Doc Thinking Ring

October 8, 2007

LONDON - Much has been made of the fact that Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen finally have a legitimate chance to play deep into the postseason. And rightly so. All own sterling individual resumes, but have yet to be surrounded by the type of talent that can take them into late spring.

While he doesn't have the lengthy, luminescent resume of the new Big Three, Doc Rivers is every bit as giddy about what's going on. Just as Pierce, Garnett and Allen are often asked about the joys of their new situation and respond with a long stream of superlatives, Rivers, too, is smiling broadly when he sees the trio traversing the court in green and realizes they're on the team he gets to coach.

``I would say that's exactly true,'' said Rivers, who spent the first off day of training camp holed up in his hotel room. ``I try not to think about it too much because there's so much work to do, but it's definitely there. I had an interesting conversation with Scot Pollard and Eddie House. We were wondering how many opportunities you really have to win in this league.

``I think players - especially the young players - think those opportunities will come every year, but they don't. As a player, you usually realize that late in your career, or after your career is over. Then you think back to how many legitimate shots you had to win a title. Danny (Ainge, the team's director of basketball operations) is lucky. He had chances in Boston and Portland and Phoenix. But the average player only has maybe one or two in his career.

``I really don't know if it's much different for a coach. I know there are some great coaches who never had any real chances.''

While it may take a while for the Celtic engine to get up to championship-contender speed, the fact the destination is suddenly on the map is a huge step for Rivers.

``This is really my first chance to win,'' Rivers said. ``I had a chance in Orlando, but Grant Hill got hurt and that was the end of that. I know how rare these situations can be. I tell the players to just try to seize the moment and see what you can do.''

Upon review of the tape from Saturday's four-point, preseason opening win over Toronto in Rome, Rivers is even more pleased with what transpired than he was intially. He took particular delight in seeing the space his players had to operate, since defenders had to focus on the new men in green.

``It's not just that, but veteran players know how to space the floor,'' he said. ``I saw a lot of that. As I was watching the tape of the game on the plane and taking notes, that came through again and again. A lot of things are different when you have veteran players. We've always been good out of timeouts, but I'm even more impressed with the way we executed.

``I drew up some plays that we'll eventually use as part of our system, but Paul and the guys who've been here were really the only ones who had seen them. The new veterans had never seen them, but they took one look and then they ran them flawlessly. It was really neat to see. I was doing it to see if they could get it quickly, and they really executed those plays.''