Doc Rivers' HOF Speech Isn't About Doc — And That's Exactly The Point
Let's get one thing straight: Doc Rivers' Hall of Fame speech isn't a victory lap. It's a thank-you note.
The man who won 1,194 regular-season games as an NBA head coach — sixth all-time, ahead of only Hall of Fame legends — will step onto that stage in Springfield on Saturday. But after weeks of grinding on the words, he realized something profound.
"You go through this journey of writing it, and you realize it has nothing to do with you in a very good way," Rivers said. "People are happy for you, and I am happy for them because they got me there. You hear all your life, 'You don't do anything alone.' When you get in the Hall of Fame, you really understand that you don't do anything alone. It's all the coaches in your life, your parents, the players. It's a thankful journey, and that's what the Hall of Fame should be about."
THE RESUME SPEAKS FOR ITSELF
Rivers is a champion (2008 Celtics), a 114-playoff-game winner, a former All-Star as a player, a broadcaster, and now — officially — a Hall of Famer. He insists his retirement is real this time. No more coaching. No more sleepless nights.
He's got seven grandkids, a house on the water, and a golf game that's probably getting too good. Basketball? He'll still be around it. Just not on the sidelines, where he spent 27 seasons bleeding for the game.
"The one thing that people have no idea about is the toll it takes on you and the family component," Rivers said. "It is rough. You're never home. You make sacrifices, and your family has to make them as well."
THE MAGIC DAYS AND THE "301s"
Remember his first season as a coach? The 2000 Orlando Magic weren't supposed to sniff .500. Rivers used the NBA's preseason list of the top 300 players as fuel — because none of them were on his roster. That Magic team went 41-41.
"That season gave me great confidence," he said.
THE ONE HE'D TAKE BACK
Critics will always bring up the Game 7 losses. Ten of them, by far the most in NBA history. His supporters fire back with 114 playoff wins, fourth-most ever.
But Rivers' biggest regret isn't a loss. It's a decision: leaving the Boston Celtics for the LA Clippers in 2013.
"I underestimated what a great situation I was in, and I took that for granted, like you can just go anywhere and create that," Rivers said. "I messed that one up. But then when I go to the Clippers, the team is pretty damn good. The organization, it was the worst organization in sports with the ownership problem. Within a week there, I remember telling my assistant, 'We've got a lot to do here.'"
He landed in the middle of Donald Sterling's final, toxic days as owner. Sterling got banned. Rivers stayed and eventually handed the keys to Tyronn Lue.
THE STORIES BEYOND THE STATS
Rivers' legacy isn't just X's and O's. It's the people he lifted along the way.
Tyronn Lue played just 11 games for Rivers in Orlando back in 2004. Rivers saw something. He told Lue to call him if he ever wanted a job. Lue did. Now Lue is a championship coach — and could easily be a Hall of Famer one day.
Then there's Rajon Rondo. Their relationship in Boston was rocky, to put it mildly. Now? They talk more than any other former player Rivers coaches.
"It's the stories like that that you think about," Rivers said.
And none of it happens without Pat Riley, the man who kept pushing Rivers into coaching even when they clashed.
"When I was doing TV, he kept writing and sending me these freaking messages about getting into the fray," Rivers said. "He knew it. And here I am, going into the Hall of Fame."
Yeah, Doc. You made it. But the speech? That's for the people who made you.