Rapid Reaction: Doc to LA

June, 23, 2013
8:00PM ET

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com



Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports

Doc Rivers is finally off to Los Angeles to coach the Clippers.
Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers agreed in principle to a deal that will send coach Doc Rivers west in exchange for a future first-round draft pick.

* The nitty gritty: After eight days of on-again, off-again negotiations, the Clippers will send Boston a 2015 first-round pick as compensation for letting Rivers out of his contract, which has three years and $21 million remaining (from the initial five-year, $35 million pact he inked two summers ago). Los Angeles will then sign Rivers to the same terms of his remaining deal to insert him as its next coach.

Rapid reaction: Thank goodness it's over. Really, what more needs to be said? After these zombie talks came back from the dead roughly four times over an eight-day span, both sides needed some closure and now the Celtics and Clippers can (finally!) move forward. Neither side comes out of this process looking particularly swell, but at least the circus-like atmosphere of these bluff- and posture-heavy negotiations are over. Barring a last-minute curveball, and can we really rule that out in this process? The Clippers have the coach in place they believe can push them over the hump in the Western Conference, while the Celtics begin the process of rebuilding with a valuable future asset.

What's next? The Celtics are expected to shut the door on this process Monday with a news conference. From there, Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge will turn his attention to the other pieces remaining from Boston's championship core, namely Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Pierce's 2013-14 contract is only $5 million guaranteed through June 30, but as an expiring contract, even his full $15.3 million price tag still makes him a desirable asset for a contender, especially since he has an expiring deal that comes off the books after the season.

Garnett originally was expected to be a piece of the outgoing package with Rivers, but the league -- suspicious of the appearance that the teams were circumventing the collective bargaining agreement by making two separate trades that were contingent on each other -- smothered an incarnation that could have brought DeAndre Jordan to Boston. If Boston and L.A. can't push through another deal, the Celtics might have to examine other options for Garnett. Yet again, he has immense value to a contender because of his modest salary ($12.4 million) and the strong possibility that this will be his final NBA season (though the final year of his contract is only partially guaranteed anyhow). From there, Boston can assess the future of its young core and whether the likes of Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green are building blocks for the next generation of this team as it tries to restore itself as a true contender.

And the Celtics need a coach (unless Ainge wants to handle both tasks and really save the team some cash). Brian Shaw and Vinny Del Negro are the names that have seemingly cropped up most often in speculation about future coaches and Boston would seemingly eye a coach who can get the most out of young players and help their development.
112288

THANK GOD........LET THE REBUILDING BEGIN!


112288

Agreed 112288.  BTW, is that your birthdate?

After Bryan Shaw bolted the Celts for Italy I vowed never to forgive his treason. Still won't.

worcester wrote:After Bryan Shaw bolted the Celts for Italy I vowed never to forgive his treason. Still won't.

Worcester,

Give me 72 hours to pack, pay some bills and grab some cash and I'd bolt for Italy so fast I'd put you in a neckbrace watching me. No sin there.

bob


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Best that it's done and we move on.

It was a blown attempt on our part, unless there is more to come, and there may well be.  We should have known we were attempting a deal that the league would never let happen.

If there isn't a second deal to move KG and/or Pierce and bring us back players or picks, we went from thinking we were getting a center, a point guard and two picks in exchange for a coach and a player in decline, to simply getting what is likely to be a poorly placed draft pick in two years for an accomplished coach.  Granted, he didn't want to return and would have just walked anyway, so it is better than getting nothing.

We got the extreme short end of the stick.

That is unless there is more to come.  I hope there is.

Look for Danny to really shake this team up. Do not be surprised if Rondo is next after KG & PP.

112288

Dbrown,

If memory serves me right, it was the birthday of 112288's twin daughters.

Sam

Department of credit where credit is due.  Didn't Sam pretty much nail this one (bold red) somewhere on another thread?

Contrary to previous reports, according to league and team sources, the Celtics have been complicit all along in assisting Rivers make the switch from Boston to Los Angeles. Although Danny Ainge, the Celtics' director of basketball operations, was initially irked that Rivers was lukewarm about returning to Boston, where a rebuilding process will soon be underway, team sources said he recognized the best way to accumulate first-round draft picks, which he covets, would be to relinquish his two most valued assets -- Rivers and Kevin Garnett. Since then, he and Rivers have been working side by side to secure a deal that is best for both parties, sources said. ESPN.com

Well Doc has decided up pull up his lobster traps from the Bay State and head to Tinsel Town seeking gold in the Golden State............Well Doc GOOD RIDDANCE ........The way you left has left a smell .....like low tide in one of the tidal estuaries of the North Shore and a stain deeper then a dock hands apron after gutting some Cod.

I am a reasonable person and if the pressures of coaching were getting to you, and you need time to chill out.....I can see you going into broadcasting or just plain relaxing and playing some golf.........But coaching.......with another team...............Leave a team and a city you won a championship with....and were on good terms with ownership all because you do not want to do the heavy lifting and rebuild?

Anyone can coach a team filled with superstars.........and look good.......but it takes a special person to build...win....rebuild again .....and win again!

That is why Phil Jackson will never stand tall in my eyes as a great coach....he never had the task of doing heavy lifting with Chicago or the Lakers............and now Doc neither will you.........

Your just another empty suit ...............filling a coaching position with a team that has been an abject failure since it came into the league...............Doc you may be in the Hollywood spotlight on one side of your body ....but you cast a dark shadow on a great city that embraces hard work..........and most of all loyalty!

112288

I have no hard feelings whatsoever regarding Doc Rivers. In fact, I must admit I'm happy to see him go. Perhaps we can find a coach who understands that rebounding is an extremely important part of the game. Rivers would not be the best solution for a team that is rebuilding anyway as he never could let his young players learn from their mistakes. One slip-up on the defensive end and it was back to the bench. More maddening was his pulling of young bench players when they were hot and having a good game because he only trusted his veterans. Good luck to Rivers in the future and good luck to the Celtics in finding a coach who will better fit the situation that we find ourselves to be in.

Hi,
I'm certainly glad that the "Doc" part of the drama is over.
Now I'm really worried about the new Celtics coach ( I believe there already was a discussion on this topic) and about KG/PP - hope DA will get something really good for them.
As for beginning of rebuilding, I think it's begone long time ago with Perk trade.
In any case, the summer's going to be very interesting...

AK

112288..you get the literary excellence award for your latest post. Such masterful use of the English language.

I'm glad this deal is done. Maybe now there will be a coach that actually wants to build something

worcester wrote:After Bryan Shaw bolted the Celts for Italy I vowed never to forgive his treason. Still won't.

me too, he bolted on us in a year the team really needed him

Its not all on Doc, hes made it clear he wants no part of rebuilding, in other words he wants Pierce and KG to stay....Danny made it clear its time to rebuild. It was time for a change.

I realize that being the Devil's Advocate at The Spanish Inquisition wasn't exactly "the comfy chair", but somebody had to sit in it, however half-heartedly, so here goes:

1.  Coaching rebuilds are part of coaching and Doc failed this test.

Uh, hello?  Have we become so accustomed greatness again that we have forgotten about our 2005-2006 season when Doc's team went 35-49 with Ricky "Bonehead" Davis, Gerald "I'm a deer!" Green, Wally World and, teaming up at center the powerhouses of 21 year old Perk, Raef LaFrentz, The Candy Man and Mark Blount.  Our point guards that year were Marcus Banks, Dan Dickau and Orien Greene.  Think that's bad?  How about the next year?  We were 24-58.  That was the last pre-Big 3 year.  We're talking about multiple years of rebuilding here.  You can say "it was nice of us to hang in there with Doc when our record sucked so bad", but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.  Those teams sucked.  God Almighty himself would have led the league in Ts those years if he had been coaching the Celtics and Doc was an NBA Coach of the Year, God never was.  We should hold it against Doc because he doesn't want to repeat the worst period of his professional career?  Would you?  This also kills the "Doc Rivers is Phil Jackson" analogy.  Doc's done it.  For that matter, while Jackson has been extraordinarily lucky (and picky) in which NBA jobs he takes, he also coached the CBA Albany Patroons and in Puerto Rico first.  Why would he want to repeat that when he's in such demand that he doesn't have to ever again?


2.  Doc's a flake.


Apparently, Danny and Doc had a "gentlemen's agreement" when Doc's contract was signed that Doc would NOT be here for the rebuild, public attestations to the contrary.  In other words we, and the players, were lied to.  Now why would they do that?  Scrunching my Mr. Cynical hat firmly down on my head I'd say "because that would produce the best recruiting results?".  KG re-signed because he believed Doc was going to be here the rest of his time.  Jeff Green re-signed with us, in large part, because he believed the same.  JET and Lee signed 3 year contracts, which would definitely have taken them into rebuilding time, because they believed Doc would be here.  Let's be brutally clear and honest with ourselves here:  teams are not obligated to tell us the truth about injuries, trades, commitments or anything else if leaking that truth hurts the team's short or long term prospects.


3.  It's all Doc's fault for being disloyal.


Setting aside the above point, about how Doc and Danny always knew that Doc wouldn't make it to the end of contract year 5 and the rebuilding, how about the news being reported by Steve Bulpett of the Herald?  He's saying that, in fact, it was the Celtics who opened discussions with the Clippers about Doc and broached the idea of a trade to Doc, that it was not Doc who was demanding he be gone.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Rivers was deciding between returning to the Celtics and stepping away from the game when the club asked him if he'd be interested in any of the coaching jobs that were opening around the league. Rivers was said to have no interest in the Nets, who had fired his friend Avery Johnson during the season.


He was then asked if the Clipper job appealed to him, and it was then he learned the Celts had already had preliminary discussions with that team on releasing Rivers from the last three years of his contract and thus making him available. The Celtics were looking to accelerate the reworking of their roster and seeing what return they could get on all their assets, Rivers included.


This is just Trader Danny being Trader Danny.  He'd trade his own mother if she couldn't box out and he'd make sure he gets the most he can for her.  Nothing personal, Ma, it's strictly business.  Doc's an asset to him.  No more, no less.  They'll still golf together in the off-seasons, have dinner at each other's house when the others' teams are in town and clink their championship rings instead of their glasses when toasting.  That would be their Championship #17 rings.

If you still want to burn the heretic at the stake, go ahead.  I've made, what I consider, a pretty good argument for "live and let live".  Another way to look at it, now Doc can continue torment the Lakers but now he can do it from within the Buss family's own arena, the Staples Center. 


bob  



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If Doc was sick of coaching and wanted a break, he just should have taken a break.  It may turn out that he didn't want to go 'all rebuild' and was leaning towards taking that break.

Danny Ainge, knowing how Doc really felt, decided to see if he could squeeze an asset out of a contending team in order to release Doc from his contract.  Doc just went along for the ride, never officially offering the media anything concrete.

Then the media does what it does, materialize stories out of nowhere.  I'm referring to the "Doc and Rondo almost came to blows" story.  It is too bad that report had to get blown out of proportion.

I read somewhere recently that coaches generally last three years or so before the players start to tune the coach out.  Doc lasted longer than most, and the players that he mostly spoke to are leaving.  I, for one, don't mind seeing Doc leave.  I think we may need a new approach to the game.

Doc.  So long, and Thanks for all the fish!!

gyso

Bob, I totally agree with all your points, so (since I'm playing Pope here fro a few moments) no need for you to be subjected to the rack.

Speaking of the Pope, have any of you watched Borgia or The Borgias, two miniseries about Pope Alexander VI and his machinations from 1492 on? That Pope made both Danny and Machiavelli look like choir boys. I much preferred Borgia to The Borgias (which starred Jeremy Irons).

NYCelt wrote:Department of credit where credit is due.  Didn't Sam pretty much nail this one (bold red) somewhere on another thread?

Contrary to previous reports, according to league and team sources, the Celtics have been complicit all along in assisting Rivers make the switch from Boston to Los Angeles. Although Danny Ainge, the Celtics' director of basketball operations, was initially irked that Rivers was lukewarm about returning to Boston, where a rebuilding process will soon be underway, team sources said he recognized the best way to accumulate first-round draft picks, which he covets, would be to relinquish his two most valued assets -- Rivers and Kevin Garnett. Since then, he and Rivers have been working side by side to secure a deal that is best for both parties, sources said. ESPN.com

I will take a bit of credit myself - from a post on May 5th

https://samcelt.forumotion.net/t4776-giving-paul-pierce-and-kevin-garnett-their-due#87986

mrkleen09
I think Doc is also in danger of walking.  If Pierce and KG go, Doc is gone.  Doc will not be the coach here during a "rebuilding" period - and he has earned the right to go out his way.  I think as KG and PP go, so goes Doc.

Unfortunately, for my comment to ring fully true - KG and Pierce are next.

Mrkleen gets the Prognosticator of the Year award.

worcester...i hope I am wrong about KG....but guess we will know soon enough.

OK, now that this one is over let it be said: Doc will never be any better than the third best person to coach the Celtics. Give me Red and Tommy any day. Like many, I don't care much for disloyalty, I know, that is the nature of the business. Bye Doc, thanx for the memories, and watch out for that door.

Get ready pholks, here it comes: Break it up Danny, get rid of KG for as much as you can get that he will agree to, buy out Pierce or trade him and get this road on the show one more time. 

I will always believe that what would have been best for the C's this year was one more go round, one more opportunity for #18. The core was that good. If KG and PP end up somewhere else they will have great seasons.

No doubt that if this is going to be the rebuild season then Doc needed to go. Not because he isn't a great coach, he is, but because he doesn't really know how to coach young players and develop them. In fact, he doesn't even try.

Now it really is Rondo's team. Will he drive us to the promised land or to the looney bin (or whatever that sports talky thingy is called at the globe. ) tempus docet et tempus fugit

Now where is that thread on draft picks?
mulcogi

worcester wrote:Mrkleen gets the Prognosticator of the Year award.

worcester,

Don't forget he was a charter member and president of the Jeff Green fan club too.


bob


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Thanks Bob.

Here is another one (might as well....)

Jeff Green will be on the East All Star Team this coming season....and will be a starter the following year.