Former Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis thinks Doc Rivers, who coached him for more than four seasons in the NBA and signed him to a free-agent deal as an executive with the Clippers, is overrated as a head coach.
Glen Davis said Doc Rivers was ‘lucky as hell’ to win a championship in 2008
Big Baby, who played for Rivers with the Celtics and Clippers, has no love lost for his former coach, calling him “overrated.”
Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
On Chris Broussard’s “In the Zone” podcast, Davis dug into his former coach, claiming Rivers was “lucky as hell” to win his lone championship in 2008.
“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?”
Asked if he felt Rivers is overrated as a head coach, Davis said: ‘I think so, yeah.”
The conversation begins at the 20:45 mark.
Davis, who never made an All-Star appearance, referenced occasions when Celtics general manager Danny Ainge had to tell Rivers to give the players a break. He felt Ainge deserved more credit for assembling Boston’s Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.
It was that talent and not Rivers’ coaching, Davis felt, that was the reason why Boston was able to win an NBA title just one year after finishing 24-58.
“You give credit to KG,” Davis said. “You give credit to Paul Pierce. You give credit to Ray Allen. Those are the guys that made sure whatever Doc needed to be done got done. And so now it’s easy for Doc to do his job. And then you give credit to Danny Ainge. That’s the one you give credit to because I know multiple times he had to talk to Doc just to say, ‘Hey Doc, leave them alone. Hey Doc, ease up. Like, there’s points where you ease up.’”
Big Baby referenced an occasion during his tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers, under Rivers, where he was forced to play with a broken ankle. In the 2014-15 playoffs, Davis injured his ankle in Game 6 of the Clippers’ first-round matchup against the San Antonio Spurs.
In the next round, he played sparingly in all seven games of the Clippers’ Western Conference Semifinals loss to Houston.
Davis also blasted Rivers, who doubles as Clippers’ president of basketball operations, for trading for Spencer Hawes, a deal he felt did not work out. Hawes averaged double-digit scoring in the years leading up to signing with Los Angeles, but posted just 5.8 points per game under Rivers, the second-lowest mark of his career.
“You go get Spencer Hawes, he does nothing,” he said. “You’ve got to trade him. You’ve still got me on the bench knowing that I can play, but you still go play Spencer Hawes knowing that you’re just trying to cover your own butt because Spencer’s not panning out the way you wanted him to pan out. And I just don’t like that. I’m not feeling that.”
Davis also touched on Rivers’ tough love style of coaching.
“I’d play great games and (Rivers would say): ‘Go do it again.’ You know?” Davis said. “You want to hear that, ‘Hey, great job kid. Good job, man. Keep it up.’ But not, ‘Go do it again.’ So I’m off that Doc tip man.”
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