Anybody have insider story about Doc's offers?

[TheDude]

on espn insider the title says he has other offers maybe. anybody have espn insider and can fill us in on who may be interested?

[Boondocks]

Knowing insider it'll probably be just wild speculation. I'm sure weez (theposterformerlyknownasweaseldom) will help us out in a bit.

[Admin]

Where will Doc Rivers resurface?

By Chad Ford

NBA Insider

Send an Email to Chad Ford Tuesday, November 18

Updated: November 18

10:00 AM ET

Doc Rivers was kicked to the curb early Tuesday morning after the Magic suffered their 10th consecutive loss. The team named Rivers' assistant, Johnny Davis, as the interim head coach.

"It's happened, and I'm helping Johnny get ready to take over," Rivers told the Orlando Sentinel.

The move comes as no big surprise. The Magic have quietly been descending into lottery [censored] all season. The losses were taking their toll, but it was the defection of the team's most important player, Tracy McGrady, that was the final straw for Rivers.

On Friday, Insider reported that McGrady and Rivers were feuding and McGrady was quietly pushing for the team to make the move. That left Magic COO John Weisbrod and GM John Gabriel with very little wiggle room.

There's no question Doc Rivers will coach again, but where?

Rivers is a popular figure in Orlando, but sources claim he had lost most of the players in the locker room.

According to one Eastern Conference GM, Rivers' firing shouldn't come as a surprise. "I've always felt that a coach has a shelf life of three or four years unless he's winning championships," the GM told Insider. "The motivational tatics that work on players in the beginning grow old with time. If players aren't seeing the results on the floor, they quit responding. It happens with every coach, even the good ones."

Rivers had just begun his fifth season coaching the Magic.

On Monday, GMs around the league were already speculating on where Rivers would land next.

"I think he's a great coach," one GM said. "Doc will have a job as soon as he's ready for one."

Rivers hasn't said whether he's ready to take a job now or if he'll wait until the summer to look for work. Most top head coaches shy away from taking over a team once the season begins, because it takes them too long to install their new system.

However, you can expect several big name teams to seriously consider making a pitch to Rivers now. Insider conducted an informal poll of eight GMs and two assistant GMs on Monday afternoon.

Five believed Rivers would be the next head coach of the Knicks. Three believed he'd take over the Bulls. And two thought the Hawks, now under new management, would be his destination. None of the 10 polled thought Rivers would wait until the summer before returning to the bench.

Of course, all three teams mentioned have head coaches under contract. But with all three stumbling out of the gates, the possibility of a coaching change or two certainly isn't far-fetched.

Insider breaks down the top contenders for Rivers' services:

New York Knicks: They're off to a 3-7 start under head coach Don Chaney, but GM Scott Layden told reporters on Thursday that he was Chaney's "biggest fan." Many NBA observers believe this is where Doc has always wanted to coach.

Rivers spent two and a half seasons in New York as a player and has an affection for the city and the national spotlight the Knicks provide. The problem is, Rivers probably doesn't want to step out of one bad situation and into another. The Knicks have less cap flexibility than the Magic and have been slow to make any dramatic changes to their roster.

If Antonio McDyess is healthy and Layden can find a way to pry Jamal Crawford away from the Bulls (see below), perhaps Rivers would consider. But short of some serious talent upgrades, it's hard to believe Rivers would want a team with too many over-priced veterans and not enough young talent.

Chicago Bulls: The Bulls offer Rivers his best shot of winning. The team is loaded with talent, has plenty of assets and is underachieving at the moment. Rivers always has yearned to have more than just one superstar on his roster. In Chicago he'd have three potential ones.

To make things even more interesting, remember that Rivers is an Illinois native. He played high school ball at Proviso East High in Maywood.

Don't count out the glory factor, either. Whoever gets the Bulls to the playoffs after the five-season drought will be a hero in Chicago. The Bulls have the raw pieces, they just need someone to put them together.

Coach Bill Cartwright has done an admirable job, but he's had an uneasy relationship with several of his younger players. New GM John Paxson probably doesn't want to fire Cartwright, but the opportunity to get a name coach like Rivers might be too good to pass up. Paxson has made it clear the Bulls need to make the playoffs this year. You've got to believe Rivers gives them a great shot.

Atlanta Hawks: Now that the Hawks have new ownership and will soon have new management, this may be the perfect time to get in on the ground floor of a rebuilding situation headed in the right direction.

This may be one of the few spots in the NBA where Rivers could hold both the GM and head coaching jobs. He often clashed in Orlando with Gabriel and made no secret about his desire to call the shots on the talent the team should acquire.

The Hawks aren't any good right now, but they do have a few young building blocks with Jason Terry, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Boris Diaw. The team also has enough other assets to make some moves to bring in the personnel Rivers might want.

The Hawks aren't the sexiest destination for Rivers, but he spent eight years in Atlanta as a player and professes a great loyalty to the franchise. Hiring Rivers is exactly what the Hawks need to begin energizing one of the smallest fan bases in the NBA.

His team won't win right away, but with a few good moves in trades, Rivers would have the chance to turn around a moribund franchise.

Around the League

The firing of Doc Rivers may just be the first of several moves made by Magic COO John Weisbrod to stop the bleeding in Orlando.

"We had become increasingly concerned that this team was not about to right itself and get back on track," Weisbrod said. "There was a culture of losing developing that was very concerning and felt now was the time to make a move."

"We don't want to develop a culture of losing around here. And we don't want to play 50 or so meaningless games down the stretch this season. I just thought the earlier we did this the sooner we could start to change the course of this season."

For now Johnny Davis will be the head coach. According to Weisbrod, "We felt strongly that he's the right man for this job." That should end, at least for the moment, speculation that Scott Skiles or Isiah Thomas may be coming to the rescue in Orlando. If the Magic continue to lose, however, Weisbrod may bring in a new GM to start looking for a new head coach.

That's why GM John Gabriel is probably the next guy with his head on the chopping block. Gabriel said in a statement Tuesday that "With this move there is no less work or responsibility in store for any of us. We will continue to do everything possible to make this team better."

The problem is that the Magic don't have a lot of wiggle room to make the changes they feel are necessary. The team needs help at the point and in the middle. Right now, the team's first-round pick, Reece Gaines, looks years away from helping the Magic. The experiment of playing Juwan Howard at center isn't working. Moving Drew Gooden to small forward also hasn't worked. With sharp shooter Pat Garrity out for an extended period with an injury, the Magic are short handed, making it tough to make a meaningful trade.

There's been talk that the Magic have shown interest in players such as Brent Barry, Jerome James, Jamal Crawford, Jamaal Tinsley and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. However, it doesn't appear that the Magic have the juice to get any of the deals done.

The problem the Magic continue to run into is that their first-round draft picks have failed to develop. Over the past four drafts, the Magic have taken Gaines, Ryan Humphrey, Steven Hunter, Jeryl Sasser and Mike Miller. The Magic were able to parlay Miller and Humphrey into Gooden and Gircek, but the failure of players like Hunter and Sasser to pay any dividends explains why the team doesn't have a real starting point guard or center right now.

Gabriel's failure in the draft (though some say Rivers was as much or more to blame for these picks) may come back to haunt him. The Magic just don't have enough assets to get the type of player they need in return. They're not trading McGrady, and after him, their best asset is probably Giricek (he's in the last year of his deal) or Gooden -- two guys they really don't want to trade.

Gabriel's still considered one of the better GMs in the league and his history with the franchise makes him tough to fire. A new GM won't be able to fix this overnight, but a fresh set of eyes may be more willing to shake things up.

Does Knicks GM Scott Layden really want to make the Knicks attractive to a coach like Doc Rivers? Then he should quit fooling around with his unrealistic offers for Crawford and Ilgauskas and work out something with the Bulls and Cavs.

Jamal Crawford

Point Guard

Chicago Bulls

Profile

2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

10 13.3 2.7 4.6 .402 .870

Clearly, Crawford is available and the Bulls have shown interest in some of the Knicks players. What if the Knicks have to give up a first-round pick to acquire Crawford? So what. He's the type of young, energetic guard they've been looking for.

Several deals make sense for the Bulls. Of course, Bulls GM John Paxson is going to want to pawn off one or two bad salaries on New York. A trade of Crawford and Eddie Robinson for Charlie Ward, Othella Harrington, the rights to second-round pick Milos Vujanic and a Knicks No. 1 pick works. The Bulls get some cap wiggle room (they can even waive Ward by Jan. 10 and get $4 million off the cap now) and the Knicks get two young players for little in return.

A suggestion on Monday by the Chicago Tribune's Sam Smith that the Knicks trade Ward, Harrington and Antonio McDyess for Crawford, Robinson and Jalen Rose works for the Bulls, but doesn't get it done for the Knicks. If the Bulls made that move, they could be looking at roughly $15 million in cap room next summer. However, if you're Layden, I'm not sure what you do with Crawford, Rose, Robinson, Allan Houston, Keith Van Horn and Shandon Anderson. The move doesn't address the Knicks' needs at power forward and center and crams their backcourt with too many guys who need the ball. Besides, the Bulls have already learned that it's suicide defensively to put Crawford and Rose together in the same backcourt.

The Knicks have also shown interest in Ilgauskas. The Cavs are trying to get more cap room for next summer and getting Ilgauskas' $14.5 million off the books would put them roughly at $18 million under next summer.

What would it cost the Knicks? Antonio McDyess. Regardless of whether McDyess is healthy, his contract comes off the books next summer. If he is really ready to play, he gives the Cavs an athletic scorer and defender in the post who could propel them into the playoffs. If he plays well and appears healthy, the Cavs will own his Bird rights and could re-sign him. If he continues to struggle with injuries, the Cavs can let him go and spend their money elsewhere.

The addition of Ilgauskas, Crawford and Rivers should be enough to push the Knicks in the playoffs. Could Layden pull it off?

What's up with Jamaal Tinsley's lack of playing time in Indiana? He went from starter last season to playing in just three games and 13.3 minutes this year.

Jamaal Tinsley

Point Guard

Indiana Pacers

Profile

2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

3 2.3 1.0 2.3 .231 .000

"We've never been in a situation before we're we've had other viable options," Pacers president Donnie Walsh told Insider. "I think Rick prefers to go with experience."

Tinsley's benching has led to rampant speculation that the Pacers are trying to move him. Walsh claims the rumors are bogus.

"I think you get other GMs speculating that because of the situation," he said. "Obviously anyone is tradable for the right price, but I don't think we have any intention of moving Tinsley. We haven't given up on him."

How desperate are the Heat to get out from under Eddie Jones' contract? Several GMs told Insider on Monday that the Heat were trying to package Caron Butler along with Jones. That comes as a major surprise considering Butler's stellar rookie season with the Heat.

Will it be enough to get a team to swallow the four years and $55.8 million remaining on Jones' contract? Maybe.

"It's tempting," one GM told Insider. "I think everyone likes Butler a lot. You have to ask yourself, is getting the rights to Butler worth $55 million over the next four years."

Would the Blazers do that deal for Rasheed Wallace? Wallace would give the Heat another big and a ton of cap room next summer. For Portland, Butler would be a nice young replacement for Wallace at small forward and the addition of Jones would free the Blazers up to move Bonzi Wells to a team like the Raptors for cap space in return.

Speaking of Wells it looks like he's in more trouble in Portland. Wells got into a verbal spat with coach Mo Cheeks during Monday night's game and never made it back off the bench.

"There is friction. You can write it," Cheeks told the Oregonian. "That incident happened and we have to deal with it. I don't have a concern with it. I'm going to deal with it, and then I'm going to put it aside."

Cheeks used Qyntel Woods in place of Wells. "Whatever Bonzi said made Cheeks mad," said Woods. "I don't know what it was or how it happened. I didn't see it. I don't know. It meant more playing time for me, but it also hurt the team. We need Bonzi on the floor to win. If winning keeps me on the bench, I can deal with that, but . . . "

[Boondocks]

[Packfill]

Well, hopefully Doc desides to sit out the rest of the year and then pick his spot in the summer. (really, why not rest up, collect a paycheck, maybe do some TV work and then pick your team with a full off season to work with). Then maybe the new ownership can offer him both the GM and coaching gig - assuming the Hawks continue to yuck it up this year.

Best bet is for the Hawks to not make any trades this year because it will be easy to trade Theo/Reef/Hendu/Terry this summer because of the short term contracts. Correct me if I am wrong but Theo, Reef, Hendu and Crawford will all only have a year left after the conclusion of this season and Terry will only have two. The incoming coach would have alot of flexibility to create the team of his choosing.

[Playmaker0017]

If we don't jump on this and lose him to another team, I would really be peeved.

Stotts is awful. His system is obviously flawed. He can't control his players and we seem to be losing motivation quickly.

We need someone to come in here that will demand respect. I think Wilkens would do it. But, Rivers would also do it.

I hope we don't pass him by.

Play.

[Diesel]

I found it interesting that the Magic cited a culture of losing was developing as the reason why Doc was fired.

Truth is that Tmac wanted him gone and Gabe and Doc never saw I to I on much. However, culture of losing is what we have now. Jackson readily points it out. It's time to move Stotts and get Doc in here as GM/HC.

I know that nobody at AOL has the balls to pull that move, but that's a bit of what is needed to contend.

[Playmaker0017]

Diesel,

I am not sure if Doc is the correct coach, but anyone is better than what we have.

Stotts is awful and you can hear it in the player's voices and in their responses in interviews that they aren't pleased with the state of the union in Hawksville.

Jackson's comment about "everyone should feel desperate from the coach on down" is a signal.

I can honestly say, I think Reef is a beaten man. I think he can't stand where he is. Isn't it obvious? Opposing players are asking what is wrong with him and pointing to his lack of desire right now. I truly think Stotts has removed him from the gameplan and it's killing him.

I saw Reef get taken out last night and he rolled his eyes. You could see his look. When he was talking to Dion last night, Dion was trying to walk away. I saw him, in frustration, just push people. If you could measure Reef's boilign point -- he's at it. Something has to give.

Play.

[chillzatl]

I give Doc his props. He got a lot out of a little in Orlando, for one season.

He took a group of players without a star, [censored], without a Marquee player, and almost made the playoffs.

And what did he do every year after that? Nothing more. He got a 30ppg star in Mcgrady and only won a few games more. He got more quality players and didn't win any more games.

He's a good coach but he's not great. There's nothing on his resume, except one overacheiving season, that makes him look any better than stotts.

If stotts had any one player that came with the energy and heart that Mcgrady does, his record would be just as good as Docs.

[Diesel]

Doc is a [censored] good answer.

Come on Chillz. Are you on Stott's payroll or what.

Had Doc had Grant Hill, he would have won the East.

Had Doc not made the trade for Hill and Had Wallace and Atkins he would have won the east.

The bottom line is ONE Player cannot win a championship. That's not really Doc's fault. Orlando engineered itself into a position where they only had 1 player. Gooden and Giricek are too young right now. Hill's 10 million dollars doesn't help.

[chillzatl]

c'mon man, why do people try to treat Doc like he's the golden child? The guy has never done better than 7th or 8th in THE EAST. It's not like we're talking about a tough conference. What makes him stand out as a great coach? besides that one magical season where he took a team of scrubs and almost made the playoffs...in the east.

He's not a bad coach but he's not a great proven coach either. there's nothing on his resume that suggests we're going to become winners with him at the helm.

[Playmaker0017]

McGrady would love Stotts, because he would be allowed to shoot whenever he wants... but Stotts wouldn't have any control.

We'd probably be about the same. McGrady is a little on the overrrated side. He's a good scorer, but other than that...

I'll just say, Tim Duncan he isn't. MJ he isn't.

Play.

[Playmaker0017]

Chillz,

And there is even less than Doc's NOTHING on Stott's resume.

Worse yet, if you watch the team, you'd see that we don't look like we are getting better.

In fact, we look worse. We avoid our best players on offense. We run awful sets. We have one of the worst substitution patterns in the league.

Stotts is not a good coach. As much as I would not want a coaching change, and I am not sure that Doc is the answer, anything would be better than progressively regressing under Stotts.

Play.

[chillzatl]

Just a week or so again, several here, including Diesel, openly expressed that they felt they'd seen a change in the team. That they looked like they were starting to grasp the system they were being taught. So now, a week later, they aren't?

C'mon, that's nonsense. Stop making excuses for players that don't want it enough to give 100% for 48 minutes.

[Playmaker0017]

Chillz,

Peopel expressed hope because we WANT us to be good. We WANT something to cheer about.

We will make it up, if we have to.

The simple fact is, I haven't liked very much of what I have seen. I think we forget that we play our best ball when we smash Reef into the paint.

If Stotts was a good coach, he'd force Reef in the post 87% of the time. Instead Reef is playing his role as a swingman/screen runner.

We expressed hope. Nothing more.

Play.

[TheDude]

for the post...

[Diesel]

Notice, I talk about Stotts. I'm not praising him or condemning him but these are just the facts as I see them. Moreover, note that I would love to have Stotts replaced by Fratello... Moreover, replacing him with Doc would be an upgrade as well. I think Stotts need a team that's rebuilding (period). He has far too many things to learn to be with our guys who need to win.

I think Doc will:

1. Define roles.

2. Motivate.

3. Doc's play calling has been suspect but who knows?

4. Set goals... We have to set goals for our team.

In reply to:

---

1. Is Terry Stotts smart enough to be a winning coach in the N.B.A.?

I think this is an interesting question. I think Stott has good experience and people around him... But with all his experience, he's still learning. I think it would have benefited him a lot to have a couple of more veterans with Winning experience on the team. Somebody like Smitty would have been nice to say what needs to be said... The parts of coaching:

A. Defining roles. IN a sad way, I think Stotts have defined some roles. I say sad because I don't agree with how he has defined them but he's much better than Lon's do what you want system.

B. Plays. I keep hearing of this exhaustive play book that Stotts has created. That's good. I think he has a very good guy in Armond Hill on the bench with him. The problem is time. If we have a playbook, it will be some time before this team is able to operate them and that still will be according to the aptitude of the PG.

C. Motivator. Yes, the coach must motivate. Stotts has been bad at this until recently. The fact that he's not afraid to bench anybody is good. He needs that kind of attitude to bring in better focus. Still, he has to work on small things like our players arguing with the refs.

D. Setting Goals. Every coach should set a goal for his team. I think Stotts have shyed away from that in the press. I can only hope that he has some between he and the team.

2. How smart are the assistant coaches that the Hawks now

have?

We have some pretty good ones. I like Hill. He's an experienced guy. Has been a head coach in college but his better experence came from playing at Princeton. I like Larry Smith. He was a part of Houston's winning seasons. He was also a good player in College and pros. Boylan has a lot of experience. He's a guy who has more bench experience than most coaches. I remember him being an assistant to "The Great ONe" back in Cleveland. I think he worked with Mark Price and with Reef in Vancouver. I don't know where he went after that.

I think that's it. I think Harold Ellis will make the move from Scout to Coach sooner or Later.

3. How smart are the players on the roster?

Each player is as smart as his experience. What I mean by that is that you hardly ever see a "smart" rookie. I think all players have an aptitude to learn and adapt. Of all of our players, I would say that one who has shown the most aptitude about the game are Theo, Jackson, and Vaughn. Or at least these are the guys that make the least number of mental errors.

ONe thing you have to consider though is that the players are an extension of their experiences. None of these guys have been coached by a great coach save maybe Vaughn, Jackson, and Theo. Still, JT, SAR, Hendu, and Even Glover.. Needs a kick in the pants from time to time. That's why I would love for Fratello to be coach. Not because he's a great coach, but he's a guy capable of lighting a fire under these guys and helping them to overcome mental errors. Many of the problems we have are from:

1. Not Hustling.

2. Mental Errors.

3. Other coaching defects.

Can Stotts clear it up? I don't know. I think he's showing that he's willing to change.

---