Doc Rivers’ Interesting Take On All His Career Failures
Doc Rivers’ Interesting Take On All His Career Failures
Doc Rivers is one of the most polarizing coaches in NBA history.
On one hand, he is champion and one of the most notable names in the game today.
That said – he has repeatedly come up short despite having extremely talented teams.
During a recent interview with The Athletic, Rivers took a defiant stance on his past failures (it was almost as strong as his recent comments about the Los Angeles Lakers).
“I’ve never come up short, in my opinion,” Rivers said.
“Come up short? What does that mean? Like, we didn’t win a title? I go back in Philly. I took that job after we lost in the first round 4-0 (to the Celtics in 2020 under Brett Brown). The next year, we win the East in the regular season. All right. We are one game away from the Eastern finals.
“So there’s times where I’m like we’re being evaluated on a different standard. And the great news is I’ve created that standard. So for me, that’s good. But then when the narrative comes that you can’t do it, that’s bulls**t. Because I’ve done it and I can do it. It’s just hard to do it. It’s just hard.”
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Rivers didn’t stop there, though.
“So I’ve always looked at it that way,” he continued.
“Listen, I’m eighth in wins. I’m fourth in playoff wins. My dad used to say something, ‘If somebody said something you would never listen to, why would you ever pay attention to it?’ You know what I mean? My numbers don’t lie.
“I’ve coached for 25 years and I’ve had two losing seasons. And the two losing seasons, we were trying to f**king lose, yeah. So I’ve made the playoffs — whatever, I don’t even know — 21 out of 25 years.
“It’s almost like Deion Sanders said in that interview. There’s nothing you can say or do that’s going to take away from what I’ve done, and I’ll never allow that. Having said that, I want to do more. And to do more, you have to put yourself in situations where you’re going to be criticized if you don’t do it. And I’m fine with that.”
Rivers has one last chance to prove himself with the Milwaukee Bucks this year. If he can lead them to success – a lot of his past woes will be forgotten.
If Rivers comes up short, though – it will do irreparable damage to his legacy.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
