The chance to coach a storied franchise and collaborate with a front office he trusts was too tempting for Glenn "Doc" River to refuse.

08:50 AM EDT on Saturday, May 1, 2004

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

AP photo Before becoming a Celtic coach, "Doc'' Rivers served as Magic coach for four- plus seasons.

BOSTON -- One can certainly understand why the Boston Celtics wanted Glenn "Doc" Rivers to coach their basketball team for the next four seasons. Why Rivers wants to work in the Hub is another question.

As the Celtics announced the signing of Rivers yesterday at the FleetCenter, team leaders expressed plenty of excitement and optimism. Basketball operations boss Danny Ainge said when Jim O'Brien resigned in January, "Doc was a name I thought of right away." CEO Wyc Grousbeck added, "There's nobody we wanted more as our coach."

But the key question of the day was why Rivers chose to partner with Ainge and Grousbeck. With as many as a half-dozen NBA coaching jobs expected to open, Rivers was all but assured of being employed somewhere next season. And since the Orlando Magic owed him a reported $5 million if he wasn't working in the league in 2004-05, the 42-year-old could afford to be choosy.

The Celtics are plagued by an overall lack of talent, lots of unproven youth and some veterans with poor attitudes. Ainge is clearly the man calling the basketball shots and the franchise has a set of owners who are very much involved, perhaps too much so.

So, Doc, why come to Boston?

"If you like basketball, I don't know how you can say 'no' to this opportunity," said Rivers. "You can't say 'no' to the Boston Celtics."

Besides the feel-good aura of the Celtics' history, Rivers said he also couldn't say no to Ainge. The two were bitter rivals back in the 1980s, with Ainge once famously diving into a scuffle and biting the finger of Tree Rollins, one of Rivers' teammates with the Atlanta Hawks. But Rivers had clashed with his boss in Orlando, John Gabriel, over personnel decisions and wanted to make sure he was comfortable with whomever would be pulling the strings for his next team.

"The organizations that have trust win," said Rivers. "It might take some time to get it right, but in the long run it works. When people ask, 'Why did you take this job?' it's because there's trust. I feel I can turn my back and close my eyes and feel very good. To me, that's very, very important."

Ainge clearly wasn't comfortable with either O'Brien or interim coach John Carroll, who was fired Monday afternoon. Ainge said finding a new coach "was my top priority," so he and Grousbeck hopped a private plane to Orlando only hours after the Carroll press conference and met at Rivers' home later that night for more than three hours.

During the discussions, Ainge said he didn't disagree with any of the tenants Rivers considered vital to coaching a winner in the NBA. "It felt like I was talking to Kevin [McHale] or some of my other best friends in the game," Ainge said.

Rivers said it didn't take Ainge long to win him over, either. The two talked about coaching in general back when O'Brien resigned, something Ainge says he did with a few other potential coaches, such as Avery Johnson, Jeff Hornacek and Paul Westphal. Ainge said he knew Rivers had been contacted about coaching jobs with other NBA teams and felt he had to act quickly.

"When Coach O'Brien quit or resigned, I allowed myself to think about [the Celtics]," Rivers said. "That's why when Danny called, my wife knew I would take it."

Ainge has expressed a desire to focus his attention on scouting, the draft and player contracts and leave the task of improving the players to the coach. He says he's found the right fit.

AP photo New Boston Celtics head coach Glen "Doc" Rivers holds a green Boston Red Sox jersey given to him by Red Sox management as he sits with Celtics general manager Danny Ainge in the Red Sox dugout in between yesterday's day-night doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Fenway Park.

"I have all the trust in Doc to turn the entire locker room and player's issues and dealings over to him and that trust gives me a great deal of comfort," Ainge said. "That trust is really hard to find. That is the number one most important thing, and it has to go both ways. I believe in Doc and Doc believes in me, and that's a great feeling."

The team Rivers takes over is remarkably similar to the one he led in his first taste of NBA coaching. He coached the Orlando Magic for four seasons, winning 41, 43, 44 and 42 games from 2000-2003. Those teams were known most for overachieving and the development of second-tier players such as Ike Austin, Darrell Armstrong and Ben Wallace. In 1999, he was the NBA's coach of the year after leading a team with four undrafted starters to a .500 record.

The Magic let most of those players leave via free agency, and this season a pared-down Orlando team highlighted only by the sublime Tracy McGrady lost 10 of its first 11 games. Rivers was fired. But the coach clearly wasn't the problem, as the Magic went on to post the NBA's worst record (21-61).

Rivers left Orlando without a playoff-series victory in four tries, including blowing a 3-1 lead to Detroit in 2003. Things certainly could've been different if gifted forward Grant Hill hadn't been sidelined for most of the last three seasons with chronic ankle injuries, but both Rivers and Ainge maintain the new Celtic coach is a work in progress. Rivers wants to push the ball more often on offense and "put pressure on the defense every time down the floor," he says.

Rivers said he's excited about coaching Paul Pierce, a player he called "a gym rat." He also said he can't wait to coach a healthy Raef LeFrentz.

Rivers loves Jiri Welsch and wanted to draft Marcus Banks for the Magic. He even said he's looking forward to coaching Ricky Davis, a player who didn't mesh well with either O'Brien or Carroll.

"Ricky is viewed upon as a wild card," Rivers said. "Coaching against him, he played hard every single minute. I know Ricky Davis is athletic and capable at times of doing special things. My job is to get him in the right spot and I welcome that challenge."

The pluses surrounding Rivers are many. As a 13-year veteran, he owns the NBA playing experience today's athlete must respect. Rivers' best years came alongside Dominique Wilkins with the Hawks. During his only all-star appearance in 1988, his locker was next to Ainge's. He played for some of the elite coaches of the era, most notably Mike Fratello with the Hawks, Pat Riley in New York and Larry Brown in a short stint with the Clippers.

"If we can work this thing out [in Boston], then it's all good for everyone," said Rivers. "I don't know if it's a gamble on my part but it's one I wanted to take."