Is Doc Rivers to Blame for Bad Celtic Season?
According to bpaul from Hardwood Houdini, “With the Celtics struggles as of late people have been pointing fingers at anyone and everyone associated with the Boston Celtics organization. That finger has been pointed at Kevin Garnett’s knee, Ray Allen’s decline, Rasheed Wallace’s horrible play, and Danny Ainge’s actions at the trade deadline, just to name a few. One person that has yet to really be called out is the man in charge of managing this team, Doc Rivers.
No he isn’t a manager, no he’s not a general manager, but he is the coach. His responsibility is to manage this team whether that be through practices, managing rotations, or giving certain assignments to his players on and off the court. I am not going to start bashing Doc now because I respect what he did to help raise banner 17, but let me just tell you that he will not be in consideration for NBA Coach of the Year this season.
Today there was some small controversy started over Twitter when ESPN’s Bill Simmons, aka The Sports Guy, tweeted the following:
Via Bill Simmon’s Twitter Account:
“Here’s my question: How many more dumps can the Celtics take before someone blames the coach?”
Of course as you would expect people came to Doc’s aid and supported him stating such things as: “Doc can’t play on the court”, “He helped us win in 2008″ and other similar things you would expect if someone constructively criticized the coach of the Boston Celtics.
All of these comments are true but they lack the sense of reality. This season there are two things that members of the media, fans, and bloggers have stated as clear problems; focus and chemistry. Okay now think about that for a minute… focus and chemistry. Maintaining focus and chemistry in the locker room are two things that the coach of a team should take responsibility for.
This season Doc has not taken responsibility for those two things, instead pointing the finger at his team and expecting them to change just by saying “ta-da”. I hate to tell you Doc but it just does not work that way, it’s time for you to be a coach and address some of these issues. If it’s chemistry, sit down with your team and settle these things QUICKLY. Or if it’s focus, address the team about this issue and if the players on the floor aren’t focused put someone else in.
Speaking of putting someone else in, have you seen Doc’s rotations as of late? More particularly, why does he continue to play Rasheed Wallace more than Kendrick Perkins? Is he that set on playing veterans that he has to play a guy that’s giving zero effort, over a guy that gives it his all and doesn’t crack a smile while on the court? Granted, all of this doesn’t account for twenty point blowout losses but it does account for a small portion of why this team is not performing at it’s higher potential.
Since Doc’s tenure in Boston, even during the 24 win season, I have supported him wholeheartedly. I have never road the “fire Doc” train and I still don’t plan to in the future. Like the rest of us Doc is human and he makes mistakes. At this time of the year, a year in which we are expected to raise banner 18, Doc needs to take some responsibility and help turn this team around.”
For more great Celtics news stories please visit Hardwood Houdini.
What are fans saying on the message boards?
“…I think in a lot of ways the disappointment for this season rests squarely on the players and father time catching up to them. The players for the most part have played well below expectations. And injuries, some avoidable, some not, and age and the resultant combination of the two have been devastating. Baby’s almost self inflicted injury(he should have known better than to get into a fistfight), the very foreseeable injury to Marquis Daniels(he’s just prone to injury), KG’s known injury and long crawl back from it(which still hasn’t been 100% successful) and Pierce’s myriad of problems have killed this team. Older players ability to recuperate and heal fast have also.” (PLamb – Celtics Blog)
“I feel the problems the team has is a combination of bad luck,injuries,possibly some players issues we don’t know about.Coaching,coaches are low on my list of issues with this team,its the players who take the court and its up to the players to work out whatever the problems are thats keeping them from finishing games the right way. Remember this is a veteran team,not a collection of rookies and second yr.players.What else can Doc do or say to KG, Pierce or Ray they haven’t heard over the yrs.? They know what needs to be done and i still believe they will get it done.” ( housecall – Celtics Blog)
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Yeah, they have had injuries. That is not the reason why they are struggling. Doc is terrible this year. He has never been that great of a coach to begin with. Yes, they won it two years ago, but it was clear that the defense was the reason. The Celts have an assistant who is equal to a defensive coordinator in the NFL, so that isnt even Doc’s area. They won IN SPITE of Doc. Now, they need a coach that can fix some issues, mainly effort, and he cant get them going. His rotation is disjointed, and to be honest, he seems clueless about how to work his rotations. He waits too long to put guys in(KG comes in with 6 minutes to go, why not put him in a 9), Rondo played the ENTIRE GAME against Cleveland. Give the guy a breather. You are playing the best team in the east. Rondo needs his legs, especially in the 4th. I’m sorry Doc, but your voice is being tuned out and it is time to go. I really wouldnt mind seeing Danny take the reigns.
I say it is Doc. The team is old and there are injuries and some key guys are not performing night in and night out but his rotations have been horrid. He also seems lost come the 3rd and 4th quarters of most games. Just tonight they needed points – looking back at the box score Ray Allen had only taken 3 shots the entire game – sorry but that is up to the coach to notice during a game and to call offensive plays to get him looks. All season long he constantly seems to watch the team lose leads and barely calls a timeout or makes a sub and seems to be oblivious to what is going on in front of his eyes on court.
Plus this team plays to their competition almost night in and night out – to me that is coaching and match ups. They have a close call against the Wizards, a loss to the Nets as well as close games against a lot of the top teams w/ an occasional ugly loss. I think it is Doc and the team won despite of him 2 years ago. Just listen to his post game interviews they are horrid – he states the obvious over and over and I almost never hear a statement that would show me he has a clue what he is watching. His typical statements include such gems as we need more intensity, we need hustle, we just got beat. How about some observations Doc on actual game strategy and plays which I almost never hear. If you listen to him during timeouts – it is atrocious. The team either gets beat on the same play over and over or runs an isolation set 4 times in a row that yields bad results and Doc’s advice is something akin to we need to step it up! Really – fascinating — how about pointing out the play they are being beat by and the player or telling them to run a different offensive look.