Doc Rivers needed some time to write the speech that he’ll give when formally inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The storytelling, that part was easy. He’s a natural at that.
But what Rivers wound up learning during the trial-and-error process of speechwriting was that the words he’ll say from a stage in Springfield, Massachusetts aren’t going to be about him. They’re going to be about everyone else who played a role in him getting to that moment.
鈥淵ou go through this journey of writing it and you realize it has nothing to do with you in a very good way,鈥� Rivers said. 鈥淧eople are happy for you, and I am happy for them because they got me there. You hear all your life, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 do anything alone.’ When you get in the Hall of Fame, you really understand that you don鈥檛 do anything alone. It’s all the coaches in your life, your parents, the players. It’s a thankful journey and that鈥檚 what the Hall of Fame should be about.”
The numbers prove he’s among the best
A winner of 1,194 regular season games as an NBA coach 鈥� and that’ll be all, he insists, saying his retirement is a real one 鈥� Rivers ranks sixth in league history. The only others ahead of him: Gregg Popovich, Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan and Pat Riley, all of whom are Hall of Famers, so it was obviously a lock that Rivers would be joining them.
He won a championship with Boston in 2008, won 114 playoff games as a coach, played 13 seasons, was an All-Star once, has been a broadcaster and 鈥� if he goes back to work, and his family currently has a pool that he will 鈥� he’ll be a broadcaster again.
But there’s more to life now. The Illinois native and Marquette legend has seven grandchildren, a house on the water and can’t play enough golf. He’ll still be involved in the game, somehow. It just won’t be as a coach. It’ll be as a Hall of Famer.
鈥淒oc is a proven, extraordinary leader and communicator during his renowned NBA coaching career,鈥� Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst said when the Bucks hired Rivers in 2024. 鈥淎s a championship coach, he鈥檚 widely respected as an established innovator, and the right coach to lead our experienced and talented team.”
He was, until he wasn’t.
Injuries derailed every chance the Bucks had at being a winner this past season, and when the season came to its dismal close Rivers was fairly certain it was the end for him as well 鈥� after 27 seasons on the sideline, and whole lot of missed moments along the way.
鈥淭he one thing that people have no idea about is the toll it takes on you and the family component,” Rivers said. “It is rough. You鈥檙e never home. You make sacrifices and your family has to make them as well.鈥�
That won’t be an issue now.
A hit from the beginning
Rivers won coach of the year in his very first season, taking a team he called 鈥渢he 301s鈥� in Orlando and leading it to a 41-41 record. On the surface, there’s nothing special about going .500. But the Magic were supposed to be bottom dwellers that season and Rivers used a preseason ranking of the league’s top 300 players as inspiration 鈥� since none of those top 300 were playing for the Magic.
鈥淭hat season gave me great confidence,鈥� Rivers said.
He has some regrets, of course. Critics have long pointed to the 10 losses that Rivers-coached teams had in Game 7s, by far the most of any coach in NBA history. And his fans will retort by pointing to his 114 playoff wins, fourth-most in NBA history. But the biggest do-over, if Rivers had such an option, would be changing his mind about leaving the Celtics for the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013.
Rivers got to the Clippers not long before the end of Donald Sterling’s ownership of the team; Sterling made racist comments and wound up getting banned by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
鈥淚 underestimated what a great situation I was in, and I took that for granted, like you can just go anywhere and create that,” Rivers said. 鈥淚 messed that one up. But then when I go to the Clippers, the team is pretty damn good. The organization, it was the worst organization in sports with the ownership problem. Within a week there, I remember telling my assistant, 鈥榃e鈥檝e got a lot to do here.’鈥�
The championship with the Celtics in 2008 鈥� Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, the stars of that team, will be together again to present their former coach for his Hall enshrinement 鈥� was an obvious high point for Rivers’ career. There were other moments he’s particularly proud of as well, such as delivering on a promise that he made to someone who barely played for him.
Tyronn Lue succeeded Rivers as coach of the Clippers. Lue played 11 games for Rivers in Orlando during the 2003-04 season; that was all the time it took for Rivers to be convinced that Lue would one day be a coach. He told Lue to call him if he ever wanted a job and Lue took him up on it. Rivers wound up going to the Hall of Fame, and few within the game would be surprised if Lue joins him there one day.
鈥淚t’s the stories like that that you think about,鈥� Rivers said. “Rajon Rondo played for me in Boston. We had a very tumultuous relationship when I coached him and now, I probably talk to Rondo more than probably than any player that I coached.鈥�
It’s what the game does, Rivers said. The lucky ones get guided along the way. He played that role with players like Rondo 鈥� who coached with Rivers 鈥� and Lue, and in Rivers’ own case, it was Riley who gave him the push he needed.
Riley and Rivers clashed at times in their player-coach relationship, and their biggest fights came when Riley was telling Rivers that he belonged in coaching.
Riley was right.
鈥淲hen I was doing TV, he kept writing and sending me these freaking messages about getting into the fray,” Rivers said. 鈥淗e knew it. And here I am, going into the Hall of Fame.鈥�
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