Celtics re-sign Doc Rivers for five years

[Andrew]

Celtics give Rivers $35 million deal

Doc Rivers has agreed to a five-year, $35 million contract extension to remain coach of the Boston Celtics, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Rivers’ contract was set to expire at the end of this season. He had considered taking a leave from coaching, but after the Celtics were eliminated from the playoffs on Wednesday he told players he planned to return.

I like the move for the Celtics. I'm guessing the big three will only be together for another two or three years tops and even if they do stick around longer, I imagine the team will be in somewhat of a transition period with Rondo and perhaps Green at the forefront. I'd say Rivers has earned the opportunity to be a part of a re-tooling phase, I believe he's proven himself capable of getting the job done providing Ainge makes the right moves.

[rise]

Great move for the Celtics.

On a sad note, the Celtics Big Three probably only has one more chance for a title. After that, they'll be much too old, particularly Garnett. Paul Pierce has a few more productive years in him, and Ray Ray could go on as just a jump shooter for quite some time. But if they can't sign a solid center, like Nene, Chandler (please stay in Dallas!), or Marc Gasol, they can't compete without a solid center. They had that in Perkins, and now the best center they have is Big Baby, who isn't even a center.

[Andrew]

It depends on whether or not they can add a few more pieces, ideally much younger players who can begin to take over for the big three over the next few years; essentially what they would have liked to have done in the early 90s with Reggie Lewis since Bird, McHale and Parish were approaching retirement, before his untimely passing. Or for that matter, what they likely would've looked to do with Len Bias if not for his untimely death.

Beyond next season they'll actually have cap room to work with, since only Pierce and Rondo will be under contract out of the current group. If KG and Allen play on, they might accept smaller deals to facilitate the team's rebuilding/retooling efforts.

[NovU]

He's a tough coach that suits the Celtics's style of basketball. Opposite of Spoeltra and whom the Heat could use more. But then the trio with ego won't allow anything like this to happen. Anyways, he gets paid pretty handsomely for a coach.