Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck on Doc: 'Doc left us, period. It was his idea and he left'


When the Celtics introduced Brad Stevens on Friday, I said that it was time to stop talking about Doc Rivers. I believe that he went back on a lot of what he said over the years (being the Jerry Sloan of the Celtics, being willing to rebuild, ect.), but at the end of the day, everything worked out. Doc would coach a contender next season, and the Celtics would have a phenomenal young coach for their rebuilding years. It ended up being a win/win, and it was time for both sides to look forward and start thinking about the future.

Apparently Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck disagreed with me. Grousbeck went on the record with Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald about the Doc situation, and he didn't mince words.

And while he expressed nothing but appreciation for the job Rivers did with the Celtics, Grousbeck was rather pointed about the process.

“The moves are just rumored,” he said of the aforementioned trade. “I mean, Doc left us, period. Doc left us. No spin will take that away. It was his idea and he left, and we made the best of it.

“We think we’re even with Doc. We think the nine years were nine great years. We would have been happy to continue, but that was not to be. I’m really glad Doc spent nine years here.”

Asked if he was disappointed that there has been some very public debate about how the departure went down, Grousbeck said: “I don’t think anybody thinks there’s two sides to it. I think everybody realizes it’s hard to leave a place where you’ve been nine years, so efforts are made to talk about it different ways, and I don’t have a problem with any of it. I’ve moved on.

“I’ll welcome him back, and I hope we kick the Clippers’ butt. But he’s a champion as far as I’m concerned.”

Personally these comments are about a week later than I would have liked, but I 100% agree with Wyc. This was Doc's idea. He's not a bad guy, but he made a choice and then tried to act like it wasn't really his choice. He broke up with the Celtics and then tried really hard to make it look mutual even though it clearly wasn't. As media savvy as the man is, it's understandable. But what Wyc said is spot on. Doc made a decision to go to a contender, and the Celtics allowed it to happen. Anything Doc says to the contrary is spin to make it seem like both sides were ready to move on, when in reality it was entirely his decision.

With that said, these comments would have been far better served before the team hired Stevens. At this point the rebuild is on, the Celtics got their guy to lead them into the future, and Kelly Olynyk is ripping up the summer league. Hopefully Wyc got this out of his system once and for all, and the next time we hear Doc's name is when the Clippers come to town next season.

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