The 2008 Boston Celtics were a special team, and Doc Rivers doesn’t like that some lingering hard feelings exist between its members. He’s hoping he can help soften that.
Rivers, who is the head coach of the LA Clippers, said Saturday that he wants to help mend relationships between his former Celtics players.
“[Kevin Garnett] is getting his jersey retired next year, and I’m hoping everyone is there,” Rivers said Saturday, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “I’ll make the right calls — that doesn’t mean the right things will happen.”
As Rivers said, just because he will make an effort to patch things up does not mean it will necessarily work.
Paul Pierce has already worked to repair things between some Boston players, and Allen, who left the Celtics after five seasons to play for the rival Miami Heat in 2012. Boston and Miami were the top teams in the East, and Allen chose to play for the other side, which really upset his teammates. Players such as Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo have held a grudge against Allen. In 2017, Pierce called on them to end that grudge.
It will probably take a lot for Rondo to let go of his grudge, so Rivers should hold reasonable expectations.
