There is, of course, the possibility that Doc Rivers’ leap from the sinking ship that is the Boston Celtics was fully encouraged by Danny Ainge and ownership, mindful there’s one, possibly two seasons of tanking ahead of the C’s. Despite an 18 game losing streak on his resume, do you really need someone with Rivers’ qualifications (and colossal salary) supervising an attempt to go 10-72?
I don’t know but if he is, in fact, worth $7 million a year, wouldn’t that translate into doing a great job of overseeing and planning a rebuilding project and presumably accelerating that process. This is a critical period for the Celts. Shouldn’t the best possible hands be on board?
you can get someone else to preside over the tanking for far less than $7 million. Player development / scouting / roster assembly isn’t Doc’s job. That’s not to say his input was unimportant, but elite coaches get elite money for contending, not smiling as the losses pile up.
Or to put it in words the more baseball-centric might understand, the Celtics would just as soon hire Terry Collins.
What does $7 million a year mean to a team that has decided to go cheap on the players on the court? If Rivers’ name is Popovich (are there 2 p’s after the o?), isn’t the franchise reeling from the departure? Look, I don’t particularly like or dislike the Sports Putz, but it seems pretty clear that Ainge was shocked by what happened and I think he should have been, and Rivers quit on his team.
Rivers is claiming that ownership essentially went to him and said, “we’d like to trade you to a contender”. I think not wanting to pay the salary is certainly part of it, but getting an unprotected first rounder out of the Clippers is genuine value, too, even if there’s little chance LA is lottery bound in two years. If Doc simply retires or takes another job when his deal is up, Boston receives no assets from another club.
http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2013/06/doc-rivers-says-the-boston-celtics-wanted-to-unload-his-contract-and-others/
I don’t get the Popovich comparison at all. Pop’s got four titles compared to Doc’s one, and the former’s had a more bigger role in his team’s assembly (he was the Spurs’ GM almost as long as River was head coach in Boston).