Fire Doc

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

doc is a very good coach.  he isn't the issue.  the issue, and it has been for some time, is danny ainge.

by no means is DA not part of the responsibility either, iagree,  but if you think none of what i elaborated on above falls at docs feet then i cannot help you.

[dark_lord]

doc is a very good coach.  he isn't the issue.  the issue, and it has been for some time, is danny ainge.

by no means is DA not part of the responsibility either, iagree,  but if you think none of what i elaborated on above falls at docs feet then i cannot help you.

i didnt ask or want your help.  we can agree to disagree about doc.  i still think he is a very good coach.  i wouldnt say he is excellent, but very good.  ainge is the issue, not doc. he works with what he has

[TheTruth34]

My take is that Doc in neither excellent, nor terrible.  He's closer to middle of the road. We've seen his strengths, he's a motivator and he gets his players to buy in.  Successful NBA coaches are the ones that can command the respect of their players. And getting NBA players to commit on the defensive end is a challenge.  He has proven he can do that.

On the flip side, we've seen the same weaknesses over and over.  The offense has generally not been good, and is entirely predictable.  We've seen the team get gassed out and collapse in the fourth quarter repeatedly. Losing the 2010 NBA Finals and the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals having led both series 3-2 were critical losses.   Throw in the Magic series in 2009 (albeit w/o Garnett) and that's three playoff series where the Celtics have lost having lead 3-2.  As coach, Doc Rivers has to be held accountable for much of that.

Again, Doc is a good NBA coach, and I think his value is in the respect he has earned, as both a player and coach. He's a basketball lifer and his connections include the AAU circuit.  Through his reputation and network, he's able to sell/recruit players to play in Boston, which is not a popular destination among the current generation of players. 

I do think he's probably reaching his end here.  My guess is that he will slide out along with Pierce/KG, once the inevitable rebuild commences.

[Celtics4ever]

the issue, and it has been for some time, is danny ainge

Small ball does not work and the jumpers on old legs do not connect in the second half like the first.  Not on DA, it's on both of them for thinking we could contend another year.

[angryguy77]

Yep, spurs ate such great org. That's why they've been a serious contender the last 4 years 

This Boston team has come out of nowhere twice in the last thee seasons. That doesn't happen with a terrible coach or a bad gm.

The best thing the spurs franchise has done over the last 5 years is fool everyone into thinking they're better than what they are.

[SCeltic34]

He's a good coach that has done a poor job this season.  But let's be honest, even Pop couldn't get our team out of the first round against the Knicks.  We're just not very good.  And, and some point, you have to give the Knicks the credit they deserve - they're not just winning, they're destroying us.

[SHAQATTACK]

injuries and scrubs aren't going to allow the Celtics to go but so far.   

can't polish a turd,  the C's aren't a very good team right now, with KG hurt/issues,  the season is over

NBA. is about talent and LUCK.   

Celtics are running low on both.

[timpiker]

I don't know what the problem is

[kozlodoev]

Look at what Pop has done with the spurs in a similar circumstances with a aging group.

Yeah, except the Spurs have Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter, and we have Avery Bradley and Brandon Bass. Not quite similar.

Also, Tim Duncan doesn't suddenly look like he's 200 years old.

[PaulPierce34G]

I don't think the entire blame can be placed upon Doc.  There were extenuating circumstances which contributed to this team playing far below what we expected of them...maybe they were honestly meant to be this good all along and we were just looking at them 'on paper' or what we saw from some of these guys in years past. 

We lost our best player then a short while later lose our pretty good, young, up and coming rookie....then Barbosa.  Doc had to manage minutes, get new guys acclimated, the bench went MIA at times...your 2 all-stars have been in the league since I was a in 6th grade and a freshman in high school, respectively.  Honestly, Doc wasn't 100% the problem this year.  If this was 2008 or 2009 and the team finished in the 7th slot...Ok, maybe Doc is the problem and maybe there's some chemistry issues...People just use Doc as a crutch and can't just face the truth that this team is just a mess...Never truly got into a rhythm (win 5 in a row, lose 5 in a row), age, injuries, probably not caring at some points during the season.  It was a mess.

I'm glad it will be over soon.  Time to clean up, move forward and rebuild as best we possibly can for the upcoming season and for the overall future.  As I said in a prior forum topic, I'd rather suck for a few seasons than be in this NBA 'No Man's Land'

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

My take is that Doc in neither excellent, nor terrible.  He's closer to middle of the road. We've seen his strengths, he's a motivator and he gets his players to buy in.  Successful NBA coaches are the ones that can command the respect of their players. And getting NBA players to commit on the defensive end is a challenge.  He has proven he can do that.

On the flip side, we've seen the same weaknesses over and over.  The offense has generally not been good, and is entirely predictable.  We've seen the team get gassed out and collapse in the fourth quarter repeatedly. Losing the 2010 NBA Finals and the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals having led both series 3-2 were critical losses.   Throw in the Magic series in 2009 (albeit w/o Garnett) and that's three playoff series where the Celtics have lost having lead 3-2.  As coach, Doc Rivers has to be held accountable for much of that.

Again, Doc is a good NBA coach, and I think his value is in the respect he has earned, as both a player and coach. He's a basketball lifer and his connections include the AAU circuit.  Through his reputation and network, he's able to sell/recruit players to play in Boston, which is not a popular destination among the current generation of players. 

I do think he's probably reaching his end here.  My guess is that he will slide out along with Pierce/KG, once the inevitable rebuild commences.

no way man! doc is not responsible for anything! he is the TEFLON DON of NBA coaches here!or it would seem reading this board.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

injuries and scrubs aren't going to allow the Celtics to go but so far.   

can't polish a turd,  the C's aren't a very good team right now, with KG hurt/issues,  the season is over

NBA. is about talent and LUCK.   

Celtics are running low on both.

so coaching plays no part?? then why have a coach? SMH

[Fan from VT]

The issue is we went all-in on 3 max contract guys to try to win a short term title and it WORKED. But contrast to the Spurs where their equally talented core trio made about 20 million less per year than our core trio. Our expensive core meant that we were very very top heavy and had very little flexibility to supplement the core with anything other than scraps. This was then compounded by our attempts to draft for "immediate impact" (jr giddens, etc) rather than best player available and/or foreign players to stash for a year...too impatient a fanbase and organization. Also was compounded by our FA strategy which was to get scrap heap veterans rather than scrap heap young guys, so that the ones that did work out (and no one bats 100% on scrap heap players) were close to retirement/totally over the hill.

Because our aging trio aged a little better than expected we kept hanging on to them, but the financial inflexibility made it almost impossible to keep the basement stocked so to speak. A season like this was inevitable, and it's due to drastically decreasing talent with no adequate replacement.

[esel1000]

Seriously, lets look at this team...

1. Two aging superstars who on any contender would be role players, not go to guys.

2. Our best player out injured

3. A bunch of under performing inconsistent role players


I saw this coming when Rondo went down months ago. This team was never winning a championship, I wasn't opposed to KG resigning in the off season but didn't like the 3 year deal because I knew we would get to a point where he looked like this.

It's rebuild time. Sure Doc has made his mistakes but I think he did a pretty good job with this team. Many coaches would have had this team under .500. It's deeply flawed regardless of coach. And this outcome with foreseeable, though I still think they'll steal the next game they're done in 5. Knicks have a superstar in his prime and better supporting cast. Just a better team right now, this is like when we swept them 2 years ago. Just the tables have turned

[SHAQATTACK]

Doc.  .....is still one of the C's most important assets......he is hugely respected coach ......I don't agree with a lot of his thinking.......but players WILL come and play for Rivers.

you dump Doc....and we could really be facing doom an gloom.