If I've said it once I've said it a million times, Doc isn't a bad coach.
He may not be in the area of Jackson, Sloan, Brown, Pop, Karl and one or two others. But he is much better than some, better than others and about even with a few. He's someone around 8-12 best coach in the league, depending on how you see things. And since the guys who are better than he is are already employed, why would we think of replacing him?
Doc maddens me with some of his substitution rotations and other in game moves he makes. But he is an excellent coach when it comes to the coaching end of things not during gametime.
Doc is a good motivator proven by the fact that even his teams with bad talent never quit on him or were out of many games.
Doc did a superb preseason job creating team chemistry from the get go and instilling the feeling of team first that this team needed to succeed. He got three future HOFers to check the egos at the door and perform. And they have.
He did a great job developing young talent. Rondo, Oerk, Davis, Powe, Jefferson, West, Gomes, Mike Miller, and Ben Wallace are players Doc has coached that took significant ateps forward in their development while Doc coached them.
Doc is great with the press and will not bad mouth his players in the public media forum. That's classy and something a lot of coaches will not do.
Doc always seems to have a good pulse on the team and knows when to push them and when to back off.
Doc recognized he wasn't the best coach at teaching defense and through the front office hired Tom Thibodeau to assist him in teaching and coaching his defensive schemes.
Players for the most part like and respect Doc. That's very important for a coach when things start going not so well and the team needs to look to the coach for guidance.
He is one of the best coaches at diagramming a successful play right after timeouts.
There's probably hundreds of other things he is great at that I wouldn't even have a clue about.
IMHO, all these things that are done off the court are vastly more important in creating a championship team than when to use Eddie versus when to use Sam is. Doc's not a great coach because he isn't a great x's and o's type of guy but he is a good coach.
Does Doc deserve some love from those that have clear, obvious biases against hin and can't see him for being a good coach? Definitely.
But Doc will only receive blame and ridicule when the Celtics lose and no credit whatsoever when they win. It can't be true. Doc does effect every game in some manner or another. And he's probably just responsible for any loss as he is for any win.
So let's cut the dude some slack and just enjoy where he and this team has taken us and where they will take us again.
Doc's a good guy, a good coach, and a hardworking guy. He shouldn't be sent packing just because people can't view him impartially and take into consideration the whole picture that occurs with him as coach.
