Doc Rivers and Bill Simmons "agree to disagree" on whether or not Doc quit on the Celtics

Back on draft night ESPN's Bill Simmons and recent ex-Celtics head coach Doc Rivers got into a bit of a verbal sparing match on live television, which then continued the next day via twitter.  In Simmons' recent column for his website Grantland, the lifelong C's fan says that he and Doc cleared the air shortly thereafter, but still stuck to their own opinions regarding Rivers' departure from Boston:

The day after we exchanged barbs during the NBA draft, Doc and I talked for 45 minutes on the phone and agreed to disagree on how the Boston thing ended. He truly believes the Celtics didn't want him to come back or pay him all that money as they were rebuilding. I don't buy it, as I told him — I thought that they didn't want to pay him that money once they believed he didn't want to be there. Also, I told him that I thought he didn't want to rebuild for a third time, and that the thought of coaching a contender and starting fresh in Los Angeles — where he gets to pick his own players, no less — was overwhelmingly enticing for him. He actually agreed with that. He just doesn't think he quit on the Celtics — he thinks the situation ran its course. So it's a he-said, he-said thing. We're never going to agree on what happened, but one thing is clear: In the long run, both sides are better off.

Now we can all stop worrying about whether or not Simmons will have to give up his Clipper season tickets on account of his bitterness towards Doc.


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