He won the title of Coach of the Year for the first time in coaching, he is the king of reversals in NBA history, a championship gave him a long-term meal ticket, and he is still not afraid of finding a job, he is Doug Rivers.
Rivers' coaching career began in 1999, just three years after retiring, he received an offer from the Orlando Magic to become the head coach of the Magic team on a four-year, $6 million contract.
Although he failed to make the playoffs that year, he had 82 regular season games, a 50 percent win rate, and a 41-41 record, Rivers' coaching career debut was amazing enough, why do you say that?
Because in the 121 votes for that year's Coach of the Year, Rivers got 60 votes, ranking first, and the second place was that year's Lakers champion coach Phil Jackson, who got 53 votes, Rivers' coaching ability, was recognized by almost half of the voters.
The team had a commander, and the management of the Magic felt that it was time to give it a go, so in the following summer, the Magic and the Pistons got Grant Hill, who was then known as Jordan's successor, by signing first and then trading, and then signed the Raptors' free agent McGrady, two players of the year to join, at this time the Magic team was not satisfied, and the target of reinforcements was Tim Duncan of the Spurs.
Magic management even brought in Tiger Woods to lobby, Grant Hill personally accompanied, Duncan spent three days in Orlando, and it is said that Duncan and his family were quite satisfied at the time, and it was not until Rivers hosted a banquet for Duncan that Duncan decided to stay with the Spurs.
According to reporters at the time, at the dinner, Duncan asked, "Will the players' families be able to board the team's planes during the game?" After receiving Rivers' "no" answer, Duncan made the decision not to join Orlando.
It wasn't until later that Popovich said that Duncan didn't think about leaving the Spurs at all, but he wanted to try it in the free market to see if he was in demand, so Rivers became the scapegoat for the failure to recruit Duncan, and this time he saw the sinister nature of people's hearts.
The Magic originally wanted to create core skills and tactics with Hill as the main and Maddie as the auxiliary, but in the end, because of Hill's frequent injuries, Maddie had to take the lead alone, and Maddie lived up to expectations, under the tutelage of Rivers, not only became the league's scoring champion, but also grew into a rising star in the league.
Although the Magic qualified for the playoffs in the next three seasons, the team seemed to be cursed and never made it past the first round of the playoffs.
In the first round of the 03 season, with a 3-1 lead, the opponent Pistons pulled three games in a row, and finally missed the second round, which was reversed in the lead, which also disappointed the fans and the team's management with Rivers. This also made Rivers, known as the first rebel of the King of Reversal.
It is said that the original Pistons were ready to give up the resistance of Game 5, because Maddie said in an interview with reporters before the start of the game, "The team is now thinking about who the next opponent is." This sentence completely infuriated the Pistons, who were all civilians, and they finally eliminated the Magic, and Rivers carried the reversed pot for the first time.
And in the next '04 season, the Magic players don't seem to have recovered from the emotions that were reversed last season. The new season is a wave of 11 games and 10 losses, and the responsibility for the failure of the management is blamed on head coach Rivers, and he has accepted the fate of being fired for the first time.
Although he is out of class, he has a coach of the year, three playoffs, and a win rate of more than 50%, and this resume makes him not worry about leaving home.
In the summer of '04, Rivers, who was idle at home, received an offer from the Boston Celtics, and the team used a four-year, $20 million contract to let him command this once old powerhouse.
In his first season with the Celtics, he brought the long-awaited Celtics to the fourth place in the East in the regular season, and in the playoffs that season, he lost seven games with the Pacers.
Over the next two seasons, the Celtics, who are in a rebuilding period, have hoarded a large number of young players and draft picks, and Rivers has no record pressure.
In the 07-08 season, the team management, which had a large number of high-quality chips, in order to appease the team leader Paul Pierce, successively exchanged for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, two superstars, to form the Big Three.
Rivers, who can turn decay into magic, seized this hard-won opportunity, and played a 66-16 record in the regular season, winning the first place in the league, and Rivers was also elected as the head coach of the Eastern All-Star team.
Who would have thought that in the first round of the playoffs, they met the Atlanta Hawks, who originally thought that they could pass easily, but the tenacious Hawks pushed the game into a tie-break, and finally lost the series, and the Green Army passed with difficulty.
In the second round, he met the Cavaliers led by James, and in this round of the series, although James' scoring efficiency was average, James used tenacious defense to drag the game to the final tie-break.
If Pierce hadn't stepped up in the last game and scored 41 points against James' 45 points, it is still unknown who the two teams would have died in the end.
In the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics met the Detroit Pistons without Big Ben, and the two sides fought six games, and the Green Army had the last laugh 4-2.
In the finals facing the Lakers with Kobe, Gasol, Bynum and Odom, the best sixth man, the Green Army Triumvirate who completed the run-in was not afraid at all, even if the Colem was in full swing at the time, but the two fists were difficult to beat the six hands, and the Green Army ended the yellow-green battle with a lot of attention 4-2.
Through Rivers' efforts, it took only one season to grind the Big Three into shape, which included both Rivers' efforts and the sacrifices made by the Big Three for the team, anyway, Rivers helped the Big Three in the late stage of their peak to win the Celtics' 17th NBA championship.
So far, Rivers has also been labeled as a famous coach, and his value has also risen.
Although in the following seasons, the team failed to reach the O'Brien Cup again due to injuries and personnel changes, Rivers still relied on the 08 championship, had to eat and drink at the Celtics, and signed two contracts worth tens of millions in five years.
In 13 years, with Garnett and Paul Pierce, they were packaged and sent to the Nets by the Green Army, and Rivers also had a heart, and after communicating with the team management, Rivers, who was on a three-year contract, was exchanged for Los Angeles by the empty city with a first-round draft pick.
As far as I know, Rivers is also the first head coach in NBA history to be traded, and this trade shows that Clippers management recognizes his coaching ability.
And Rivers once again showed his ability to turn decay into magic, and in his first season with the Clippers, he led the team to the best record in history.
In the first round, they defeated the Warriors who were just about to rise, and the team also broke through the first round, and in the second round, they faced the Thunder Sanshao, who reached the finals that year, and it was not unacceptable to lose 4-2.
After the season, the Clippers also saw the hope of rising, and immediately extended Rivers with a two-year contract in advance, extending Rivers' original three-year contract to five years.
When the team traded nine for one and exchanged Chris Paul, the god of control, fans were also full of expectations for this team, which is known as the city of empty connections.
In the playoffs of the 15th season, in the face of the Houston Rockets led by Harden, the Clippers led by Harden led by 3-1, but the Rockets won three games in a row and missed the division finals. This is also the second time that Rivers has been reversed by his opponent after leading 3-1.
In the next two seasons, the Clippers seemed to be cursed, the core trio was either injured or in poor condition, and the management could not see the future in this team, so they took the initiative to make a trade, Paul, Griffin, and Jordan Jr. left the team one after another, and the Clippers also entered a rebuilding period.
The following season, Rivers once again showed his ability to turn decay into magic, and the civilian team Clippers not only reached the playoffs under his tutelage, but also defeated opponents twice against the Warriors, one of which was a shocking comeback from 31 points behind, which added a strong touch to Rivers' coaching resume.
After that, the team sold again, and after signing free agent Leonard, he traded Paul George, a first-guard player who played for the Thunder that year, to form the Pepper combination.
The Clippers with the Pepper combination in the second round of the 19-20 season, facing the Nuggets led by Jokic, took a 3-1 lead in the first four games.
So far, Rivers has also become the first head coach in history to take a 3-1 lead in the playoffs three times, and finally lose the series, and since then the title of the king of reversal has been firmly imprinted on his coaching resume.
The Clippers, who had the Pepper combination, not only failed to make it out of the West, but were also reversed with a large lead, and then the Clippers announced that Rivers was no longer the team's head coach, and he was once again the scapegoat for the team's loss.
Although the team he took over never won the O'Brien Cup again after 08 years, with his ability to turn decay into magic several times, Rivers was terminated by the Clippers and got the contract given by the NBA team again, and the Philadelphia 76ers gave him the opportunity to coach again with a five-year contract of 40 million.
And Rivers once again continued his previous coaching trajectory, in his first season in charge of the 76ers, the team achieved a 49-23 record in the first place in the East, after defeating the Wizards 4-1 in the first round, and in the second round with a 3-2 lead, the Atlanta Hawks won two games in a row and stopped in the second round, and the scapegoat for this loss became Simmons, who did not play.
After that, the team sent the disobedient Simmons to the Nets in exchange for James Harden, selected the potential newcomer Maxey, and "Earth" Embiid, under the boast of Mogou, he looked like he was about to win the championship.
But it backfired, and when facing the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, although he won the battle of Tianwang Mountain, but in the next two games, Harden was not in good shape and was eliminated by the Celtics.
This also became the fuse for Rivers' dismissal, coupled with the inability to reconcile the relationship with Harden, in order to keep Harden, Rivers once again became a victim of the team's loss.
originally thought that Rivers would have a hard time getting the opportunity to coach an NBA team, but who would have thought that the Bucks would not believe in evil, and insisted on inviting Rivers, who was idle at home, out of the mountain, and gave him a 4-year contract of 40 million, just to let Brother Alphabet taste the championship again.
However, the Bucks, who have undergone a major change, are no longer the champion team they once had, and Brother Alphabet and Lillard have not been able to run in after a season, and there is also the injury of Brother Alphabet, which made the team defeated by the Pacers in the first round.
It is conceivable that the Bucks will definitely make a move next summer, but I don't know if it will be Rivers who will take the blame this time?
Throughout Rivers' coaching career, almost every time he took over a team, the team underwent a qualitative change (except for the Bucks this year), then the team brought in star players (except for the Green Big Three), and then the team failed to realize the talent of the star players, and finally became the scapegoat for the team's loss.
Rivers' leadership ability is undoubted, but it is only in the regular season, he has the ability to pinch a group of civilian players together to form 1+1 greater than 2, but when he encounters star players, he doesn't know how to run them together, which is why he runs high and low every time he coaches.
Do you think the Bucks will fire Rivers this summer? Let's talk together in the comment section.