Rivers, Celtics still have no hard feelings
LOS ANGELES — In the summer of 2013, the Celtics were desperately trying to keep Doc Rivers from bolting town, fearing their rebuilding would suffer a severe blow without him as their coach.
But Rivers skipped town, hoping to follow the sun and push the good-and-gettingbetter Los Angeles Clippers over the finish line to a NBA title. The C’s “settled” for a young college coach and gave him a roster that had just lost Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
As the teams met last night, the Celts were trying to hold onto first place in the Eastern Conference while the Clippers were pushing for eighth place in the West and may be looking at the kind of rebuild Rivers was hoping to avoid in Boston.
And each side seems comfortable with the past.
“I just look back on it as a case where I totally understood from the beginning where Doc was coming from,” said Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. “We had a lot of discussions. I know that it was not an easy decision for him, and it was very challenging and difficult at the time. We tried to talk him into staying. It’s hard to predict how building a new team is going to be, but he had done it once and we had faith in him. But he didn’t want to do it. He wanted to go try to win an NBA title, and who can knock him for that?
“I’ll forever be grateful for Doc and all that he did. I’ll always appreciate what he did for us.”
One of the major reasons the Celts tried so hard to convince Rivers to remain was the thought he could lure stars to Boston, an asset the club now has with Brad Stevens, who receives regular praise from the league’s marquee players.
“Yeah, Doc was attractive to free agents, and so is Brad,” said Ainge. “Brad’s had to earn that. Doc was already that guy. And Brad over the last few years has earned that as well.”
The last major move for the Clippers began with Chris Paul, a club cornerstone, asking to be traded. So ended the last threads of hope for an immediate title run, but it didn’t make Rivers regret his 2013 decision.
“I think it worked out for everybody,” Rivers said. “You know, I’ve had a great run here. Obviously we didn’t win it, but we’ve had our chances; you can’t deny that. And record-wise, we’ve been as good as any team over the last four years. Boston rebuilt, and they did it the right way.
“I mean, every team’s going to try to do what they did, and no team’s going to be successful at it. I thought the difference in that was Danny and (assistant general manager) Mike (Zarren). I don’t think they get enough credit.”
Rivers laughed when suggested that Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov deserves much of the credit.
“That Brooklyn trade is going to go down as one of the greatest of all time, but Danny had the courage to make that trade at that time,” Rivers said. “I mean, he traded Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. You know, it’s easy to think that Brooklyn gave up so much, but that’s a ballsy trade. A lot of people would not have done that. Most people wouldn’t have.”
The Kyrie Irving deal was far easier, he said.
“Well, once he was available, they were the frontrunner,” said Rivers. “Once they said that he was available, you kind of knew that Boston was going to get him. I’d have been shocked if they hadn’t gotten him, because Danny and Mike, they have the most assets. Cleveland was going for the most assets, but the funny thing is that the way it might work out, that Brooklyn pick might be ninth or eighth. That’s amazing to be able to trade that for Kyrie Irving.”