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Recently this has become an area of debate with media as they have called him out, and he's passionately denied this claim, often saying he just hasn't had many good rookie or young players. Mind you this statistic is just rookies, I'm willing to bet even 2nd and 3rd year players get underplayed by Doc.



"Rivers has tried to refute the idea that he doesn’t play his rookies. He doesn’t. In 19 seasons as an NBA head coach, here’s the list of rookies to play more than 1,400 total minutes and average more than 24 minutes per game under Rivers:

Mike Miller.

That’s it.

Avery Bradley, a former Celtics first-round pick and current Clipper, played just 162 minutes under Rivers in his rookie season."

Per D.J Foster on The Ringer.




Doc better break that pattern this year or he could find himself out of a job next season.

Avery was drafted 19th overall and didn’t make that leap until he found a jumper. Also gotta realize in 2010 he was drafted onto a veteran team.

Why would he find himself out of work? Baller tell you something?

Lol. AB barely played in his rookie season. Those stats are wrong. Rondo came close at about 23.5 mpg as a rookie

CeltsfanSinceBirth wrote:Lol. AB barely played in his rookie season. Those stats are wrong. Rondo came close at about 23.5 mpg as a rookie

Exactly the reason the Foster guy who wrote that article used minimum 24min , to exclude Rondo from the list , that's the beauty of number , you can use some random stats to promote your agenda.

Meh, most coaches tend to play rookies less. If I am not mistaken, the worst used to be George Karl, being rookie on his team was a bench sentence.

UcanUwill wrote:Meh, most coaches tend to play rookies less. If I am not mistaken, the worst used to be George Karl, being rookie on his team was a bench sentence.

Pop, Stevens, Spoelstra, and Snyder have all given rookies plenty of meaningful minutes, even in clutch playoff situations. The best coaches play their best guys.

The Clips have vets ahead of the rooks now. I would expect Lou, Bev, Teodosic, Bradley to all be ahead of the rookies to start the season.
Mitchell got so many minutes in Utah after Hayward left and other guys like Hood got injured. Tatum and other young players got the minutes in Boston after Hayward and Kyrie got injured. The rooks just have to keep improving and be ready when they're number is finally called.

Mike Miller won ROY under Doc.

Rajon Rondo played 78 games and started 28 in his rookie year.

Tony Allen played 77 games and started 34 at in his rookie year.

Avery Bradley was unplayable his rookie year with a veteran team. Once he developed his jumper he became a rotation player.

Doc has never had any rookies worth playing for the Clippers until now. He’s already started Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in preseason so he doesn’t seem reluctant to play him.

ClipsFanSince98 wrote:Recently this has become an area of debate with media as they have called him out, and he's passionately denied this claim, often saying he just hasn't had many good rookie or young players. Mind you this statistic is just rookies, I'm willing to bet even 2nd and 3rd year players get underplayed by Doc.



"Rivers has tried to refute the idea that he doesn’t play his rookies. He doesn’t. In 19 seasons as an NBA head coach, here’s the list of rookies to play more than 1,400 total minutes and average more than 24 minutes per game under Rivers:

Mike Miller.

That’s it.

Avery Bradley, a former Celtics first-round pick and current Clipper, played just 162 minutes under Rivers in his rookie season."

Per D.J Foster on The Ringer.




Doc better break that pattern this year or he could find himself out of a job next season.

Doc just got an extension, he's not getting the boot for not playing a rookie

I'm not a fan of Doc Rivers , i think he's overrated as a coach and even worse as a GM , but in this case i do think he has the right to deny the accusation.

Below are the rookies his teams drafted or traded for throughout his career :

Orlando Magic 99-03

Laron Profit
Mike Miller (29 min)
Keyon Dooling
Courtney Alexander
Steven Hunter
Jeryl Sasser
Omar Cook
Curtis Borchardt
Reece Gaines
Zaza Pachulia

Boston Celtic 04-12

Al Jefferson
Delonte West
Tony Allen
Justin Reed
Gerald Green
Ryan Gomes
Orien Greene
Rajon Rondo (23.5 min)
Gabe Pruitt
Glen Davis
J. R. Giddens
Semih Erden
Lester Hudson
Avery Bradley
Luke Harangody
JaJuan Johnson
E'Twaun Moore
Jared Sullinger
Fab Melo
Kris Joseph


L.A. Clippers 13-17

Reggie Bullock
C. J. Wilcox
Brice Johnson
Cheick Diallo
Jawun Evans
Sindarius Thornwell



Which one of those you think he should had played them significant minutes in their rookie season?
Tbh that's a lot of players that i don't even know who are they

draftnightsuit wrote:Mike Miller won ROY under Doc.

Rajon Rondo played 78 games and started 28 in his rookie year.

Tony Allen played 77 games and started 34 at in his rookie year.

Avery Bradley was unplayable his rookie year with a veteran team. Once he developed his jumper he became a rotation player.

Doc has never had any rookies worth playing for the Clippers until now. He’s already started Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in preseason so he doesn’t seem reluctant to play him.

Maybe it's just a crazy coincidence and he's just not had good rookies as you said. Although as I mentioned he IS old school and will continuously play vets over 2nd and 3rd year players who need more minutes too. It's not just rookies (although that's what the article mentions). He regularly underplays young guys IMO.

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lol yeah he burned draft picks like they were toxic when he was a GM, but that figure is just purposely cherry picked to give a distorted view. Why minimum 24 minutes a game, and why the cutoff at 1400 minutes? If you take away those filters, you get that he played these rookies big minutes in Boston:

Rajon Rondo - 1831
Ryan Gomes - 1376
Tony Allen - 1262
Al Jefferson - 1051

And if you extend it to the sophomores, you get this:

Ryan Gomes - 2275
Delonte West - 2418
Gerald Green - 1780
Glen Davis - 1637
Avery Bradley - 1368
Marcus Banks - 1145

He also played rookie Bullock 400 minutes in LA, which is at the very least, as much as he deserved. Maybe the better question should be, who should've been playing that he didn't, and how much? cause from what I remember, when he made Bradley the starter, Allen was still a better player than him, and the team's chemistry paid for it. Should CJ Wilcox have played over JJ Redick and Jamal Crawford? Branden Dawson over Paul Pierce and Lub Mbah a Moute? Brice Johnson over Marreese Speights?

And Shai is gonna start this year, not sure if it's gonna happen on opening night, but he's been trying to rest someone every day in preseason so that Shai starts. He's definitely inclined to make that happen.

Maybe it's just a crazy coincidence and he's just not had good rookies as you said.

I don't think there's a coincidence. I think in Boston and Orlando, he played them an appropriate amount. Here, he sabotaged himself into not having any playable rookies. Which is his fault, but not as a coach. Going forward, I don't have a problem with his managing of Shai and Jerome (yet).

ckman wrote:I'm not a fan of Doc Rivers , i think he's overrated as a coach and even worse as a GM , but in this case i do think he has the right to deny the accusation.

Below are the rookies his teams drafted or traded for throughout his career :

Orlando Magic 99-03

Laron Profit
Mike Miller (29 min)
Keyon Dooling
Courtney Alexander
Steven Hunter
Jeryl Sasser
Omar Cook
Curtis Borchardt
Reece Gaines
Zaza Pachulia

Boston Celtic 04-12

Al Jefferson
Delonte West
Tony Allen
Justin Reed
Gerald Green
Ryan Gomes
Orien Greene
Rajon Rondo (23.5 min)
Gabe Pruitt
Glen Davis
J. R. Giddens
Semih Erden
Lester Hudson
Avery Bradley
Luke Harangody
JaJuan Johnson
E'Twaun Moore
Jared Sullinger
Fab Melo
Kris Joseph


L.A. Clippers 13-17

Reggie Bullock
C. J. Wilcox
Brice Johnson
Cheick Diallo
Jawun Evans
Sindarius Thornwell



Which one of those you think he should had played them significant minutes in their rookie season?
Tbh that's a lot of players that i don't even know who are they

Orlando Magic 99-03

Mike Miller
Omar Cook
Zaza Pachulia

Boston Celtic 04-12

Al Jefferson
Delonte West
Tony Allen
Gerald Green
Rajon Rondo
Glen Davis
Semih Erden
Avery Bradley
E'Twaun Moore
Jared Sullinger

L.A. Clippers 13-17

Reggie Bullock
Cheick Diallo
Sindarius Thornwell

ClipsFanSince98 wrote:Recently this has become an area of debate with media as they have called him out, and he's passionately denied this claim, often saying he just hasn't had many good rookie or young players. Mind you this statistic is just rookies, I'm willing to bet even 2nd and 3rd year players get underplayed by Doc.



"Rivers has tried to refute the idea that he doesn’t play his rookies. He doesn’t. In 19 seasons as an NBA head coach, here’s the list of rookies to play more than 1,400 total minutes and average more than 24 minutes per game under Rivers:

Mike Miller.

That’s it.

Avery Bradley, a former Celtics first-round pick and current Clipper, played just 162 minutes under Rivers in his rookie season."

Per D.J Foster on The Ringer.


Doc better break that pattern this year or he could find himself out of a job next season.

Not very many rookies average 24 mpg in general, so perhaps we should point out which rookies clearly deserved this type of mpg under Doc over the years?

After a little research it’s pretty clear these parameters were created solely to make Doc look bad. Both Tyrone Wallace (undrafted) ans Drew Golden played 28 mpg as rookies and Gorden Giricek played 35 mpg but none of them hit the 1400 minute threshold.

Also being ignored is the part where he coached a contending Celtic team followed by a contending Clipper team which has taken up most of his career. That means you have late first round picks vying for minutes on teams with quality veterans already in place, on teams that are trying to win games instead of develop players.

I just did a quick search and Al Jefferson was a rotation player as an 18 year old playing 15 mpg. Sullinger played 20 mpg in the rotation. Ryan Gomes was in the rotation as a 2nd round pick played 23 mpg. Rondo averaged 23.5 mpg as a rookie (these last 2 make it clear why 24 mpg was used as the cut off here just to make Doc look bad). The Clippers have rarely drafted in the first round the last few seasons, only Reggie Bullock and Brice Johnson were first round picks so I’m not sure who he should have been playing big minutes.

A quick glance at Greg Popovich and I don’t see a single rookie with >24.0 mpg since Tony Parker in 2001-02. Ginobili fell short. Kawhi played 23.96 mpg. Same issue it seems.

Anyways, I think this is clearly a whole bunch of nothing. A myth.

It's kinda funny that he has been the GM for a lot of the time during which he didn't have a lot of good rookies or young players to play, but otherwise it's not that uncommon for late first-round rookies to not get much playing time on a contending team. People joke about LeBron being the GM of his teams, and I'm sure you'd find a similar lack of rookies there. This is the first time in probably 10 years that Rivers has coached a team that picked before the mid twenties, and sure enough Gilgeous-Alexander figures to get plenty of playing time.

He seems to be ready to start SGA, no?

who cares if he doesn't play rookies. Play the best players and let the chips fall. Rookies are usually not the best players on their teams. The exceptions don't prove the rule.

Harry Garris wrote:

UcanUwill wrote:Meh, most coaches tend to play rookies less. If I am not mistaken, the worst used to be George Karl, being rookie on his team was a bench sentence.

Pop, Stevens, Spoelstra, and Snyder have all given rookies plenty of meaningful minutes, even in clutch playoff situations. The best coaches play their best guys.

Most rookies aren't good.

The_Hater wrote:

ClipsFanSince98 wrote:Recently this has become an area of debate with media as they have called him out, and he's passionately denied this claim, often saying he just hasn't had many good rookie or young players. Mind you this statistic is just rookies, I'm willing to bet even 2nd and 3rd year players get underplayed by Doc.



"Rivers has tried to refute the idea that he doesn’t play his rookies. He doesn’t. In 19 seasons as an NBA head coach, here’s the list of rookies to play more than 1,400 total minutes and average more than 24 minutes per game under Rivers:

Mike Miller.

That’s it.

Avery Bradley, a former Celtics first-round pick and current Clipper, played just 162 minutes under Rivers in his rookie season."

Per D.J Foster on The Ringer.


Doc better break that pattern this year or he could find himself out of a job next season.

Not very many rookies average 24 mpg in general, so perhaps we should point out which rookies clearly deserved this type of mpg under Doc over the years?

After a little research it’s pretty clear these parameters were created solely to make Doc look bad. Both Tyrone Wallace (undrafted) ans Drew Golden played 28 mpg as rookies and Gorden Giricek played 35 mpg but none of them hit the 1400 minute threshold.

Also being ignored is the part where he coached a contending Celtic team followed by a contending Clipper team which has taken up most of his career. That means you have late first round picks vying for minutes on teams with quality veterans already in place, on teams that are trying to win games instead of develop players.

I just did a quick search and Al Jefferson was a rotation player as an 18 year old playing 15 mpg. Sullinger played 20 mpg in the rotation. Ryan Gomes was in the rotation as a 2nd round pick played 23 mpg. Rondo averaged 23.5 mpg as a rookie (these last 2 make it clear why 24 mpg was used as the cut off here just to make Doc look bad). The Clippers have rarely drafted in the first round the last few seasons, only Reggie Bullock and Brice Johnson were first round picks so I’m not sure who he should have been playing big minutes.

A quick glance at Greg Popovich and I don’t see a single rookie with >24.0 mpg since Tony Parker in 2001-02. Ginobili fell short. Kawhi played 23.96 mpg. Same issue it seems.

Anyways, I think this is clearly a whole bunch of nothing. A myth.

This is a great counter argument that may cause me to adjust my expectations, thank you. I guess much of this could be me imposing my own philosophies towards development in an unrealistic way. My thinking is... when you have a non contender, pretty much everything should be geared around playing and developing young guys.

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Doc played rookies 25% of our minutes last year lol