Doc on His Decision To Return, Loss of TA, & Team’s Offseason

Posted by Brian Robb on Jul 27, 2010 93158 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2010%2F07%2F27%2Fdoc-on-his-decision-to-return-loss-of-ta-teams-offseason%2FDoc+on+His+Decision+To+Return%2C+Loss+of+TA%2C+%26+Team%27s+Offseason2010-07-27+18%3A26%3A13Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D9315

Andy Katz over at ESPNBoston.com has a terrific piece today on Doc Rivers and his decision to return back for one more run. Some of the article reiterates widely known factors into Doc’s decision making progress, but there are more than a few nuggets that make the piece a must-read. Here are a couple of those highlights:

Doc worrying about the team not getting back Ray Allen and Paul Pierce:

“I wasn’t coming back unless they were coming back,” Rivers said. “I was first and I thought that was important for them. We all talked. I can tell you that. I made sure. I knew they had to do their business. And Ray scared me a little bit with the money out there. They had said they were coming back and then you see what everyone was getting.”

Rivers said that at one point after committing to return next season he called Ainge and said, “Oh my gosh, someone is going to come in and blow them away and [Ray's] going to have to say yes.”

“Thank God they want another crack at it — him and Paul,” Rivers said Monday. “In a lot of ways there is a lot of energy on our team. Our team has a lot of energy.”

On Losing TA and re-signing Marquis Daniels:

“That hurt,” Rivers said. “Tony was terrific. He was like my kid. We’ve gone through a lot together. Losing him personally hurts you more and hurts you professionally.”

Rivers said it was akin to losing defensive stopper James Posey after the Celtics won the title in 2008. Two seasons later the Celtics were minutes away from winning another title.

“We bounced back but we don’t need a year to do it, we need to do it now,” Rivers said. “Signing Marquis was important. Marquis played great for us in the first half. He got injured and was never the same.”

Doc’s thoughts on Nate Robinson for next year:

“We have a chance to integrate Nate now,” Rivers said. “He bought in when a lot of people didn’t think he could do it. I didn’t know. There was a point where I wasn’t playing him anymore and then Nate bought in on his own. He saw early I was playing him and then he saw he was getting no minutes. We talked that there’s a way to get on the floor and it has to be that way. I give Nate so much credit. He did it and that was awesome for us.”