Stephen A. Smith defends his crazy rumor by starting another crazy rumor about Doc and Ainge


A couple days ago now, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith threw this out there.

He said that he was hearing in "NBA circles" (pictured above) that the Celtics and Clippers were talking about swapping Blake Griffin, Eric Bledsoe and Caron Butler for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers.

Obviously, that will never happen. The Celtics probably aren't going to be trading their coach, and the Clippers wouldn't give up so many young assets for some players who could be retiring soon.

Rightfully so, Smith started taking a ton of heat the last couple of days. Especially in Boston. We went into a little bit in our CelticsLife Requiem show last night.

Smith appeared on Boston sports radio station WEEI this morning to defend his report and maybe regain some credibility.

Instead he seems to have dug himself into a bigger hole.



Not the best strategy there.

Ainge recently stated that he didn't expect Doc to be leaving. On the surface it seems like they still have a great relationship. I don't think Ainge would go out and take blame away from Rivers for the team's first round exit if he wanted the coach out of town.

Still, we never know what's going on behind closed doors, but "sick of each other's faces" isn't exactly enough to convince me there's anything to worry about.

Try again, Mr. Smith.
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