4.05.2020

Critics Silenced, What's Next for Rivers?

September 28, 2008

Orlando, Fla., suited him well.

Doc Rivers played golf - though not as much as he has in other offseasons - enjoyed his family and avoided the sticky sweetness of post-championship fever. ``I'm not coming back,'' he joked last week, knowing what he is about to hear.



The Celtics coach - buffeted by so many angry rants from the crowd two years ago - is now the great motivator. Kevin Garnett said he's never had a more inspiring coach. In the self-help world they would probably call him a life coach, someone who could talk people through their issues.

That's the kind of mystique that comes with an NBA title, and as evidenced by the $16.5 million, three-year extension Rivers signed this summer, the Celtics believe his calling should still be basketball. Training camp officially starts with tomorrow's annual media day, and Rivers has checked back into the downtown hotel he's called home since taking the C's job four seasons ago.

But now he's beat a life-coaching legend - the Zen Master, Phil Jackson - in the NBA Finals.
The Celtics rolled over the Lakers last June for the 17th title in franchise history, making Rivers a made man, even if he doesn't see it that way. ``I guess in that respect it counts for something,'' he said.

``But a lot of coaches who had bad teams never had the opportunity to get there.'' Or to get the kind of money that continues to come Rivers' way. Not counting icons like Jackson and Gregg Popovich, he now is one of the best-compensated coaches in the league.

``I wanted to keep it quiet,'' he said. ``It was agreed upon three or four weeks before the news got out, and I was kind of upset that people found out. ``Personally, I don't think my contract should be bantered about like that. Yeah, I was mad when it got out.''

Everyone likes privacy. But Rivers, who has had his share of bad teams and criticism in nine seasons of coaching (five in Orlando, four with the Celtics), casts a cynical eye on the new love coming his way. ``I just know that there's a lot of fantastic coaches in our league,'' he said. ``But I'm no different than I was a year ago.''

The question is whether his team, which led the league from wire to wire last season, will remain as spellbound when Rivers talks of Ubuntu, or takes everyone on another Duck Boat tour. Check that. The Duck Boat has run its course. That's a trick that works only once.  The Celtics are now attempting to become a repeat champion - a feat not accomplished by a Celtics team since player/coach Bill Russell's 1967-68 and 1968-69 teams.

Their hunger will be questioned. Veterans Paul Pierce, Garnett and Ray Allen, all over 30, finally have the one accomplishment that had eluded them. Can they make themselves play with that kind of desperation for an entire season and postseason again? ``We'll see,'' Rivers said. ``They've never been in this situation. None of us have. I want to see if they end up like Vanilla Ice, a one-hit wonder, or if they become part of the conversation about repeat champions.''

Their experience, presumably, will make a difference, though the departures of James Posey (to New Orleans via free agency) and P.J. Brown (retirement) have left at least a temporary leadership void on the bench. More of the load will be handed to younger players like Tony Allen, Leon Powe and Glen Davis. But the reserves will still look to their elders - right now the top trio in the game - when games get tight.

Pierce, Garnett and Allen have 35 seasons of combined experience. And one would think all three suffered too much alone to get comfortable now. ``They're veterans,'' Rivers said. ``That's a good thing. But it could still be hard. This doesn't mean that we won't have to earn it all over again.
``As hard as we played last year - when I thought we were unduly overrated - it becomes even tougher,'' he said. ``But now you're on those magazine covers because you earned it, and that's the good thing.''

Even more incredible, perhaps, is that the C's weren't lulled by the preseason love-in that followed them all of last preseason. They were on the same magazine covers and the same commercials, and Rivers had to admit that the headache wasn't so bad. It was worth the pain, at least if the Celtics don't respond with a self-indulgent sigh of relief.

Rivers knows that sound would indeed signal the beginning of the end.

``I remember when I was with the Knicks and we lost (in the Eastern Conference Finals), the next season was tough,'' Rivers said. ``The beginning of that following year was very different from where we were.

``But we'll have something more working for us this time. We're coming off a title.''

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