Doc Rivers has not made up his mind about returning to coach the team, according to a report.

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Doc Rivers, as he has a history of doing, left the door open for his retirement following the Boston Celtics elimination from the playoffs at the hands of the New York Knicks.

Despite GM Danny Ainge going on record to say that Rivers will be returning, Doc has not come forward to confirm that he will coach the team next season and, according to a report from Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, Rivers has not made up his mind yet.

There is still the possibility — stress possibility — Rivers will choose to walk away from his contract to coach the Celts. A source close to the situation, however, insists it remains far more likely he will return.

The word as expressed to us is that it is “90-10” that Rivers will continue on a contract that has three years and $21 million remaining. If he leaves the Celtics, it will not be with the intent of coaching another team.

In all likelihood, Rivers will return to the Celtics sideline, but perhaps the uncertainty of the roster situation has got him thinking twice. If nothing else, Rivers is loyal to Celtic veterans Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and the idea that one–or both–of them may be somewhere else next season could weigh into his decision.

Rivers, however, is a basketball lifer and seemingly as passionate about the sport as he was when he played. The Celtics have a solid young core of players 28-and-under and, according to Bulpett’s reporting,  ”If [Rivers] leaves the Celtics, it will not be with the intent of coaching another team.”

Given that Rivers is only 51-years-old and his children are growing up and leaving the nest, it seems inevitable that he resumes his role with the organization. Let’s hope he makes a statement soon, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief, knowing the guys in green are in good hands.

Former Miami point guard Shane Larkine, one of 6 PGs who will workout for the Celtics this weekend.

The Boston Celtics plan to work out 12 NBA draft prospects, including 6 point guards, between Friday and Saturday, as first reported by Baxter Holmes of the Boston Globe.

According to Holmes, the list of players includes Steven Adams (Pittsburg), Colton Iverson (Colorado State), Jeff Withey (Kansas), Greg Echenique (Creighton), Phil Pressey (Missouri), Myck Kabongo (Texas), Peyton Siva (Louisville), Pierre Jackson (Baylor), and Shane Larkin (Miami).

Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics own the 16th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and are without a second round selection, but something tells me Maine Red Claws team president Bill Ryan Jr. will be in attendance. Read more »

Doc turned down the team presidency of the Orlando Magic. So he probably wants to go coach Joe Johnson, Marshon Brooks and Kris Humphries, right Brooklyn?

Jackie MacMullan, still killing the game on ESPN Boston, uncovered a couple of fascinating nuggets in this must-read story on Thursday. According MacMullan, Doc Rivers was actively pursued by the Brooklyn Nets despite being under contract with the Celtics. Not only that, but last offseason he turned down an offer to be team president by his hometown Orlando Magic.

From ESPN Boston:

In fact, team and league sources confirmed to ESPNBoston.com that Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge was contacted by the Brooklyn Nets, who wanted to speak to Rivers about their vacant coaching position. Ainge, according to those sources, denied the Nets permission to talk with his coach, who has three years and $21 million remaining on his contract.

[...]

Last season, the Orlando Magic offered Rivers the job of team president, which would have entailed everything from schmoozing with corporate sponsors to running the front office. Though he had previously insisted he had “little to no interest” in running a franchise, the financial windfall and unilateral power that would come with such a position (not to mention the proximity to his home base) gave him some brief pause. Ultimately, Rivers rebuffed the Magic and determined he wasn’t done coaching.

It’s interesting that the Nets covet Rivers enough to request an interview despite his current contract status, but it’s potentially more telling/interesting that Rivers turned down the position with the Magic. Team presidents make a LOT of money (like, CEO of large companies money) and the Magic were clearly aware of the draw they would have, playing in Rivers’ hometown. Yet Doc turned them down.

Don’t get me wrong: Rivers makes a LOT of money. $7 million a year is more than all but a few of the highest paid professional coaches make, and it’s certainly an attractive position for him. And as we all know very well by this point, the connection Doc has forged with the Celtics is very real, as evidenced KG’s refusal to waive his no-trade clause and Doc’s emotional post-game press conference this year after the Celtics lost to the Knicks and last year after they fell to the Heat.

Still, it speaks to Rivers’ loyalty that he is willing to turn down a hometown job offering him more money than most of us (all of us, even?) can even imagine. I have no sources in my ear telling me anything about whether or not Doc will continue coaching the Celtics. But given this story and the tendencies toward loyalty Rivers has shown in the past, I’ll be very surprised if he isn’t on the bench in Boston next year, regardless of what the roster looks like. 

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.

Terrence Williams has been known to make some questionable decisions during his basketball career, but this would rank among his most questionable. According to police from Kent, Washington, Williams brandished a gun during an argument with the mother of his child and has been taken into custody.

JUST IN: NBA player, Former Rainier Beach HS star, Terrence Williams, arrested by Kent Police & accused of making threats with gun.

May 20, 2013 1:43 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

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Chris Daniels

Kent Police say Williams was arrested this afternoon. PD says T. Williams waved gun during scheduled child visitation, and made threats.

May 20, 2013 1:47 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

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Chris Daniels

More: A Kent Police detective says Terrence Williams is currently in custody, and will be booked into the King County Jail.

May 20, 2013 1:58 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@ChrisDaniels5

Chris Daniels

Completely setting aside the basketball implications, this is obviously an extremely disappointing story. We don’t have any of the concrete details at the moment, but you can be sure we will pass them on when they come. For now, these allegations, obviously, do not sound good.

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.

Paul Pierce seems to be preparing himself to leave.

At this point in the decision-making process with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, we are trying to read tea leaves, which are notoriously unreliable. But if I was reading tea leaves that said “Hey Tom, you are going to die on Tuesday. No, seriously,” I’d get a little worried.

And the tea leaves are becoming similarly clear in Pierce’s situation. According to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe, Pierce has already begun preparing his family for relocation.

From The Boston Globe:

The Celtics have to decide by June 30 whether to buy out Pierce’s contract at $5 million. Ainge said the sides have not had discussions, but an NBA source said Pierce’s family is already beginning to prepare for relocation from Boston, assuming the Celtics will execute the buyout or trade his expiring contract in the offseason.

Pierce struggled mightily during the playoffs, and Ainge was asked whether the longtime Celtic was injured.

“Paul’s always battling little things,” said Ainge. “I think Paul’s healthy, but he played so hard and carried such a heavy load.

“Paul had a terrific year this year, but in the playoffs, New York did a good job of taking away his strengths and taking advantage of some of our weaknesses. But I thought Paul had a terrific year.”

We have all been kind of preparing for this moment. Even though logic would dictate that giving up Pierce and Garnett would free up minimal cap space, this season felt like an ending.

As has been outlined elsewhere, the Celtics have two options if they decide to allow Pierce to leave Boston: Trade his expiring contract (and still very serviceable basketball skills) or buy out his contract for $5 million and allow him to find his next team on his own.

Despite the indignity of the buyout process, the latter may actually be the kinder option for Pierce. He should be allowed to finish on his own terms on a contender of his own choosing, and a buyout would allow him that option. On the other hand, if Ainge could swing a deal with a contender (*cough* the Clippers *cough*) that would still bring the Celtics a serviceable player at a lacking position (*cough* Eric Bledsoe *cough*), that might be an acceptable alternative. 

We will save the heartfelt farewell (it won’t be the first one on this site) until we have more certainty, but it’s starting to seem likely that Paul Pierce has played his last game in a Celtics uniform.

Follow Tom on Twitter: @Tom_NBA.

Courtney,

You started out really slow, I think everyone was missing Avery Bradley and Ray Allen and were hoping for you to be the “light” version of some combination of those two, but it took a while.  The Celtic defense took a little while for you to grasp, which is okay, I know there are a lot of rotations– and getting used to Garnett barking orders from the back line can be a big learning curve.  Eventually you got most of it, playing some decent ball on both sides of the court, contributing where you could and otherwise taking a back seat.

There was even a fun little backcourt when Rondo went down for injury where you and Avery Bradley ran around harassing the opposing guards– often picking them up around three-quarters court.  It prevented the opposing teams from going right into their offense, giving them less time to run some of their half-court sets.  While this was a small thing– it made a big difference in the functioning of Boston’s defense.

You struggled to find your stroke for a while this season and were not quite able to stretch the floor like Boston had hoped.  Coming into the season there was a great deal of hype surrounding your ability to drain the corner three, shooting at a high efficiency.   This did not actualize itself into something that really benefited Boston’s offense this season, and could have been a more deadly weapon if you hit that shot at a higher rate and if the Celtic’s were able to dribble penetrate more often to force rotations to get you those open corner looks.

Then the trade for Jordan Crawford happened and in unrelated notes, the Celtics offense fell completely flat.  They became predictable and easy to game plan for, without a dynamic player (Rondo) to really stir the offense and keep things fresh.  This became especially evident against the Knicks when they were able to see the Boston offense for six straight games– the predictable became the expected and the Celtics searched their bench for answers.  Doc found Jordan Crawford and on paper this makes some sense.  Crawford is a complete wildcard on both ends of the floor and down double digits in many of the games and Doc needed someone to shake things up and create their own offense.  In practice Crawford shot just over 30% from the field, 25% behind the arc, had three turnovers and no assists.  This ended up being the wrong choice– and you Mr. Lee, I believe you were the right choice, or at least the more correct one.

While I am still unsure as to why you fell so far out of Mr. River’s favor, you seemed to be solid all year long.  This brings up some very serious question marks for you moving forward.  You are making around five million a year through the 2015-2016 season, and while that is slightly overpaid, I think you could still be a valuable asset to this Celtics franchise.  There have been a number of rumors including you and Jason Terry being traded to another team, but I am not entirely sure the value of you and JET are going to be worth what the Celtics would get back in return.  I would prefer you wait it out and become a solid bench player with Rondo, Bradley, and JET– the Celtic backcourt could be much worse.

For a slight improvement I would look to further solidify your jumper and continue to learn the Celtic defense.  Boston needs you to be scrappy, so any energy and spark you could provide (most likely) coming off the bench would be huge for the Celtics moving forward.  Thanks for the effort and cheering on the rest of the team in their battle with New York in the opening round.

Follow Jesse on Twitter: J_duderanch