Doc Rivers

Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

An NBA player for 14 seasons, he was an NBA All-Star and was named one of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History.

Rivers later played college ball for Marquette, and played on the U.S. national team in the 1982 FIBA World Championship, in which he led the team to the silver medal, after missing the last shot in the final.

Rivers played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles and was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the 1983 NBA draft.

He played point guard for the Hawks from 1983 to 1991 and was later a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks, and San Antonio Spurs.

After his third season at Marquette, Rivers was drafted in the second round (31st overall) of the 1983 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks.

He graduated from Marquette by completing course work while he was an active NBA player.

After three seasons at Marquette, Rivers entered the NBA draft and was a second-round choice of the Atlanta Hawks.

Rivers played point guard for the Atlanta Hawks from 1983 to 1991, assisting star Dominique Wilkins as the team found great regular season success.

Rivers' first NBA start was against Julius Erving (Dr. J), who referred to Rivers as "Doc" and "made [him] feel like a million bucks".

On March 4, 1986, Rivers recorded a career-high 21 assists in a game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

He averaged a double-double for the 1986–87 season with 12.8 points and 10.0 assists per game.

Rivers was an All-Star with the Hawks in 1988.

In 1988, Rivers played in the NBA All-Star Game.

He received the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 1990.

After 8 seasons with the Hawks, Rivers remains their all-time leader in assists with 3,866.

Rivers later spent one year as a starter for the Los Angeles Clippers (1991–1992), two years playing for the New York Knicks (1992–1994), and two years playing for the San Antonio Spurs (1994–1996).

Rivers played for the team that held the previous record for most games played in a single postseason when the New York Knicks played in 25 postseason games during 1994.

After retiring as a player in 1996, Rivers began his NBA coaching career.

Rivers retired after the 1996 season.

During his professional career, Rivers would go on to play 864 regular-season games in which he averaged 10.9 points, 5.7 assists, and 3 rebounds per game.

He was the head coach of the Orlando Magic from 1999 to 2003, the Boston Celtics from 2004 to 2013, the Los Angeles Clippers from 2013 to 2020, and the Philadelphia 76ers from 2020 to 2023.

Rivers began his coaching career with the Orlando Magic in 1999, where he coached for more than four NBA seasons.

Rivers was named the 2000 NBA Coach of the Year in his first season with the Magic and won an NBA championship with the Celtics in 2008.

He was also an analyst for ESPN.

Rivers was a McDonald's All-American for Proviso East High School in the Chicago metropolitan area.

He was given his nickname while attending a summer basketball camp at Marquette University while wearing a "Dr. J" t-shirt of Philadelphia 76ers player Julius Erving.

Rivers has alternated on whether the nickname originated from Golden Eagles head coach Al McGuire or assistant Rick Majerus.

Rivers won the Coach of the Year award in 2000 after his first year with the Magic.

Despite having been picked to finish last in that year's standings, Rivers led the Magic close to a playoff berth.

During the Magic's free agency spending spree in the summer of 2000, Rivers tried to assemble a "Big Three" team in the NBA.

The Magic were courting free agent Tim Duncan, who came close to signing with the Magic and teaming up with fellow stars Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady.

However, Duncan re-signed with the San Antonio Spurs due to Rivers' strict policy of family members not being allowed to travel in the team's plane.

The Magic made the postseason in Rivers's next three years as head coach, but he was fired in 2003 after a 1–10 start to the season.

After spending a year working as a commentator for the NBA on ABC (calling the 2004 Finals with Al Michaels), he was hired by the Boston Celtics as their head coach in 2004.

During his first years with the Celtics, he was criticized by many in the media for his coaching style, most vociferously by Bill Simmons, who in 2006 publicly called for Rivers to be fired in his columns.

As a result of the Celtics' 109–93 victory over the New York Knicks on January 21, 2008, Rivers, as the coach of the team with the best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference, earned the honor to coach the East for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans.

On June 17, 2008, Rivers won his first and sole NBA Championship as a head coach after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

The Celtics needed an NBA record 26 postseason games to win it.

Rivers led the Celtics to the 2010 NBA Finals, where they once again faced the Los Angeles Lakers, this time losing the series in seven games.