Big Baby Davis takes shots at former coach Doc Rivers
Davis went off at Clippers head coach Doc Rivers during a recent episode of the 'In the Zone' podcast. Rivers, who coached Davis from 2007-11 in Boston and then again from 2013-15 in LA, has had a bumpy history with the forward on his roster.
Yahoo! Sports' Kelly Dwyer highlighted the strong words that Big Baby had for his former coach:
“Because what Doc had in ’08 was special,” Davis said on the podcast. “And he was lucky as hell. Lucky as hell. The year before that they were wearing trash bags (in the crowd). … But then the next year they win it, now he’s one of the best coaches ever? I’m just not feeling that, you know what I mean?”
Doc, what do you think of these comments?
Let's take a look at the numbers. Doc Rivers has been a head coach since the turn of the 21st century. As of 2/17/17, he is 788-545 (57.9%) over his career with playoff appearances in 13 of his 17 completed seasons (that's including the season that he was fired by the Magic after 11 games). His career playoff record is 79-75. These are pretty solid numbers Glen, what do you think?
Hold on now, bud. That doesn't neccessarily mean I'm taking Rivers' side; you still make a good point...
As Davis noted in his interview, the Celtics stunk on ice the year before taking the title. And in case you don't remember, when I say 'stunk on ice' I mean bad enough to finish second worst in the whole NBA. One short offseason before being handed Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen on a silver platter, Rivers went just 24-58 in Boston. He has had a ton of talent on his teams since the Big Three era, whether in Boston or Los Angeles, so perhaps that is something to consider. It's always tough to determine how much of the blame or credit should be pinned or rewarded to head coaches.
Big Baby wasn't done though. Later in the podcast, he critiqued the other part of Rivers' job with the Clippers -- his general manager position. Davis said how Rivers not only overpayed for Spencer Hawes in 2014 (he did), but shouldn't have played him nearly as much as he did:
"You got get Spencer Hawes, he does nothing, you gotta trade him. You got me on the bench, knowing that I could play, but you still go play Spencer Hawes… you’re just trying to cover your own butt because Spencer’s not panning out the way you want him to pan out, and I just don’t like that."
Alright Doc, how are you doing over there? Have you lost your composure yet?
Oh, I see.
What's your opinion on the matter? Are you #TeamBigBaby or #TeamDoc?
Follow Erik Johnson on Twitter:@erikjohnson32
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