, coaches are no longer coaches, but just great motivators. Gregg Popovich, Rick Adelman, George Carl are just a dying bread of really good coaches. I thinks Thibs really is the last young head coach that will continue to be successful. Can anyone name anyone else??
Inferiority complex? That makes no sense. Of course Simmons can't do what Rivers does. They have different jobs. Simmons is a writer and podcaster. His targeted audience is the fans, and he does his job exceptionally well. Rivers is a coach, and his audience is players and GM. He does his job exceptionally well. But Rivers can't do what Simmons does either. So you can't criticize the President, because he can speak better than you? You can't criticize your dog, because he can bark louder than you. You can't criticize your poop, because it is smellier than you?
I hate the Heat, but the changes Spoelstra made on defense and offense to maximize the talents of LeBron and the rest of the Heat has been impressive. He is doing some pretty unique X's and O's stuff out there, almost creating schemes from scratch in order to suit the unique talents of his team. Vogel is a pretty good schemer too. You mentioned Thibs in Chicago, who is my absolute favorite coach. Also, and I can't believe I am saying this, but Mark Jackson has shown some potential, especially on getting his guys to play defense -- that could be his assistants though, I am not sure. But I think I have to give him credit until proven otherwise.
Do you lack basic critical thinking and comprehension ability? Nobody is faulting him for bailing, but going on all these shows and playing dumb and acting like you had no clue what just happened when you were orchestrating the whole thing behind the scenes is disingenuous and an insult to the intelligence of the average fan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>"I happened to be one of those contracts." Doc Rivers on the Celtics unloading players/contracts.</p>— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulPabst/statuses/350632323504545793">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>"Bill is a fan. Is he qualified to do (cover) the NBA? We can debate that all day." Doc Rivers on <a href="https://twitter.com/BillSimmons">@BillSimmons</a></p>— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulPabst/statuses/350632683250008064">June 28, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I agree with Simmons as far as the beef goes, but at the same time he needs to realize there's a limit to how far you should push when you're representing ESPN/the whole NBA and not just Boston fans. Making his opinion initially known was fine. Commenting on Twitter was fine. But bringing the discussion back to harping on Doc during discussion of the largely unrelated Brooklyn deal wasn't necessary. Or to put it another way, I like seeing Simmons the fan influence Simmons the analyst. But he should develop an on-off switch for that because he kind of let the Celtics fan in him dominate last night. On the non-Celtics stuff he had a great night though, more entertaining than Jon Barry at least.
