Doc Rivers, back in Boston for a good cause, has one regret


You can take the man out of Boston, but you can't take Boston out of the man.

More than five years on, former Boston Celtics and current Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers makes the trek back to Boston to support a cause he's been backing since his players wore green and white, and this year was no different.
Action for Boston Community Development (or, ABCD for short), who describe themselves as "...a nonprofit human services organization that each year provides more than 100,000 low income residents in the Greater Boston region with the tools and resources needed to transition from poverty to stability and from stability to success", has partnered with Rivers since 2011.

Rivers, after becoming familiar with the organization through a fundraiser at New York's Fenway Park, wanted to replicate that closer to home, and arranged for the use of the TD Garden, where they have held a fundraiser for the organization every September since, even after moving on from the city in his capacity as coach.


In fact, Doc recruited his replacement, Brad Stevens, to step into his shoes to keep the link to the franchise intact, and Stevens has done exactly that - with one condition; said Rivers (per the Boston Globe's Joe Chesto): "At the end, I said, I need a favor from you, I need you to take over and help this organization, and one of the things we do is Hoop Dreams ... Brad said, ‘I’ll do that, but you have to keep coming back.’ I said, ‘I’ll keep coming back for life.’ That’s the deal."

This year, with news of former Celtic and sometimes-villain Ray Allen being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame circulating in the tenth year since the 2008 title, Doc's ties to the team (and Banner 17) took on a renewed relevance, as did the fallout that ensued after Allen's exit, though the cracks had been there for some time. Said Doc (per MassLive's Tom Westerholm):

"As years have gone on, things have been fractured and I hate it ... I hate seeing it. I would love this celebration for Ray. Not a lot to say here about it. Ray won us a title. He really did. I think he should be celebrated. I think he should be celebrated in Boston. He's responsible for that banner. If I had one wish, I wish I could do a better job of getting that group back together. I can get a lot of them back together, I just can't get the whole group. There really should be because they were so close and it really hurts me to see what's going on."

I don't know about you all, but I think the players are well within their rights to feel however they feel about the situation, as is Doc, and as are we. I've given up hope it will ever be resolved, but stranger things have happened. With all the Celtics who will be at that Hall of Fame induction, I suppose there's an opportunity to mend some fences, but until something more substantive starts to materialize, I'm just happy Doc Rivers left more than one legacy in Boston.
For more stories by Justin, click here.



Image:Mike Riley/Twitter 
Follow Justin at @justinquinnn
Share