Actually JVG coached Team USA recently. So you’re wrong on the fact that he hasn’t coached in 15 years.
took Phil Jackson to seven games in another matchup. That Lakers team was better than the Celtics both years. Doc isn’t perfect and he’s been below expectations at times but Ainge loves him and Morey worked there during his tenure. I didn’t want a big name,Doc would be the exception. This is the Heat bringing in Riley in 95. A franchise altering move.
At the end of the day it comes down to price and if Tilman is willing to spend. For someone like Doc who has actually won a title...he just might. Otherwise it will be someone young like Cassell, Lue, or maybe even someone like Kevin Ollie (who used to play with Harden and WB on the Thunder) or JVG (Morey wanted him back in 2016 and Tilman likes him a lot too, I’ve heard).
I mean I agree but everyone dismissing Doc doesn’t understand he’s who the Rockets need for the future. The franchise is missing a face and indicators say Tilman thinks he is that, a la Jerry Jones. That scares the **** out of me. Riley, Jerry West, Danny Ainge, and Pops have all been attached to the big winners for years. Doc can be that guy going forward. Let him coach this team and when it’s rebuilding time let him hire the next coach, while he takes a basketball ops role. Instead we will be shutting up and listening for decades. a Doc Rivers hire puts us in a great position to win now and sets us up for stability for years and years to come. The Clippers letting him go is wild. He brought attractiveness and a sense of stability to that organization that made a Microsoft billionaire buy it and not move them to Seattle. Sterling couldn’t break Doc. MDA quit because he didn’t get a phone call when he wanted one. Doc is an absolute rock and would set us up for long term success.
Of course it is. It’s why Paul Pierce played his farewell tour there. It’s why Chris Paul stayed as long as he did. The dude coached a star who threw his daughter aside like a doll. He’s an unbelievable person who brings the best out of his players. I’d want coordinators to handle the minutia but Doc is a special special person.
How's that? You think he holds players accountable? Everything points to the contrary and he's not some bad ass Hollins type, he's like MDA, and if players questioned his strategy than I doubt he has a firm grasp of the game. MDA at least did that, though both don't understand adjustments.
Phil Jackson had a situation where Michael Jordan gambled constantly and Rodman took trips to Vegas between games. Popovich had his star PG sleep with a role players wife. these are grown men not the coach’s children. He builds trust and confidence.
Lue won a title, too, and declined a HC job offer from the Lakers because the money wasn't good enough. He won't be cheap.
He blew THREE 3-1 leads. Definition of choker. One ring, but how much was Doc and how much was KG-Pierce-Allen-Rondo?
People also quietly forget the 3-2 lead his Boston team had on Orlando the year after the championship. Game 6: Boston scored only 13 points in the 4th quarter Game 7: Boston allowed Orlando to drop 35 on them in the 4th quarter
It's always the players. Phil Jackson had Kobe and Michael Jordan. Pop had Duncan, Manu, Parker, Kawhi. Spoelstra had LeBron, Bosh, Wade and now Butler and Adebayo. The coaches mean a lot but the players mean a lot more. The coaches aren't making the baskets and getting stops. Phil Jackson blew a 3-1 lead to Mike D'Antoni Steve Kerr blew a 3-1 lead to Ty Lue Doc Rivers has coached for 21 seasons, weird stuff happens, and having 3-1 leads blown three times is wild. It shows that he's been around long enough to be able to have a fair share of successes and failures. His tenure in LA was less than anticipated but let's not all of a sudden make him out to be a career loser. I don't think he's the reason the Rockets came back in 2015. That was Josh Smith and Corey Brewer. I don't think he made Paul George forget how to play basketball. I don't think he caused career choker T-Mac to run his mouth.
You left out an enormous piece of context: They were without Kevin Garnett, who was by far the best player on that 2008 championship team. Quite frankly, I thought it was a great coaching job to get the KG-less Celtics within a game of knocking out the 2009 Magic. (Orlando then went on to beat LeBron's Cavs in just six games in the Eastern Conference Finals.)
The disdain for Doc is insane Ben. The only reason Doc isn't the head coach next year is if Tilman won't pay him or he doesn't want to come here.
Rockets do not have a problem with winning, especially in regular season. MDA was winningest coach in franchise history with exception of Rudy. Rockets have a problem winning RINGS. And Doc struggles in playoffs. His Celts teams are ancient history and he has choked in the stacked WEST. Especially with Clips teams that were more talented, deeper and greater resources than what he would have on Rockets. Doc is not who you think he is in here and now.
No one disdains Doc more than his most recent team. Even MDA was not savaged by his players publically like Doc was. They killed him on court and in locker room. And his inability to adjust was even more glaring than anything MDA has ever done.
He wanted out too. It was mutual. Doc has something lined up. He'll be a head coach again by week's end. He is a winner and I don't give a damn what he's done for the Clippers or hasn't done. It was the worst franchise in the NBA when he came and he was part of re-writing their history and now they are fighting to be the most prestigious team in LA. We are on the verge of being a lot worse than not being a champion. Doc will re-write our future.
I don't see how it's any more "insane" than people clamoring for Houston to pick up a coach that has had a HISTORY (not one, not two,...) of blowing leads in the playoffs. If Rivers never won a ring on the backs of Garnett, Pierce and Allen would you or anyone still consider him an elite coach? It's a mutual relationship between a coach and his players that gets a team to a championship. There's something that all HOF coaches have that maximizes the talent he's given. Doc has what, exactly? Being a motivational speaker? Being a great tactician? Getting the most out of his players? What is it?
