The Doc Rivers Bandwagon Starts Here

Ever have a job where you underperformed?

Ever have a job that simply didn’t allow you to fire on all cylinders?

How do those jobs contrast with the job you have now?

Night and day?

Me too.

I think Doc Rivers is in the same boat.

Three years ago, Doc won 45 regular season games, but his team was dispatched in the first round of the playoffs by a hobbled Pacer squad. I’ve written elsewhere (http://lexnihilnovi.blogspot.com/2007/10/did-doc-blow-2005-series-against.html) that the 2004-2005 Boston Celtics were comprised of an odd combination of players.
Paul Pierce was the Captain, but was unable to control his emotions or keep himself and his team in the playoffs. Antoine Walker was equally mercurial, picking up technical fouls and game ejections. Gary Payton thought he was an assistant coach, while Raef LaFrentz and Mark Blount were pouting, Raef about inconsistent minutes and Blount about whatever it is that gets him down most of the time. Ricky Davis, considered a flake by many, also played a significant role on that team.

Besides the veterans, the roster included a young nucleus of kids, Al Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins, Delonte West, Marcus Banks, and Justin Reed, all under 23 years of age. Trade away Walker, Raef, Davis, and Blount, add Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Leon Powe and Gerald Gomes, and instead of a combustible mixture of fiery veterans and unproven youth, you are left with mostly unproven youth.

What was the result?

Two straight years of abysmal play and jockeying for ping-pong balls in the lottery.

This year is a little different.

With the additions of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Scot Pollard, Eddie House, and James Posey, and the subtraction of various players in their early twenties, we see an entirely new Celtics team with an entirely new outlook.

And an entirely new coach.

As the Boston Herald reports:

In the Celtics practice facility a spotlight shines on the wall beside the flag from the 1986 championship - a constant reminder to the players working below that there is room for more glory. The idea came from Doc Rivers, but he was initially quite reticent to discuss the move.

“I’m just putting it there and not saying another word about it,” the coach said. “I think a lot of people don’t talk about expectations because they want to save their jobs. I’ve always thought that. They don’t want to build hope, because if it doesn’t come through, it looks like you did a bad job.

“Well, I don’t work that way. I think there’s nothing wrong with having hope and there’s nothing wrong with going after something. “At the end of the thing, if that’s where the expectations are, then I’m all fine by that. Hell, if you get a chance, you go for it.”

And if those guys ever forget the season’s goal, they need only look up at the wall above the baseline?

“Yeah, well, shine a light,” Rivers said. “But I’m not going to talk about the light.”

That’s all right. It speaks loudly enough on its own.

The spotlight on the empty wall next to Banner 16 harkens back to the master motivators of our era, including Al Davis in football and Pat Riley in basketball. Shorn of responsibilities to teach fundamentals to players who might have been better served by having gone to college before turning pro, Doc has turned his focus to the intangibles of great coaching.

After Pat Riley won the 1987 NBA Championship, he wasted no time forecasting a repeat for 1988, announcing his prediction at the Lakers championship parade. No team had won consecutive NBA titles since the Boston Celtics had repeated in 1969. But Pat Riley made that his goal and his team's goal, and kept it in the forefront of their minds each day of the season. In June of 1988 the City of Los Angeles hosted another Lakers championship parade.

Doc's motivational tactics are a little more discrete than Riley's, but he clearly understands the value of keeping his players' eyes on the prize. Sure, Doc's critics will return to form when his team plays badly and suffers the occasional loss this year. Most likely, the focus of those criticisms will again be on Doc's ability to think through the Xs and Os of the sport.

But when the Doc boo-birds return to form, keep in mind the words of Larry Legend, when asked to recall what distinguished KC Jones from other coaches he had played under:

"KC had one of the best half-court offenses in basketball, but he probably was not the best at X's and O's. A lot of guys are heavy on the X's and O's and they do a lot of hollering and screaming. With K.C., we did what we had to do -- win games and win championships."