Glen Davis Says Doc Rivers Was 'Lucky' with Celtics and 'Overrated'

Glen Davis, a former NBA forward who spent parts of six of his eight seasons playing under Doc Rivers, said the Los Angeles Clippers coach was "lucky" to win a championship and is overrated.

Davis told Chris Broussard of Fox Sports on his In the Zone podcast (h/t Nate Scott of FoxSports.com): 

"

What Doc had in '08 [with the Boston Celtics] was special and he was lucky as hell … Lucky as hell. The year before that they was wearing trash bags … But then the next year they win it, now he is one of the best coaches ever? I'm just not feeling that. You know what I mean? You give credit to KG [Kevin Garnett]. You give credit to Paul Pierce. You give credit to Ray Allen. Those are the guys who made sure whatever Doc needed to be done, got done.

"

Rivers had posted a losing record in two of his first three seasons in Boston before the Celtics acquired Garnett and Allen in 2007. The Celtics went 66-16 and won the NBA championship in 2007-08, then made the NBA Finals again two years later before a combination of injuries and age caused their core to disband.

"You give credit to Danny Ainge. That's the one you give credit to," Davis said. "Because I know multiple times [Ainge] had to talk to Doc, just to say 'Hey Doc, leave em alone. Hey Doc, ease up.' I'm off that Doc tip."

Davis played for the Celtics from 2007-2011 before going to the Orlando Magic. He spent two-and-a-half seasons in Orlando before being acquired by the Clippers, who were coached by Rivers. Lightly utilized as a role player off the bench, Davis spent part of two seasons in Los Angeles and has been out of basketball since 2015.

Rivers, 55, has posted a 788-574 (.579) record in 17-plus years as an NBA coach. He has not had the level of success in Los Angeles or with the Orlando Magic, his first NBA coaching gig, as he did in Boston. The Clippers won at least 53 games in each of Rivers' first three seasons but have fallen short in the playoffs, thanks to a combination of injuries and the team's shortcomings in acquiring talent around Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

While it's become popular to criticize Rivers for his talent decisions, it's rare to hear anyone poke holes in his coaching acumen. It's also equally rare for him to be ranked among the game's mastermind technicians. The reality is that Rivers sits somewhere in the middle of NBA coaches and is properly rated by those who pay attention.