I know this has been making its rounds all day, but I just couldn't help myself.
Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston somehow found this gem of a website that went up during the 2006-07 season, the year that the Celtics went 24-58, suffered through an 18-game losing streak and everyone thought that Greg Oden was the answer to all of the Celtics' problems. On the site, FireGlennDocRivers.com, fans could sign a petition stating their desire for the Celtics to relieve the then-embattled coach of his coaching duties.
I took the liberty of reading through some of the signatures. Allow me to pull up some of the things that fans thought of Rivers back then.
Been saying it for over a year, we can never win with this guy. I could hardly watch last year; this year is a joke. That was hideous game. We need a fresh start. I know we are not going to win a lot this year regardless, but we need a fresh start and if Danny can't see this he should go as well.
For the betterment of the team please fire Glenn Rivers. Bringing back Jim O'Brien should be better.
Go away, I want you to stay as far away from my beloved organization as the earth's dimensions will allow. FIRE THIS LOSER NOW!
Watching Doc coach (or lack there of) our team is kind of like watching your heavy set aunt join in on the volley ball game at the family outing. Everyone kind of stands around and cringes, pretending not to look, just waiting for something horrible to happen...well its happening!! Get rid of him!!
Doc Rivers just makes stupid decisions at the end of games. This is my 100% honest opinion, and although I am only a celtics fan, I know there are thousands if not millions of people who agree with me.
He seems like a nice enough guy but he doesnt no anything about coaching. Terrible game planning, terrible substitutions, and terrible play calling all highlight his career in Boston. Not to mention the fact that he cant win a close game to save his life.
You're not going to win a championship with Doc. Matter of fact you will never win a playoff series with Doc. Doc can't even draw up a single effective play at the end of games. I'd take anybody over Doc.
The last one is my personal favorite, simply because everything that was written has been so completely debunked in every way, shape and form. There were some other gems in there too, such as a couple of signers requesting that then-assistant coach Tony Brown take over and get a shot. There was even one request for the Celtics to bring back Antoine Walker because he cared about winning.
Of course, hindsight's always 20/20 and five years later, Doc Rivers is one of the most beloved coaches in the history of the Celtics organization. The 2006-07 Boston Celtics were an absolutely horrendous basketball club. Sebastian Telfair was a starter, as was Wally Szczerbiak. Kendrick Perkins was more raw than the ground beef in your local grocery store. Ryan Gomes and an unproven Al Jefferson were fighting it out to be the second-best player on the squad. Brian Scalabrine was the second center on the depth chart.
Believe it or not, coaches actually need to have some talent on their teams to do much of anything. Phil Jackson wouldn't have won much if he had a roster that looked like this. It wasn't exactly the highlight of Doc's career, but he actually did have those young guys playing hard every night. He just didn't have the talent or experience to do anything with his hard-playing group.
Now that the Celtics have three Hall of Famers and an elite point guard to call their own, Rivers looks like a genius. In reality, he hasn't really changed anything that he was doing back in 2006. It's just that he now has players that can execute what he's asking them to do. Rivers has gone from a scapegoat to an elite NBA coach in five years. In those same five years, Jim O'Brien and Antoine Walker are out of the league while Tony Brown is still an assistant coach—with the Clippers.
Can you imagine life right now had Celtics fired Rivers after the '06-'07 season? Personally, I don't want to.
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