Doc’s Getting Drilled… But
What About Danny?
By John Karalis
Fire Doc.
Fire DOC!
FIRE DOC!!
Everywhere you turn nowadays, it’s “Fire Doc Rivers”. The Celtics lose: Fire Doc. Vending machine won’t take your dollar: Fire Doc. Your wife says she’s leaving you for Marco the pool boy: Fire Doc. No matter what… it’s time to fire Doc Rivers.
Look, I get that Doc does some indefensible things. When you blow a 25 point lead on the road, some of that falls on the coach. But for all the knocks on Doc Rivers, why doesn’t anyone want to “Fire Danny?” To borrow an idea from Bill Parcells, it’s Danny that’s doing all the shopping. And while Doc might not be the best chef in town, it might be time to consider that it’s not all his fault that our dinner still tastes terrible.
The Celtics made a ton of moves to acquire pieces of a trade. They brought in what seemed to be 42 guards. They signed Allan Ray. They signed Kevin Pittsnogle. They traded for Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, Leon Powe and Rajon Rondo. They even took on Brian Grant and his expiring contract. Everything was pointing to the Celtics stockpiling pieces that could be traded away.
And then…
Nothing happened.
Where was the next big move, Danny? Where was the package deal that everyone just knew was coming?
It never happened.
Why? Because Danny Ainge overvalued a
Now Kevin Pittsnogle is in the CBA. Akin Akingbala was drafted by an NBDL team (I didn’t know they had a draft either). Brian Grant and his expiring contract retired. Allan Ray couldn’t hit a shot in the preseason if the hoop was 8 feet wide.
So that plan didn’t work. Now the Celtics have go to battle with what they have… which is what, exactly?
Well, they have Kendrick Perkins, who STILL has no clue how to last more than 5 minutes on the court without picking up two fouls. They have Al Jefferson, who aside from being the unluckiest player around, seem to have perfected exactly one shot: the little jump hook. That’s a nice shot… but I think we all expected a little more.
The Celtics have Sebastian Telfair, who immediately got into a Trailblazer-esque legal jam. On the court, saying he’s playing turnstile defense is an affront to the turnstiles who at least slow people down as they try to get into the Garden.
The Celtics still have Tony Allen, who is still in his legal mess. They waited until the last possible minute to exercise his option because they were waiting to trade him too. Now the guy who is supposed to be our best defensive players also looks like our worst offensive player. Let’s not mince words here. Tony Allen flat out looks terrible out there.
So what does Doc have to work with?
He’s got Paul Pierce, who is a stud player. There are people who insanely want to blame things on Pierce. I, personally, would shudder to think how bad the Celtics would be without him. “Oh, he selfish” people say. Yeah, so selfish that he has become the NBA’s leading rebounder for a team whose big men forgot how to grab a board. Stop being so selfish, Paul.
He’s got Wally Szczerbiak, who is still a premier shooter and whose only bad game was on opening night. Bad knee be damned, Wally’s picked up the scoring slack in a big way.
He’s got Ryan Gomes, who has the uncanny ability to find the ball. Yes, he’s undersized. Yes he’s struggling a bit with a longer-range jumper. But Gomes is a guy that every team in the NBA would get if they could. He’s the hustle guy. The “always there” guy. The “sneak into a scrum and come out of it with the ball” guy. You want him on that wall… you NEED him on that wall.
Doc Rivers is rightly blasted for doing things that don’t seem to make sense. Why, Doc, would you not play Leon Powe when your team is lacking in toughness and rebounding? Why, Doc, would you not play Gerald Green during stretches in which the team isn’t scoring? Why, Doc, would you abandon the running game so quickly after everything we’ve heard for as long as we can remember has been about being a running team?
But for all of Doc’s deficiencies, it’s still Danny’s team. Everyone on this team except for Paul Pierce is a “Danny Guy,” and now that Pierce had his contract extended, you can even call him a “Danny Guy” too. And if you really want to put most of the blame on Doc Rivers… well… who hired him? Who hasn’t fired him yet?
Firing someone right now might not be the answer. I understand the visceral reaction to a horrible start. I get that we’re “The Celtics.” I get how great it would be to have a winner in the season after Red Auerbach passes away. We’re just not there yet.
Is part of that the fault of Doc Rivers. Yes it is. But it’s not all his fault. There’s another former guard who now wears a suit that can be blamed for some of this. But for some reason, Danny Ainge is getting a free pass. He has created the “Big Dig” of basketball. We all wanted this rebuilding project to be done by now, and we’re still being told to wait.
We’re tired of waiting. And I’m tired of hearing it all heaped on Doc. Danny deserves some of the heat too.