Celts working on extension for Rivers

JoseA · 04-10-2007, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Doc Rivers will have an opportunity to coach the Boston Celtics next year and beyond. According to league sources, the club is prepared to offer Rivers a contract extension following this season.

Rivers' original four-year deal ends after next season, and he has stated he didn't want to be in a lame duck position, though he did stop short of saying he would leave if the team didn't extend his contract. While the salary figures and length of the new contract have yet to be discussed, both sides seem willing and eager to get something done.

Article

Wow, what a joke! And what a horrible season the Celtics had, and yet they want to renew this fool's contract? I heard Boston was throwing games so they could draft Oden, not sure if that is true. Maybe that is the only reason Boston wants him back because he listened to their commands

Zen653 · 04-22-2007, 11:21 AM

It's not Rivers' fault that the Celtics lost this year. When you're a bad team to begin with, and you lose all three of your veterans (Pierce, Szczerbiak, and Ratliff), it's not really a surprise when you finish with a dismal record.

That said, Rivers has done nothing in the previous two years at the helm of the Celtics to engender any sort of confidence in his ability as a head coach. He lost an inordinate number of close games, even in the pre-tanking days. The man has almost no X's and O's ability. People say that he's a great communicator but what good is communication if you don't win games?

There are six things to say in favor of retaining Doc Rivers. First, the players like him and play hard for him. Even with all the losing, I never had the feeling that the players gave up on a game, or decided to mail it in for the year. They always battled to the bitter end and that's a surprisingly unusual quality to find at the professional level. Second, three of our young building blocks for the future developed extremely well under Rivers this year. Maybe he had nothing to do with the emergence of Al Jefferson, Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially if management thinks that he helped them along. Third, Rivers is a friendly sycophant. He does whatever his bosses tell him to do, he's the ultimate company man. Ainge likes to have a yes-man running the bench, especially since Ainge sometimes encroaches on a head coach's responsibilities (to wit: Ainge runs some of the team practices, tells Rivers who should be playing in games, and often tutors players individually.) Fourth, if Rivers is even half as smart about basketball as he sounds during his TNT broadcasts, then he probably does know what he's doing, at least as far as teaching the game and nurturing an immature group of inexperienced young guys. The Celtics are one of the youngest teams in the league and need a good teacher. As they start to get older, their needs will change, and a more experienced coach with a good winning percentage may become necessary. But for now, Rivers fits the needs of the players. Fifth, Rivers doesn't tolerate insubordination. During his first year at the helm of the Celtics, he benched Paul Pierce in the fourth quarter of a close game because he wanted to see his captain play better team defense. The two butted heads quite often in the early going and now Pierce is Doc's No. 1 fan; he even credits Rivers with turning around certain aspects of his game, such as defensive intensity and attitude. Rivers also handled the Orien Greene, Tony Allen and Sebastian Telfair arrests (both Telfair arrests) extremely well, striking a proper balance between protecting his players but also letting them know that such behavior would not be tolerated. He's also the only coach who never had major problems with the mercurial Ricky Davis. That in and of itself is a remarkable feat. Sixth, Rivers knows how to navigate through a tough Boston media. He's refreshingly honest about what went wrong in a certain game, who blew what play, who needed to take a certain shot, what the thinking was out of a timeout, etc. Sometimes he's almost too brutally honest. As a fan, it's great to get that kind of insight into the game. Rivers isn't one of these coaches who just throws out a bunch of platitudes.

Would I fire him? No. I think he deserves another opportunity with a healthy team and a top draft pick. No coach would win with the Celtics, as currently constituted. Would I extend his contract? Maybe by just one year, plus a team option. This would send a message to the players that the Celtics are committed to Rivers beyond this coming season. It also might give Rivers the confidence that he needs in order to demand more out of his players. From management's perspective, the team would still have the flexibility to find someone else if the losing continues. The Celtics would only be adding one guaranteed year to his current contract, which expires at the end of 2007-08.

I just hope that Ainge doesn't go too crazy and offer the guy a 5 year deal. He recently said on the local news that he hopes to see Rivers along the Celtics sidelines for 10 more years but that ownership is somewhat reluctant and would like to see Rivers actually win something first before securing another long-term deal. It's not as though other teams are knocking down the door to nab him. There's even a question as to how committed Rivers is to the team, and whether he has a strong enough work ethic. Ownership frequently complains about how Rivers flies back and forth to Orlando during homestands in order to spend nights with his family; he sometimes hands practices over to Ainge or the assistant coaches so that he can spend off-days in Florida, and sometimes he's kept the Celtics in Florida for an extra day or two on southern road trips, just so that he can sleep in his own bed. The man has to suffer from some serious jet lag.

04-22-2007, 11:21 AM	#2 (permalink)
Zen653 Hall of Famer Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 6,744	It's not Rivers' fault that the Celtics lost this year. When you're a bad team to begin with, and you lose all three of your veterans (Pierce, Szczerbiak, and Ratliff), it's not really a surprise when you finish with a dismal record. That said, Rivers has done nothing in the previous two years at the helm of the Celtics to engender any sort of confidence in his ability as a head coach. He lost an inordinate number of close games, even in the pre-tanking days. The man has almost no X's and O's ability. People say that he's a great communicator but what good is communication if you don't win games? There are six things to say in favor of retaining Doc Rivers. First, the players like him and play hard for him. Even with all the losing, I never had the feeling that the players gave up on a game, or decided to mail it in for the year. They always battled to the bitter end and that's a surprisingly unusual quality to find at the professional level. Second, three of our young building blocks for the future developed extremely well under Rivers this year. Maybe he had nothing to do with the emergence of Al Jefferson, Tony Allen and Rajon Rondo but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially if management thinks that he helped them along. Third, Rivers is a friendly sycophant. He does whatever his bosses tell him to do, he's the ultimate company man. Ainge likes to have a yes-man running the bench, especially since Ainge sometimes encroaches on a head coach's responsibilities (to wit: Ainge runs some of the team practices, tells Rivers who should be playing in games, and often tutors players individually.) Fourth, if Rivers is even half as smart about basketball as he sounds during his TNT broadcasts, then he probably does know what he's doing, at least as far as teaching the game and nurturing an immature group of inexperienced young guys. The Celtics are one of the youngest teams in the league and need a good teacher. As they start to get older, their needs will change, and a more experienced coach with a good winning percentage may become necessary. But for now, Rivers fits the needs of the players. Fifth, Rivers doesn't tolerate insubordination. During his first year at the helm of the Celtics, he benched Paul Pierce in the fourth quarter of a close game because he wanted to see his captain play better team defense. The two butted heads quite often in the early going and now Pierce is Doc's No. 1 fan; he even credits Rivers with turning around certain aspects of his game, such as defensive intensity and attitude. Rivers also handled the Orien Greene, Tony Allen and Sebastian Telfair arrests (both Telfair arrests) extremely well, striking a proper balance between protecting his players but also letting them know that such behavior would not be tolerated. He's also the only coach who never had major problems with the mercurial Ricky Davis. That in and of itself is a remarkable feat. Sixth, Rivers knows how to navigate through a tough Boston media. He's refreshingly honest about what went wrong in a certain game, who blew what play, who needed to take a certain shot, what the thinking was out of a timeout, etc. Sometimes he's almost too brutally honest. As a fan, it's great to get that kind of insight into the game. Rivers isn't one of these coaches who just throws out a bunch of platitudes. Would I fire him? No. I think he deserves another opportunity with a healthy team and a top draft pick. No coach would win with the Celtics, as currently constituted. Would I extend his contract? Maybe by just one year, plus a team option. This would send a message to the players that the Celtics are committed to Rivers beyond this coming season. It also might give Rivers the confidence that he needs in order to demand more out of his players. From management's perspective, the team would still have the flexibility to find someone else if the losing continues. The Celtics would only be adding one guaranteed year to his current contract, which expires at the end of 2007-08. I just hope that Ainge doesn't go too crazy and offer the guy a 5 year deal. He recently said on the local news that he hopes to see Rivers along the Celtics sidelines for 10 more years but that ownership is somewhat reluctant and would like to see Rivers actually win something first before securing another long-term deal. It's not as though other teams are knocking down the door to nab him. There's even a question as to how committed Rivers is to the team, and whether he has a strong enough work ethic. Ownership frequently complains about how Rivers flies back and forth to Orlando during homestands in order to spend nights with his family; he sometimes hands practices over to Ainge or the assistant coaches so that he can spend off-days in Florida, and sometimes he's kept the Celtics in Florida for an extra day or two on southern road trips, just so that he can sleep in his own bed. The man has to suffer from some serious jet lag.