Now That Doc Rivers Is Done Coaching He's Starting To Air Out All The Dirty Laundry Around James Harden And Ben Simmons

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It was only a matter of time that Doc Rivers started to expose all the dirty laundry that ultimately forced him to get out of coaching and back into the TV booth. I'm actually excited for that transition because I loved when Doc used to be on broadcasts in the early 2000s after his gig with the Magic, mostly because he's so much more open and personable as a media guy opposed to a head coach (as you would expect). 

Now that he's free from the shackles of coaching, we're starting to get more and more details around how he even ended up in this position in the first place, and he certainly didn't hold back

Listen, I'll always be thankful for Doc for what he did for my favorite basketball team in 2008, but I think we need to pump the brakes here for a second and tell the entire truth. Doc isn't doing media now solely because of his relationship with James Harden. While it's definitely believable that Harden probably gave Morey a "Doc or me" ultimatum, Doc was absolutely responsible for his own demise as well. Where were the coaching adjustments during their series with the Celtics? You had long stretches of Joel Embiid not even touching the ball in the biggest games of their season. Sorry, that's not James Harden's fault. Sure he didn't show up either, but Doc's lack of in game adjustments should not be overlooked.

It's also not all that uncommon when you blow a 3-2 lead on top of all the other early previous playoff exits that a team changes coaches. They've had the talent, so it's pretty natural for the focus to shift to the coach. Remember, nobody has blown more 3-1 and 3-2 playoff leads than Doc.

Of course, this wasn't all about Harden. Now that Doc can say whatever he wants, we finally heard him tell his true and honest feelings toward Ben Simmons. It's pretty obvious he thinks Simmons stinks and doesn't actually care about getting better. Is that totally wrong? Sometimes the truth hurts. Again, Doc had his own issues in that Game 7 vs ATL despite his willingness to basically throw Simmons under the bus postgame, but I don't think anything he said is all that crazy. 

Now that we have Media Doc, I fully expect this to be a thing all season. When he calls Clippers games, I bet we get more behind the scenes nuggets from his time there. Same with Philly. It's not like this is going to jeopardize him getting another job one day if he wants, not in a league that loves to recycle head coaches who have won a ring. With that in mind, I say go nuts. Give us all the details of how you really feel and what it was really like. Maybe throw in some personal accountability here and there as well, but really I'm just interested in the drama.