Doc Rivers leaning toward retirement?
Shocking news.
It is quite possible Doc Rivers is nearing the end of his run as coach of the Celtics. Sources have told the Herald that he is leaning toward leaving the bench after this season, but Rivers insisted yesterday no final decision has been made.
There has been similar speculation in the past, but this time the planets seem better aligned for a move. One of Rivers’ sons, Jeremiah, will be a senior next season on the Indiana University hoop team and daughter Callie, a volleyball star, will be in her final year at the University of Florida. Another son, Austin, is a top basketball prospect who will be finishing high school.
Rivers spoke about the speculation regarding his possible retirement.
“Part of it is true,” he said. “Every year I sit down in the middle of the summer and I have a family discussion. We talk about what we want to do. That’s nothing new, but every year it gets stronger and stronger. And I think people are making some common sense reads. I’ve got three seniors next year, two in college and one in high school. That’s important to me. We’re all family men. We all have kids.
“Every year you’ve got to weigh what’s best for your kids. That’s just the way it is. But, I don’t get into it now. I don’t talk about it. I’ve never told anyone one way or the other, and that’s how it’s always been.”
Doc said he has already declined the option to negotiate a contract extension during the season.
“Danny already brought it up, and I told him I didn’t want to talk about it,” Rivers said. “Danny came to me early in the year, and I said I didn’t think it was fair to the players for the coach to be talking about his contract during a season. He said, ‘Well, I think we need to do something,’ and I said, ‘Well, we’ve got all summer.’ ”
It seems he wouldn’t look for another job; it’s either retirement or stay right where he is.
“The one I will say is I’m committed to Boston,” Rivers said. “It’s either stay with the Celtics or I decide I need to stay more with the family.”
I’m stunned. I guess I just kind of thought Rivers would be here for a long time. I’m not his biggest supporter, but I like him and he led the C’s to their only title during my lifetime. Not only that, but he was the PERFECT coach for that team.
If you’re going to go, Doc, please leave us with a nice parting gift: a nice little NBA championship.
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Celtics Blog, Featured | Jay King | April 14, 2010
I hope this isn’t true. I like Doc a lot, and I think he could be the perfect coach for the team for a long time to come. Even with their struggles, I think Doc’s a great coach and Boston’s lucky to have him – I want him to be there for a while.
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I agree with a lot of what you said, but I think he’s lost the team a little. When a team underperforms, doesn’t try hard all the time, and loses focus constantly, at least some blame has to go to the coach.
Maybe he wants them to save it all for the playoffs, but I can’t imagine he wanted his team to be so lackadaisical all season. He hasn’t been able to inspire his players at all this season.
All that said, I think he’s a very good coach and it would certainly be sad to see him go.
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In some ways I hope this isn’t true also. Though a lot of the negatives, outline by Jay in the last comment, have hurt us this season and may be attributable to his thoughts on retirement.
What I am curious about is who is out there that could replace Doc, and still put us in banner contention?
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I know Jeff Van Gundy would probably seem like a good choice. He is a defensive-minded coach who likes to get after it, play physical basketball, and has won in the past.
Tom Thibodeau would also probably garner some attention, as the C’s top assistant and someone long overdue for a head coaching job. Larry Brown has reportedly asked Michael Jordan to seek employment outside of Charlotte and, while I hate his guts due to his utter lack of loyalty, he’s a very good coach.
Mike Dunleavy’s available now, too. Wink, wink. Beyond that, I’m not sure who would be a candidate.
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Of those, I think Jeff Van Gundy is the better choice. Though i think success through Gundy would only be achieved with a full health current Celtic team with KG…
I don’t really like Thibodeau, and of course he was an assistant under Gundy at some stage.
Larry Brown is not bad. But the thought of him and Detroit reminds me of Sheed!
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LOL @ the Sheed comment. But Brown was the one coach who got the best out of Sheed. I think he’s a very good coach, but as I said earlier I hate his guts.
Thibs is a defensive mastermind but there must be a reason he hasn’t gotten a head job yet, right?
I like Van Gundy too. He knows his stuff, and he’s got a proven track record.
No matter what, though, it all comes down to the health. Not even Norman Dale could coax a championship out of these guys if their health continues to deteriorate.
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With Thibs, I think back to the game Doc got ejected, and Thibs didn’t make a single substitution, and we lost!
I wonder now when Ainge will act, is the end of the regular season the time to move irregardless of Doc. Or should he wait until the summer, when the Celtics are meant to be rebuilding, and replacing a coach might be too late in regards to the rebuilding process and in regards to the available replacement coaches!
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In addition, JVG may be getting snapped up by the Nets. And Brown may be going to the Clippers.
Which puts Ainge in a very precarious position.
I certainly hope Thibodeau doesn’t end up being the sole option!
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In regards to Thibs, that was brutal. My second Hoosiers reference in these comments, but he was like a drunken Shooter on the bench.
It’ll be interesting to see how things go moving forward. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Doc continue to coach, but it seems like his family is very important to him.
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Doc has been one of the coaches I have been most bi-polar with that I can remember. He’s made me happy, he’s made me say “WTF?”. I just hope they can leave him with a championship.
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His style of coaching is different. At least publicly, he seems so laid-back and laissez-faire that it’s easy to get upset at him when things go wrong, or when his teams don’t play hard.
For the 2008 team, Rivers was a perfect fit. They needed no motivation, and just needed someone to help nudge them in the right direction. Rivers couldn’t have been more suited for that.
But now, with his team struggling to show any intensity, I’d love to see Doc more willing to light a fire under his troops a la Stan Van Gundy or Scott Skiles.
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