Whatever you want to think about Doc Rivers' coaching ability, or debatable lack thereof, let me simply say this: if you remove his best 3 year run as the coach of the Celtics, during which he won an NBA Title in 2007-2008, lost in the 2008-2009 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, and then lost in the 2009-2010 Eastern Conference Finals, his record as a coach would be 537-466, good for a career winning percentage of 53.54%, which is thoroughly average. The worst part of that resume? He has only ever coached a team to a Conference Finals twice.
I can't help but consider all of the above information when I watch what is happening with the Los Angeles Clippers this year: not only does Rivers seem to lack any sort of direction for what he wants to do on the court, he has absolutely no excuse for it because he's the one that built this team. I don't need to run over the litany of roster issues and lineup mismanagement which are crippling the team's season, because they are numerous and readily apparent to anyone that watches the team play...at least, anyone that isn't getting paid millions of dollars specifically for his supposed ability to recognize and repair just these sort of issues. If only the Clippers had a position in their organization that could perform this vital function; oh that's right they already do, and its called Head Coach, the position which Rivers currently fills.
Winning in the NBA is hard, no one discounts that; and no one expected the Clippers to be an overnight success, but...compare his inability to make sense of the talent which he has on hand, let alone find an effective use for it, with what is happening in San Antonio right now, or Dallas - where two of the actual best coaches in the NBA reside.
