Do you guys still want Doc Rivers gone?

[walker9]

I remember a lot of us did not like him the last 2 years and wanted him gone. Well, what about now?

[og15]

I didn't want him gone as a coach, just as a GM, I'm fine with coach Doc.

[Wammy Giveaway]

Doc Rivers won a ring with the help of Danny Ainge trading the farm for two superstars to pair with Paul Pierce. He left Boston once Ainge told him the Celtics were rebuilding.

Comes to the Clippers inheriting a dynamic duo of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. Due to Donald Sterling and his history of shenanigans, he demanded a general manager role on top of coaching. There was more to the moribund Clippers than just the front office, every part of the department was either in shambles, corrupt, or plain incompetent. The only reason Rivers stayed this long because of how he guided them through the Sterling scandal and helping heal a franchise that has only known absolute failure. After Sterling was gone, Doc was over his head. Trades picks for quick fixes; acquires players who played for him or defeated him; trades for his own son. His coaching acumen took a hit, and after he got ejected three times in 2016-17 season, his reputation took a hit. He got demoted after trading Chris Paul. He always seemed to be saved whenever he touches the line but never crosses it. Last year, he was one game away from a 10-game losing streak that would have ended his tenure with Clippers; the last time he had a 10-game losing streak was with Orlando Magic, and was promptly fired for it.

Jerry West will recommend Clippers fire Doc, but they don't want to do that because of the Sterling scandal; with this hot streak the team is having now, they still don't want to fire him. West never lets emotion get in the way of business, he knows when things have to end, even if it hurts. He's lost enough Finals series in his playing heyday. Remember when the Lakers fired Paul Westhead, even after coaching them to a title. Clippers could end up experiencing the same thing, and it may be for the best.

Better safe than sorry.

[Ranma]

I'm probably always going to have distrust of Doc, but as I've said before, I'm willing to give him a chance unless there are better candidates available. Brad Stevens or Mike Krzyzewski would be a great get, but someone like Mike Budenholzer was someone the Clippers should have looked into.

In any case, Doc is doing a good job right now, but it's hard to give him the full benefit of the doubt given his history of not only mismanaging the franchise but also favoritism/nepotism at the cost of the team dynamic. That's also not to mention his questionable rotation decisions that linger on today and have led to historical collapses. He still remains the only coach to blow a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs twice and even blew a 24-point lead against a dysfunctional Wizards team, which is the first in franchise history.

In fact, I still resent Doc for his actions that have harmed the organization and wasted our best opportunities during the Lob City years, especially since he did it with his best interests in mind over the Clippers'. So, to answer your question, yes, ideally we'd have another coach instead of Doc, but in the meantime, we have to make do with him as long as he does the job competently.

Doc's gotten the team to play better but that is mostly because West and the front office have limited his abilities to screw things up, but he still makes questionable judgment calls. If Doc can continue to have the team playing great basketball for an extended period of time while developing young players and deliver us a championship or two, then maybe then, I'll forgive him his past transgressions as part of the learning curve, but he certainly has a lot to make up for in sacrificing the team's future for short-term gain that never materialized.

[Galloisdaman]

Most teams fans will want some rotation tweaks no matter what the team or the coach. With that said other than some tweaks Doc has done a darn good job the last 2 seasons. Even for the people that want him gone you have to ask who would you get as a better replacement?

[esqtvd]

the vultures will be back at it as soon as we lose three in a row

[Max Headrom]

I don't understand people clamoring for Bud... He's currently in the East with a bona-fide superstar and yet the Bucks have one more win than the Clippers while he has a much better roster and superstar. Also, Bucks are 7-6 in their last 13 games after starting hot. It's basically just the grass is greener mentality.

Also, Doc is a very well respected coach amongst players and his peers in the NBA and I trust their judgment much more than "fans" with an agenda. It's also laughable to suggest that Doc is coaching better because of Jerry West being with the team. That doesn't even make any sense! Lol Just look at what he did with that Orlando team and you'll see what he's doing this season isn't a fluke...

[Quake Griffin]

If you promise me he is insulated from the the big decision making for roster decisions, I’m fine with it.

If he’s influencing who we select, I don’t want him here.

As close as he can get to “shutup and coach” is where I want him.




Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[TucsonClip]

I have had no problems with Doc as coach only, last year and this year. Hes done a good job.

[MartinToVaught]

I've wanted him gone since the Houston series a few years ago and my opinion still hasn't changed since then. We are winning this year because of the deep roster that our front office put together, not because of Doc's coaching. His often-infuriating rotations and lack of adjustments only make it more difficult for the team to win.

A few early regular-season wins aren't enough to make me forget the historic playoff collapses, his abysmal track record as GM that we're still feeling the effects of (the Celtics will probably be getting our pick this year), or the Austin nepotism situation.

[Clemenza]

He's been much better since he's not wearing both hats of coach and GM.. also Junior being traded definitely helped as well. Its all x's and o's from him now which is great. Plus not to mention he doesn't have the super elite coaching status that he had right before arriving here. "The coach that'll put a good team over the top" status is damn near a distant memory for him. He actually has a good gig right now. Even better than when we had Blake, CP3, and DJ

[QRich3]

I find it better not to talk about Doc in this place, it rarely leads to decent discussion, but since this thread has gone surprisingly civil...

Doc's always been a good coach, he's had some monumental f*ck ups and he's had some playoff games where he's run strategic circles around some of the best coaches in the history of this game. Overall, I put him just outside of the top coaches in the league, but not far from them.

He's also been one of the worst executives in recent memory, and he's a shady person with propensity for cheap politics and trying to climb the ladder any way he can, so I can see why people have resentment towards him.

But all in all, with the situation we have right now, with the proper checks in place so that he doesn't overstep his boundaries, he's a pretty good asset to have. Letting him go would only put us in a worse position and I'm glad the front office realised that.

The idea of finding the next Brad Stevens is great, but most of the time you end up with Jacque Vaughn or Fred Hoiberg, and now you have a worse coach that you have to fire and no plan B. I'm all for searching the next coach and swapping him for Doc once they're sure he's gonna be great, but do it when you're sure of what you have, not for the sake of canning Doc.

[mkwest]

I don't mind him as a coach. Is he the best coach? No. Is he the worst coach? Far from it imo. Some things that he does can be really frustrating, but I think we could do a lot worse. There's not a coach alive that didn't/doesn't have his critics and that includes the multiple-time championship coaches. Some folks are going to be huge supporters and others are going to hate his guts and that's going to be the case more often than not within a fanbase.

As a GM/President, he was in way over his head and made judgment calls that reduced our flexibility and lowered the ceiling of our potential during the Lob City era. Hindsight is 20/20, but the expected outcomes of certain player personnel decisions were pretty clear the moment they happened. When you have a championship window, you can't really afford to make costly mistakes. Houston is an example of that right now. A person wearing both the coaching and executive hats has worked on rare occasion in the past, but it's not really a recipe for success and more the exception than the rule. Doc recently stated that trying to do both is basically an "impossible" task.

The current set-up has shown that it can be fruitful. Doc and the coaching staff focuses on coaching and the Front Office focuses on putting the team together in both the short and long terms. Jerry initially signed a 2-year deal and that will be completed at the end of the season. As long as he stays on board, I'm optimistic about the team's future. Even if we don't strike gold in FA this summer, I have a confidence in West that we'll be able to progress forward by other means.

[Quake Griffin]

I wonder if he will continue to invest in this team if Free Agency doesn't pan out for us.

[Clemenza]

I wonder if he will continue to invest in this team if Free Agency doesn't pan out for us.

How I see it is this.. in years past with Doc as the GM we really never had an x-factor or a surprise player break out and become something to help the core out. This season we're seeing the uptick of Tobias, a healthy Gallo, Trez, SGA, etc. I'm seeing more player progression in a month and a half than I've seen in the past 4-5 years with Lob City. So really we simply would need only one star- either KD or Kawhi to come aboard. If we were to get both then hell yes, the more the merrier.. But really we don't have to swing for the fences if this team we currently have is for real and can at least stay moderately healthy. One star added with Tobias, Gallo, Trez, SGA, etc backing him up is definitely WCF's material, maybe even Finals material imo.

[RonMexico915]

If we make the playoffs, he should be the coach next year. If we don't, regardless of how injuries might effect that, see ya later Glen.

[esqtvd]

I don't mind him as a coach. Is he the best coach? No. Is he the worst coach? Far from it imo. Some things that he does can be really frustrating, but I think we could do a lot worse. There's not a coach alive that didn't/doesn't have his critics and that includes the multiple-time championship coaches. Some folks are going to be huge supporters and others are going to hate his guts and that's going to be the case more often than not within a fanbase.

As a GM/President, he was in way over his head and made judgment calls that reduced our flexibility and lowered the ceiling of our potential during the Lob City era.

As president, Doc built [or rebuilt] this organization from close to scratch. Sterling ran the cheapest and worst operation in sports, with only a handful of scouts and support and development staff. In September 2014, Doc was finally able to replace the entire scouting staff, and of course hired his own replacement in Lawrence Frank.

I'm glad he's out of GMing but he doesn't deserve to be spat on. We had next to zero cap flexibility and unfortunately, that was used up in the chain of events that followed the disastrous Spencer Hawes signing, a move that virtually everybody thought was a good one. Otherwise, he got a lot of guys to come play for us for the minimum or next to it, which is what we really needed from a GM at that time, with no decent draft picks and no free money. And as president, Doc was heavily instrumental in righting the organizational ship.

Again, I'm glad he's not PoBO anymore but at the moment it takes 7 people to do his job. Give him his gold watch and a thank you very much and move on.

[Popovich]

Doc is proven to be one of the best coaches in coaching and basketball expert community, I really don't know + he has results , I really don't know who can be better successor?

[MartinToVaught]

Doc is proven to be one of the best coaches in coaching and basketball expert community, I really don't know + he has results , I really don't know who can be better successor?

What makes you say that? Is it the two 3-1 leads he's blown in the playoffs? His NBA record for most blown series leads? How he's presided over three of the most lopsided home Game 7 losses in the shot-clock era? Doc is one of the most overrated coaches in history.

[BenchOnaQUEST]

I've wanted him gone since the Houston series a few years ago and my opinion still hasn't changed since then. We are winning this year because of the deep roster that our front office put together, not because of Doc's coaching. His often-infuriating rotations and lack of adjustments only make it more difficult for the team to win.

A few early regular-season wins aren't enough to make me forget the historic playoff collapses, his abysmal track record as GM that we're still feeling the effects of (the Celtics will probably be getting our pick this year), or the Austin nepotism situation.

Who would you rather see in Doc's place?