Doc Rivers

Doc Rivers Biography

Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is the current head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers. As an NBA point guard, Rivers was known for his defense.

Playing career

Rivers was a McDonald's All-American for Proviso East High School in the Chicago metropolitan area. Rivers represented the United States with the national team in the 1982 FIBA World Championship, in which he led the team to the silver medal, despite missing the last shot in the final, which could have given the title to his team. After his third season at Marquette University, Rivers was drafted in the second round (31st overall) of the 1983 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He graduated from Marquette while completing course work as an NBA player. He spent the next seven seasons as a starter in Atlanta, assisting star Dominique Wilkins as the team found great regular-season success. He averaged a double-double for the 1986-87 season with 12.8 points and 10.0 assists per game. Rivers later spent one year as a starter for the Los Angeles Clippers and two more for the New York Knicks, before finishing his career as a player for the San Antonio Spurs from 1994 to 1996.

Coaching career

Orlando Magic (1999-2003)

Rivers began his coaching career with the Orlando Magic in 1999, where he coached for more than four NBA seasons. Rivers won the Coach of the Year award in 2000 after his first year with the Magic. That season, he led the team that was picked to finish last in the league to a near playoff berth.

During the Magic's free agency spending spree in the summer of 2000, Doc Rivers had the opportunity to assemble the first "Big Three" team in the NBA, as the Magic were courting free agent Tim Duncan, who came close to signing with the Magic and teaming up with Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady. However, Tim Duncan re-signed with the San Antonio Spurs due to Rivers' strict policy of family members not being allowed to travel in the team's plane.

He made the post-season in his next three years as coach, but was fired in 2003 after a 1-10 start to the season.

Boston Celtics (2004-2013)

After spending a year working as a commentator for the NBA on ABC (calling the 2004 Finals with Al Michaels), he was hired by the Boston Celtics as their head coach in 2004. During his first years with the Celtics, he was criticized by many in the media for his coaching style, most vociferously by Bill Simmons, who in 2006 publicly called for Rivers to be fired in his columns.

As a result of the Celtics' 109-93 victory over the New York Knicks on January 21, 2008, Rivers, as the coach of the team with the best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference, earned the honor to coach the East for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans. On June 17, 2008, Rivers won his first NBA Championship as a head coach after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. The Celtics needed an NBA record 26 post-season games to win it. Rivers played for the team that held the previous record for most games played in a single post-season: the 1994 New York Knicks played 25 post-season games.

Rivers led the Celtics to the 2010 NBA Finals where they once again faced the Los Angeles Lakers and lost the series in seven games.

After deliberating between staying on the job and leaving the job and returning to spend more time with his family in Orlando, Rivers finally decided that he would honor the last year of his contract and return for the 2010-11 season.

On May 13, 2011, after months of rumors that he would retire, ESPN reported that the Celtics and Rivers agreed upon a 5-year contract extension worth $35 million.

On February 6, 2013, Rivers notched his 400th win with the Celtics in a 99-95 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

Los Angeles Clippers (2013-present)

On June 25, 2013, the Los Angeles Clippers acquired Rivers from the Celtics for an unprotected 2015 NBA first round draft pick. He also became the senior vice president of basketball operations on the team. In his first season as their head coach, Rivers led the Clippers to a franchise-record 57 wins, garnering the 3rd seed in the Western conference. The 2014 NBA playoffs first round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors was marred when TMZ released an audiotape containing racially insensitive remarks made by the then-Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Though there was a possibility of the Clippers boycotting the series, they would play on, holding a silent protest by leaving their shooting jerseys at center court and obscuring the Clippers logo on their warm-up shirts. Rivers himself stated that he would not return to the Clippers if Sterling remained as owner the following season. NBA commissioner Adam Silver responded to the controversy by banning Sterling for life and compelling him to sell the team. After the team was sold to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for $2 billion on August 12, 2014, Rivers remained with the Clippers.

On June 16, 2014, the Clippers promoted Rivers to president of basketball operations in conjunction with his continuing head coaching duties. Although Dave Wohl was hired as general manager, Rivers had the final say in basketball matters. On August 27, 2014, he signed a new five-year contract with the Clippers.

On January 16, 2015, Rivers became the first NBA coach to coach his own son, Austin Rivers until June 26, 2018 when he was traded to the Washington Wizards for Marcin Gortat.

On August 4, 2017, Rivers gave up his post as president of basketball operations. However, he continued to split responsibility for basketball matters with executive vice president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank. On May 23, 2018, Rivers and the Clippers agreed to a contract extension.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 81 || 47 || 23.9 || .462 || .167 || .785 || 2.7 || 3.9 || 1.6 || .4 || 9.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 69 || 58 || 30.8 || .476 || .417 || .770 || 3.1 || 5.9 || 2.4 || .8 || 14.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 53 || 50 || 29.6 || .474 || .000 || .608 || 3.1 || 8.4 || 2.3 || .2 || 11.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 82 || 82 || 31.6 || .451 || .190 || .828 || 3.6 || 10.0 || 2.1 || .4 || 12.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 80 || 80 || 31.3 || .453 || .273 || .758 || 4.6 || 9.3 || 1.8 || .5 || 14.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 76 || 76 || 32.4 || .455 || .347 || .861 || 3.8 || 6.9 || 2.4 || .5 || 13.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 48 || 44 || 31.8 || .454 || .364 || .812 || 4.2 || 5.5 || 2.4 || .5 || 12.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta | 79 || 79 || 32.7 || .435 || .336 || .844 || 3.2 || 4.3 || 1.9 || .6 || 15.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | 59 || 25 || 28.1 || .424 || .283 || .832 || 2.5 || 3.9 || 1.9 || .3 || 10.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|New York | 77 || 45 || 24.5 || .437 || .317 || .821 || 2.5 || 5.3 || 1.6 || .1 || 7.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|New York | 19 || 19 || 26.3 || .433 || .365 || .636 || 2.1 || 5.3 || 1.3 || .3 || 7.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|New York | 3 || 0 || 15.7 || .308 || .600 || .727 || 3.0 || 2.7 || 1.3 || .0 || 6.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio | 60 || 0 || 15.7 || .360 || .344 || .732 || 1.7 || 2.6 || 1.0 || .4 || 5.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| |style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio | 78 || 0 || 15.8 || .372 || .343 || .750 || 1.8 || 1.6 || .9 || .3 || 4.0 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 864 || 605 || 27.3 || .444 || .328 || .784 || 3.0 || 5.7 || 1.8 || .4 || 10.9 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| All-Star | 1 || 0 || 16.0 || .500 || - || .455 || 3.0 || 6.0 || - || - || 9.0

Playoffs

|- |style="text-align:left;"|1984 |style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta |5||-||26.0||.500||.000||.878||2.0||3.2||2.4||.8||13.6 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1986 |style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta |9||9||29.1||.435||.500||.738||4.7||8.7||2.0||.0||12.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1987 |style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta |8||8||30.6||.383|| - ||.500||3.4||11.3||1.1||.4||7.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1988 |style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta |12||12||34.1||.511||.318||.907||4.9||9.6||2.1||.2||15.7 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1989 |style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta |5||5||38.2||.386||.316||.708||4.8||6.8||1.4||.4||13.4 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1991 |style="text-align:left;"|Atlanta |5||5||34.6||.469||.091||.895||4.0||3.0||1.0||.4||15.6 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1992 |style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers |5||4||37.4||.446||.500||.815||3.8||4.2||1.2||.0||15.2 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1993 |style="text-align:left;"|New York |15||15||30.5||.453||.355||.767||2.6||5.7||1.9||.1||10.2 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1995 |style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio |15||0||21.2||.389||.370||.839||1.9||1.6||.9||.6||7.8 |- |style="text-align:left;"|1996 |style="text-align:left;"|San Antonio |2||0||10.0||.333||.500||-||.5||.0||.0||.0||1.5 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 81 || 58 || 29.5 || .446 || .338 || .767 || 3.3 || 5.9 || 1.5 || .3 || 11.4

Head coaching record

|- | style="text-align:left;"|Orlando | style="text-align:left;"| |82||41||41|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Atlantic|||"?||"?||"?||"? | style="text-align:center;"|Missed Playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|Orlando | style="text-align:left;"| |82||43||39|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Atlantic||4||1||3|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|Orlando | style="text-align:left;"| |82||44||38|||| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Atlantic||4||1||3|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|Orlando | style="text-align:left;"| |82||42||40|||| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Atlantic||7||3||4|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|Orlando | style="text-align:left;"| |11||1||10|||| style="text-align:center;"|(fired)|||"?||"?||"?||"? | style="text-align:center;"|"? |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |82||45||37|||| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Atlantic||7||3||4|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |82||33||49|||| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Atlantic|||"?||"?||"?||"? | style="text-align:center;"|Missed Playoffs |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |82||24||58|||| style="text-align:center;"|5th in Atlantic||"?||"?||"?||"? | style="text-align:center;"|Missed Playoffs |- |- ! style="background:#FDE910;" | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |82||66||16|||| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Atlantic||26||16||10|| | style="text-align:center;"|Won NBA Championship |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |82||62||20|||| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Atlantic||14||7||7|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference Semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |82||50||32|||| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Atlantic||24||15||9|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in NBA Finals |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |82||56||26|||| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Atlantic||9||5||4|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference Semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |66||39||27|||| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Atlantic||20||11||9|| | style="text-align:center;"| Lost in Conference Finals |- | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | style="text-align:left;"| |81||41||40|||| style="text-align:center;"|3rd in Atlantic||6||2||4|| | style="text-align:center;"| Lost in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | style="text-align:left;"| |82||57||25|||| style="text-align:center;"|1st in Pacific||13||6||7|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference Semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | style="text-align:left;"| |82||56||26||||style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Pacific||14||7||7|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in Conference Semifinals |- | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | style="text-align:left;"| |82||53||29||||style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Pacific||6||2||4|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | style="text-align:left;"| |82||51||31||||style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Pacific||7||3||4|| | style="text-align:center;"|Lost in First Round |- | style="text-align:left;"|L.A. Clippers | style="text-align:left;"| |82||42||40||||style="text-align:center;"|2nd in Pacific||"?||"?||"?||"? | style="text-align:center;"|Missed Playoffs |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;"|Total | ||1470||846||624|||| ||161||82||79||||

Personal life

Rivers is the nephew of former NBA player Jim Brewer. He lives in Orlando, Florida, with his wife Kristen; they have four children. His oldest son Jeremiah played basketball at Georgetown University and Indiana University, and has played in the NBA D-League for the Maine Red Claws. His daughter Callie played volleyball for the University of Florida and then played professionally in Puerto Rico, while his second-born son Austin played one year as a guard for Duke University before being drafted by the New Orleans Hornets with the 10th pick of the 2012 NBA draft, and joined his father on the Clippers in 2015. His youngest son, Spencer, is a guard who played for Winter Park High School and for UC Irvine.

Rivers is a cousin of former NBA guard Byron Irvin and former MLB outfielder Ken Singleton.

Rivers was given his nickname of "Doc" by then-Marquette assistant coach Rick Majerus. Rivers attended a summer basketball camp wearing a "Dr. J" T-shirt. Majerus immediately called him "Doc" and the players at camp followed suit. The name has stuck ever since.

Other work

Rivers is also currently a member of the National Advisory Board for Positive Coaching Alliance, a national non-profit organization that helps student-athletes and their coaches. Rivers has appeared in several videos for this organization, all of which can be found on the group's YouTube channel.