Boston Celtics champion big man Cedric Maxwell has some thoughts on former Celtics head coach Doc Rivers coaching Boston’s Atlantic Division rival Philadelphia 76ers, but he’s also not as much of a fan as many have been about another hire for head coach in the Atlantic Division.
Speaking on the Boston-area sports radio show Toucher and Rich, the former Finals MVP shared his thoughts on the current stop on the coaching carousel for the Brooklyn Nets, Steve Nash.
Nash is taking the place of Kenny Atkinson, who managed to turn the trash heap of detritus left over from the deal which sent much of the Nets draft assets over the last half-decade into a fun, competitive team.
Before someone in the organization’s front office was convinced that another coach would better fit the team’s high-profile offseason signings in Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, that is.
Does Maxwell think the Nash hire a wise one?
“I don’t think so, because you don’t know how [Irving and Durant] … might perform together,” he began.
“I don’t like Steve Nash because he’s a young coach who hasn’t had a team with two guys that from time to time — and let’s say it the way it is — can be devious. I would have rather had Doc Rivers in that situation, because I think that dealing with egos, he’s better equipped at doing it because he’s done it before. He did it with Paul [Pierce]; he did it with Kevin [Garnett], he did it with Ray [Allen].”
“So, I don’t like that situation,” Maxwell observed”
If anything, to the former champ, the hire of former Celtics coach Rivers would have made more sense with the Nets.
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Especially given the fraught nature of teams over the years with one of that duo of challenging personalities Brooklyn inked over last summer.
“I would have rather had Doc Rivers in in Brooklyn than in Philadelphia. But I think Philadelphia did a great job of picking up a guy who is a player’s coach, and I think he’ll help them,” he said, ” … but I don’t I don’t like where Doc is.”
For fans of the 2008 title team, it makes their relationship with its tactical architect a bit more complicated with a reinvigorated rivalry only further complicated by the defection of big man Al Horford.
And while there may be fertile soil for Doc’s ego management skills in stars Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris in terms of motivation, it’ll take a lot more than the best of the Celtics’ former coach to make a significant improvement over last year’s 76ers.
Not that we’re encouraging it or anything.
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