Doc Rivers will know exactly what the new-look Philadelphia 76ers will deal with in this coming season.
UNCASVILLE—Doc was exactly what the doctor ordered for the Boston Celtics in 2008.
Rivers was in charge of green affairs when the Celtics flipped their fortunes by grouping Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett with incumbent franchise face Paul Pierce during the summer of 2007. As the team that unofficially tipped off the Association's era of supposed superteams, Rivers faced sizable and undeniable pressure at the helm of one of the most dangerous, if not potential-packed, job postings in NBA history.
While some prognosticators felt that the Celtics assembled too much of a good thing, Rivers instead oversaw an 8-0 start that reached 30-4 before Boston lost consecutive games for the first time. The Celtics would eventually land at 66 wins before adding the sensational 16 more in the playoffs to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the first time since 1986. Such work no doubt helped Rivers land in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and his Springfield coronation was made official last weekend.
Doc Rivers soaking in the Celtics’ 2008 Championship 🥹
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) August 10, 2026
Doc will enter the @Hoophall this Saturday (8/15) at 7pm/et on NBA TV & the NBA App! pic.twitter.com/10JLMm9ZYZ
Boston Bounces Rivers to Hall of Fame
Speaking at Mohegan Sun with the other nominees brought about plenty of New England nostalgics for Rivers, who fully admitted that he wouldn't be in attendance had he not accepted the Boston job in 2004.
"I wouldn't be here without Boston, without coming to Boston, without [then-Celtics executive] Danny Ainge and them believing in my coaching from the start. No way I would be here," Rivers said. "You see all these great teams being put together and most people don't win with them. You need guys to buy in and I had the greatest group, [Allen, Garnett, and Pierce] in particular, because they were the big three.
"They bought into me and I really believe that's why we had such quick success. When that all got together, people said we're going to have to wait a year, then you'll have a chance. None of them believed that. Neither did I."
Doc Rivers reflects on coaching Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce and the @celtics’ 2008 NBA championship during his @Hoophall enshrinement speech! pic.twitter.com/vY44KOq9vk
— NBA (@NBA) August 16, 2026
Six and the City
The latest frat of the fantastic resides in The City of Brotherly Love, as the Philadelphia 76ers assembled a royal court for LeBron James. The arrival of the aging hardwood monarch was heralded by a trade that landed ex-Celtic Jaylen Brown in a transaction that shocked Rivers, who recalled being told by green franchise legend Tommy Heinsohn to "never lose to the Sixers" during his early days with C's. It'll be harder for teams to heed that advice this season, as Brown and James join retained Pennsylvanians of note VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey.
James has earned success and endured failure through invoking the superteam trope, most notably through his famed four-year tenure with the Miami Heat. With memories of his ultimate triumph flowing, Rivers said that the ultimate difference between the 2007-08 Celtics and their slew of imitators was sacrificing individual success for the good of ending a lengthy title drought.
"You got to have the right group," noted Rivers, who later coached in Philadelphia for three seasons. "Kevin, Paul, Ray were the veterans. P.J. Brown [was also] in that group, they all wanted to win. They all were ready. They were done with all the individual stuff, they couldn't achieve anything more individually, but none of them had team success. You felt that with that group and they were willing to do anything you said and they did that for me. When you get a team that buys into you first, the coach and to the staff, and what we're trying to do and how we have to do it, then you're on your way."
No Brotherly Dud
Some will attempt to poke holes in Rivers' Hall of Fame case by questioning why he was unable to add another O'Brien Trophy to his collection.
One of his best chances likely came at the top of the decade in Philadelphia, where he was put in charge of the post-"Process" Sixers, where the famed trust was expected to yield a title. Rivers' Sixers won a playoff round in every year of his supervision but failed to reach the final four, leading to his removal from the Philadelphia post in 2023.
His sandwiching tenures offered similar stories: Rivers recently oversaw the Milwaukee Bucks' ultimately futile road to replicating 2021's success for two-plus seasons after taking over for Adrian Griffin in-season. His first stop after Boston was Southern California, where he led the heyday of "Lob City" that provided thrills that frequently fell short of hardwood nirvana.
Those experiences taught Rivers another lesson in superteam supervision: sometimes fate needs to be a sixth man.
"We were still trying to build," Rivers said of the Philadelphia and Milwaukee experiences, resigning from the latter after this past season. "I would say, for the rest of your coaching career, you're searching to try to get that 100 percent buy-in. It's tough because sometimes you have young guys who are still trying to make their careers. Then you have veterans who want to win, the mix of guys you have to have to win."
"That's when people say, 'well, they have to win, it's like you guys have no respect for winning. Winning is brutally hard. Everything has to fit at the right time and everybody has to fit at the right time."
Buck That
Next season is already set to be one of the most unique in recent NBA memory.
This NBA year will be the first that's essentially free of Rivers since 1982-83, the year before the Atlanta Hawks took him in the draft's second round out of Marquette. Rivers would split 13 playing seasons between the Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs before taking his first head coaching job with the Orlando Magic. He filled in the gaps with broadcasting work for TNT and ABC/ESPN.
Rivers' final hours likely won't be discussed in Springfield, as the Bucks bumbled to a 50-loss season with Giannis Antetokounmpo's own swan song playing in the background. Don't expect him to make one last move to atone for it though: asked what's next in his career, the 64-year-old bluntly declared "nothing" ... probably because there's literal money on the line.
"I'm trying to learn how to not do a lot," Rivers, who has also spent his newfound free time keeping track of the WNBA, admitted. "My kids have a wager on how long [my break's going to be ... Whoever says the longest. I'm going to try to do that."
Doc Rivers’ Naismith Orange Jacket. @RevealSuits 👔 #26HoopClass pic.twitter.com/q1K3EhQygA
— Basketball HOF (@Hoophall) August 15, 2026
Rivers Flows
Gaining hardwood immortality allowed Rivers to start penning a verbal tell-all to those gathered at Mohegan: recalling his collegiate breakout at Marquette, Rivers admitted that he partook in Bucks practices overseen by the late Don Nelson, jokingly calling it "the most illegal thing Nellie ever did." He also offered his own picks for the next classes, placing fellow Wisconsin basketball legend Marques Johnson and Boston protege Rajon Rondo on his oral ballot.
Time has gotten Rivers to a point where he isn't concerned about his legacy or how it's defined, a fate he's more than happy to let his media colleagues decide. His final victory is perhaps the fulfillment of a quote that his Hall of Fame neighbor George Raveling, the late overseer of the Washington State, Iowa, and Southern California men's programs, bestowed upon him during his high school days at Proviso East (IL) just outside of Chicago.
"[The game] has given me everything ... everything that I've gotten financially, family, educationally, travel experiences," a grateful Rivers said. "George Raveling had a great saying when I was the player of the year in Chicago ... He got up and said 'use the basketball and don't let the basketball use you.' It was such a profound statement for me, even as a senior in high school. I think I took that and used it for the rest of my life."
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
