Two years ago, Doc Rivers signed a five-year, $35 million contract extension with the Celtics. Even for a coach like Rivers, $7 million is on the high end, but so is a five-year contract. The Celtics, in effect, were paying extra for the stability of keeping a good coach around for so long – even as the Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen core aged.
Rivers seemed to understand that at the time. Here’s how he answered questions about his 2011 extension, via Chris Forsberg of ESPN (emphasis mine):
Q: Whose idea was it for a long-term deal?
Rivers: “Well, Danny brought it up to me. When he first brought it up I was surprised by it. But this was a while ago that he brought it up. I think, actually, he brought up even more years to start. I never thought of it in those terms because we kept doing these one-year or two-year deals, and I never thought of it. And Danny walked in my office and said, ‘Listen, I want you to be here with me for a long time, and I want to make this something where we’re together for a long time,’ and so he brought up the number of years and you’ve got to process that when you commit to something for that long, and we did, and we thought it was the right thing to do.”
Q: Aren’t you going to rebuild at some point? Are you looking forward to it?
Rivers: “Well I don’t think anyone’s looking forward to that, but I’m willing to do that. I’ve had a group that has been very loyal to me, and I think it would have been very easy for me to just run, and go somewhere else and chase something else. Who says that we still can’t do that, with free agency and adding the right pieces while our Big Three are getting older? We have to add the right supporting cast to them, and in that transition, hopefully we can still chase what we want. But it would have been easier to do it the other way. I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do. Coaches talk about loyalty and team all the time and I just thought it was time to show it, and that’s what I did.”
Hey, this is America. Nobody can force Rivers to work, and he’s free to walk away from his job and and contract at anytime. As long as he’s not coaching elsewhere, it’s no big deal.
But Rivers might want to leave the Celtics and continue to coach. Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:
The Los Angeles Clippers have not formally requested permission to interview Celtics coach Doc Rivers in the wake of widespread reports about Rivers’ potential departure from Boston, but there is strong mutual interest between the parties, according to sources close to the situation.
Sources told ESPN.com that Rivers is highly intrigued by the idea of coaching the Clippers in the event that he and the Celtics part company after nine seasons together and one championship in 2008. Sources say that the Clippers, meanwhile, would immediately vault Rivers to the top of their list if he became available as they continue a coaching search that, to this point, has focused on Brian Shaw, Byron Scott and Lionel Hollins.
ESPN.com has also learned that the Celtics and Clippers -- in an offshoot of February’s Kevin Garnett-to-L.A. trade talks -- discussed expanded trade scenarios that actually could have sent both Garnett and close friend Paul Pierce to the Clippers before the league’s Feb. 21 trade deadline.
Sources say that those talks, before breaking down, were centered around Boston getting back both prized Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe and young center DeAndre Jordan and did not involve Clippers star forward Blake Griffin.
The Celtics are well within their legal and ethical rights to block Rivers from defecting to the Clippers. Rivers is also well within his rights to explore with the Celtics a move to Los Angeles.
Perhaps, there’s a mutually beneficial trade involving Garnett, Pierce, Rivers, Bledsoe and Jordan. As much as the Celtics wanted Rivers to guide them through their eventual transition, hopefully they won’t allow spite to keep him from the Clippers if Los Angeles presents a compensation offer that offsets the loss of Rivers.
But ultimately, allowing Rivers to go to Los Angeles is the Celtics’ call. He allowed them that privilege when he took the money.