Rivers details C's shopping list

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

Quick hits after Celtics coach Doc Rivers made his weekly appearance on Boston sports radio WEEI (93.7 FM) on Friday morning:

* SWINGING IN THE RAIN: Both Rivers and Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge have preached patience in identifying the players that will fill out this year's roster. Rivers said his focus at the All-Star break is off the court and on the links. "I’m golfing over the break, I played in the rain yesterday, and Danny’s doing all the work, which is terrific as far as I’m concerned," said Rivers. "I’ll say this: Danny and I thought about it and... with the last one, with Barbosa, now we can’t look at one position anymore. And that’s what we were looking at -- looking at size first, then a guard. Now we’re looking at players. We need players. We need to pick up a couple players as soon as we can get them, that’s basically what we’re doing. We don’t want to do anything so quick that somebody else becomes available and then we don’t have room because we are at the cap threshold, so we have to be very careful in what we do."

* DOC'S SHOPPING LIST: Asked what sort of player would best fill the team's needs, Rivers noted, "Well, I would say a ball-handling guard. It’s no longer a point guard, it’s just a guard. A guard that, if I had my perfect guard for this group right now, it would be a guard that can play multiple positions, that can shoot, and has some toughness. Then we need a big. You're not going to find a center, so a 4. Obviously a 5 would be great, but a 4 that can stretch the floor, or a 4 that can rebound -- just a great rebounding 4 that has skill. That’s the list." As for where Ainge can do his shopping, Rivers added, "There’s so many places to look. The China League ends in a week, so now some of the American players that are playing over there, will be coming back over to our league. The D-League or through a trade. We don’t have a lot of assets to trade, so we have to be very careful there."

* NOT WORRIED ABOUT KG: Kevin Garnett made some cryptic comments after Wednesday's win over the Bulls that hinted this could be his final NBA season (at the very least, his final All-Star game appearance). What did Rivers take from his comments? "Basically, that we don’t know what he knows," said a laughing Rivers. "Kevin, I think every year is going to be year to year. I really believe that. I think he loves the game too much and playing too well to walk away. But I think during the season, he’s a like a lot of coaches at times, he thinks about [retirement]. If you ask [coaches] during the middle of the season, are they coming back, they would probably say, ‘I doubt it.’ Because it’s such a grind, especially for him. But I wouldn’t put too much into that."

* DELONTE AN OPTION?: Like Ainge before him, Rivers admitted old friend Delonte West is a potential option to add depth to the roster, but didn't sound like it was a preferred avenue. "That’s something we’re looking at," said Rivers. "I don’t know where we are going to go with that. Again, we have to be so careful. And one thing I love about Delonte is his toughness. The other thing you don’t like, he does get injured a lot, so you’re worried about that as well. Besides the other stuff."

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