Pump The Brakes On The Doc Rivers To Los Angeles Rumors

There has been much speculation over the past several weeks that Doc Rivers will leave Boston to become the next head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. This trade, believed to be in the works currently, would have Boston shipping Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett to Los Angeles in return for high-flying forward, Deandre Jordan as well as a pair of first-round draft picks. Even though both teams seem amenable to the deal, this kind of trade is actually not even allowed within the rules of the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s new collective bargaining agreement. In the current collective bargaining agreement, coaches cannot be traded. How is this trade even on the table then, you might wonder? Are the teams exploiting a loophole to make this trade pass through the league review process? David Stern, the commissioner of the NBA, joined Colin Cowheard on his nationally-syndicated radio show to discuss the complications of this proposed trade. Asked about loopholes or two separate deals that could take place to complete the overall goal of this trade, Stern replied “If you think those, at this point — having been all over the media for the last week — are separate transactions … I have a bridge that I would very much enjoy selling to you.” Stern also mentioned in the interview that the league and the two teams have been in close contact with regards to trade policies and regulations.

While this trade is stuck in a holding pattern, here are some of the things we can reasonably conclude. For starters, the relationship between Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers is certainly not what they say it is. While it’s understandable for any relationship to wear thin after nine years, the public, however, does not want to keep being sold on how everyone in upper management sees eye-to-eye. It is also evident that Doc Rivers believes this rebuilding project will take a while and does not want to revisit the bottom of the NBA like the 2006-2007 season, when they were one of the worst teams in the league. What makes this a slap in the face to the Boston Celtics and their fans is that Doc Rivers is willing to join one of the worst-run organizations in the history of sports along with an owner who has been fined millions of dollars by the Justice Department for engaging in discriminatory rental practices against Hispanics, blacks, and families with children. He also had an infamous conflict with Elgin Baylor with Sterling telling Baylor that he wanted to fill his team with “poor black boys from the South and a white head coach.”

The polished ownership group of the Boston Celtics along with a young budding star in Rajon Rondo is simply not enough of a draw for Doc to stay in Boston. Doc cannot be blamed though – everyone wants to be wanted the way Chris Paul is desperately trying to lure him to Los Angeles. Leaving Boston is in Rivers’ best interest, whether it is to Los Angeles or another team with more young talent than the Celtics. If Doc somehow did end up in Los Angeles, he would head a team consisting of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Kevin Garnett, Chauncey Billups, and Eric Bledsoe. Denver may also have interest in Rivers, a talented team consisting of Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, and Danilo Gallinari. In the end, Doc should not be remembered for wanting to jump off a sinking ship. He should be appreciated for enduring a lot of criticism during the dark times of the mid 2000’s before the Big Three was assembled. He took the team to two finals, winning one and was ten minutes away from winning a second without Kendrick Perkins. He was a class act on and off the court and was a good representative of the organization and the city of Boston.

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