That’s what Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel is asking this morning. Doc was basically run out of town in Orlando, and did nothing to make anyone mistake him for John Wooden in his first few years in Boston. But now he’s winning and everyone loves him. It’s the exact same thing we saw with Sam Mitchell in Toronto - he was going to be axed at any second and then his team won a bunch of game, he was named Coach of the Year and now he’s a made man.
Bianchi on Doc:
Doc Rivers is suddenly a great coach.
An all-star coach.
Potentially even a championship coach.
How does this happen? How does a guy who was fired in Orlando after a mediocre five-year run become the hottest coach in the league? How does a guy who was on the verge of being fired after compiling a substandard 102-144 record during his first three years in Boston become the coach of the Eastern Conference all-star team?
In one year, how does Doc transform himself from idiot to genius?
Did he take a crash course in the low-post offense during the offseason?
Did he go to a career-altering seminar on the ins and outs of the pick-and-roll?
Did he go to L.A. and spend the summer soaking up John Wooden’s knowledge?
What’s up, Doc? Why are you a better coach now?
“Better players,” Rivers said openly and honestly before Hedo Turkoglu hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift the Magic over Doc’s league-leading Celtics 96-93 Sunday. “It’s no secret. This is a league of missing and making and shots. When you have the right players, you’re a better coach.
Then Bianchi goes on to ask a more interesting question that would no doubt get the Pat Rileys and Larry Browns of the world all bent out of shape:
This brings up an interesting point: just how valuable is an NBA coach? Not to be mean, but isn’t NBA coaching the biggest money-making racket since bottled water? The fact that these guys make $5, $6, $10 million a year is laughable. Why in the world do NBA coaches make more than NBA general managers when clearly a good roster is more important than a good coach?
Doc is the perfect illustration of how there’s really no appreciable difference between a bad NBA coach and a good one. In Orlando, he was a bad coach because he was saddled with a bad roster. In Boston, he is a good coach and his team has the best record in the league. Why? Because the Celtics added two potential Hall-of-Famers — Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen — during the offseason.
Rivers will coach the all-star team in two weeks, but, come on, isn’t he already coaching an all-star team? Garnett, Allen and Paul Pierce? That’s three possible Hall-of-Famers. This might be the greatest aggregation of talent on the same floor since the Miss America pageant.
Here’s the ultimate philosophical question when the topic of “great” NBA coaches is brought up: If they can only win with great players then are they truly great themselves?
Isn’t it entirely possible that you could take a really good high school coach, pay him $100,000 a year, give him the Celtics’ talent and watch him win a championship?
“Yeah, I think I could win with the Celtics roster,” says Travis Jones, the successful coach at Winter Springs High School. “Absolutely.”
What do you think? Could anyone “coach” the Celtics and still win games?
Read the full article HERE.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Celts Fan says:
Not only could “anyone” coach the Celtics, but I’m convinced they’d be better than Doc. Trust me, real fans know what he is and are TERRIFIED he’s here long enough to watch the championship window slam shut without a ring to make the following years less painful. Think Rick Adelman, only looking less like Hitler.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Captain America says:
Doc is real class. Win or lose, the NBA is lucky to have Doc in the league.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
E-ROC says:
Good or great coaches win championships, as does talent. They pretty much go hand-in-hand. Now, I’ve always thought that Doc Rivers wasn’t a tactician of the game. He sometimes gets outcoached horribly. Let’s see if talent truly wins championships. By the way, that dude is smoking crack if he doesn’t think there is no absolute difference between a good coach and a bad coach. IMO, I would rather have Reggie Theus coaching the Celtics than Doc Rivers. JMO.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Celts Fan says:
Hell ya Captain America. He’s is a wicked nice guy, great in the community, etc. He has all the values you’d ever want to see in someone and seems like a genuinely good human being; I just don’t want him as my basketball coach. He did a great job with the young guys last year, but his in-game decisions are terrible.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Myrie says:
hahaha….I came to this section just to see/hear/read from Celtsfan. I know Celtsfan has no regard for Doc Rivers. heheha. Celtsfan is passionate tho….
Doc is an average coach at best. He won COY because Orlando stayed afloat with Grant Hill hurt by having Tracy McGrady run wild on offense. And it surprised the voters (btw….the voters for COY all suck. They always vote the coach who is a “surprise” rather than the coach who is actually most deserving).
Boston lost 18 games in a row last year, but Rivers didn’t have the team quit. They played decent (given their parts) in the 2nd half of last season. Management allowed Rivers to return because the squad didn’t quit on him last year and then, looking at their roster, they had a bunch of high schoolers (Bassy, Jefferson, Perkins, Green, Brown etc..) so they had little choice but to bring him back.
If the Celtics do not get out of the 2nd round, expect Rivers to take the fall.
But who else would coach this team as they are now?
January 28th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
E-ROC says:
If Rivers gets canned, Larry Brown would be perfect. Maybe Mark Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy. IMO, Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t get enough credit.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Celts Fan says:
ANY OF THEM WOULD BE GOOD
and I like Doc as a guy that’ll get the most out of a young team that’s on the upswing, and one that a team will never quit on, but once you get there, you need someone else. I mean, starting Brian Scalabrinie yesterday? No Big Baby at all? Going small against DWIGHT F***ING HOWARD down the stretch? I just don’t get it sometimes…
January 28th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
jz_smoove says:
dont quit on these two young(?) coaches yet, doc rivers and sam mitchell. they were very good role players with passion for the game. at this point they are hoping their passion translates to them being able to teach to the young ones. their in-game decisions will be sometimes questionable but it is how their players respond to them that will determine their success. attitude is a key to winning championships, ofcourse talent never hurts.
somewhere along the way reggie theus will be discussed in the same we are now with these two. he is a good coach right now. it all depends on the way he runs with his players and how they respond towards him. he has good talent with the team right now but what if soon after they do not listen to him anymore? is he a bad coach then?
January 28th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Mumba_24 says:
I agree….Doc is a nice guy, you can tell a good coach when the game is on the line, in the final minutes, do you call a time out, what plays you run, who you sub? He may get better as the season progresses and they play games that require him to coach. Like against the (1st game) Pistons when Billips gets fouled and ices the game at the free throw line….I blamed Doc for that, he took Rondo out and subbed in Tony Allen to defend Billips, Tony hadn’t played and you put him in at the last minute…he’s not a veteran guy or is a tough defender….close games separate your good coaches from you great coaches….and Doc has not separated himself yet….
January 28th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Vertman says:
Doc was a very good player in the league, but a outstanding coach? Hardly, himself, along with the Cavs coach ( dont’ even know his freakin’ name! ) are so lucky they have such studs on their teams!
January 28th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
bsteezy3 says:
Doc Rivers is an “okay” coach, so I think that ANY GOOD COACH could be successful with the Celtics. The article itself says that Orlando was mediocre with him as the coach because the team had an injured Grant Hill, a super Tracy McGrady (still think no one was better than a 2002 TMAC), and no one else. Basically he had in Orlando, the same team he had last year with Boston. Hey, I ain’t mad at Doc…keep on coaching/winning until they fire you and hire some non-deserving coach (pat riley, larry brown, rick adelman, etc.)
January 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
alex says:
no, not everyone can just get a bunch of good players and coach them and win - case in point - I.Thomas of the Knicks.
To be successful, the style / approach of the coach should match the players abilities / mindset.
Doc Rivers is an average coach at best. I think Paul Silas would do a great job in Boston.
January 28th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Juanito says:
We’ll see how great a coach everyone thinks he is when the Celts flame out in the playoffs. Then the hammer will drop, and the window will close just a little more…no more jersey poppin when they lose to Toronto in 6…
January 28th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Celts Fan says:
seems like they’re buidling for a good run this year and a title push really next year when they fill out the bench a bit more. having said that, if we don’t make it to the conf. finals at the very least, it’s time to fire Doc and promote Thibadeau.
I don’t think the Celtics “flame out” in the playoffs though (flame out being defined as lose before the Conference Finals.) The only EAST teams that I could see having any chance to beat them in a 7 game series are Detroit, Orlando, and Cleveland. I don’t think anyone else can beat us 4 out of 7, again, assuming everyone’s healthy (sorry Raptor fans, I love your team and how it’s constructed, but I think they’re a bad matchup with the Celtics when they play like mortals instead of the Godly performance you laid on us last week.)
January 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Korady says:
Haven’t Phil Jackson and Pat Riley proven this to be true? Are we really still having this discussion?
January 29th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Kobe-08_24 says:
For the most part, its the players that make the coach. Look at Byron Scott. Jason Kidd basically ran him out of NJ — after reaching the Finals! Look at him now, with the best young point guard and sporting one of the league’s best records for a team that’s flying way under the radar.
Doc is a solid basketball man, and he’ll do fine with the talent he has. Larry Brown is living on his past reputation. He would come into Boston and start changing things to suit “his” style and screw the whole thing up. Same with Pat Riley, another coach getting props for what he did years ago (mostly).
Its the players that make the coach, not the other way around.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:02 am
Duck ruins says:
Biggest Celtic Challenge?
That will be Doc Rivers. Just wait and see. Game after game he puts the Celtics in a position to lose with his hair brained lineups he throws in late in the third and fourth quarters. Another example was last night. Mid 3rd quarter has Posey in the lineup and he is the biggest Celt on the floor. Golden State rips off 12 rebounds, most of them offensive. What the hell is he thinking? Davis? on the bench,Perk? on the bench, Powe? on the bench, KG? on the bench..Unreal, simply unreal. Posey basically turned the game over to the Warriors before finally being yanked out after 4 stupid fouls. I could go on forever but I gotta go throw up..