12/21/24
May 03, 2004
Not without my sayso!!: Danny-boy rubbed Jim O'Brien the wrong way by shipping his favorite players out of town. Doc Rivers always seemed to pick players that he "loved" only to ship them out (admittedly with John Gabriel's help) in less than a season. Does anyone think giving Doc final approval on personnel issues is a good idea?
posted by lilnemo to basketball at 09:10 PM - 2 comments
ESPN changed the article to reflect the fact that Doc Rivers has now changed his story. Amusingly, they left "Rivers and Ainge have an amicable relationship, and presumably are on the same page regarding style of play and personnel needs. But the clause still provides some security for Rivers in terms of which players he will coach." in there. Ah, the mutability of Web pages.
posted by Bryant at 08:55 AM on May 04, 2004
I'm not sure if this was just Rivers gloating (preening, showing off, take your pick) or not, but he's not the talent evaluator that he thinks he is. A lot of the blame for what happened in Orlando goes to Gabriel (and deservedly so) but he was only pandering to Doc. And what the hell is up with Danny? He strong arms a proven commodity in then-coach Jim O'Brien only to cowtow to Rivers. And although Doc may have won COY, his teams have fallen completely apart in the post season. This is not good.