(Doc, reading a big pile of papers calling him the new Chuck Fairbanks)
With the Clippers and Celtics having finally reached an agreement for the former to acquire the services of Doc Rivers, the coach is receiving a measure of grief, with one columnist comparing him to Urban Meyer and Dwight Howard. Still, at least Doc’s hometown paper didn’t liken him to Ray Allen, an analogy Boston Sports Media’s Bruce Allen considers wholly inappropriate.
Rivers has not complained at all about his experience with Boston, and I don’t think he ever will. Allen griped about his role, his starting position, his relationship with Rajon Rondo, and said he didn’t feel wanted, even though Boston offered him more money than Miami. There is also the matter of Allen joining the team that had just eliminated the Celtics in an emotional, draining seven game Eastern Conference Finals series.|
Rivers, who has reportedly had his own clashes with Rondo, isn’t going to go public with those incidents, and allowed the Celtics to get something in return for his services. The contract signed by Rivers seems to have been done with that understanding, safeguarding the Celtics for five years, and allowing them to at least get an asset if he chose to leave. He is also going to the Los Angeles Clippers, a team that has no sort of rivalry with the Celtics. (and could implode at any time.) The blow is softened somewhat by those factors.