The long awaited and much reported “transaction” of Doc Rivers leaving the Boston Celtics to coach the Los Angeles Clippers has apparently come true. Both sides agreed to the “switch” on Sunday according to ESPN contributing writer Jackie MacMullan, pending league approval. In this case those three words are the funniest part of this story.
Much to the chagrin of the NBA and Commissioner David Stern, the lead story over the past week hasn’t been the draft or the just completed playoffs. It has been the discussions between the Celtics and Clippers.
MacMullan says the Clippers will sign Rivers to a three-year, $21 million contract. This after they send a first-round pick as “compensation” to the Celtics who have agreed to release Rivers from the identical contract he has remaining on his deal in Boston. This, even though, David Stern said Friday he would not allow a “trade” including Rivers moving to LA.
Stern said the league would not approve the “trade” because Rivers’ inclusion violates the collective bargaining agreement and that the multiple trade scenarios are an obvious circumvention of league rules. The second part of the deal was to include Kevin Garnett going to the Clippers for center DeAndre Jordan.
“The teams are aware that the collective bargaining agreement doesn’t authorize trades involving coaches’ contracts. If you think those, at this point — having been all over the media for the last week — are separate transactions … I have a bridge that I would very much enjoy selling to you,” Stern said.
The quotation marks are placed because nobody really knows what to call this situation. Even if Stern is adamant about his thoughts, two
questions are raised about his comments and the continuing negotiations over the weekend.
First, One has to wonder why the NBA players association would care if a coach is traded or not. The Union is an advocate for the players, not coaches or any other front office personnel. As admitted by Stern himself, Rivers is a coach and thus, as part of the front office, not a dues paying member of the NBAPA. So at face value, that part of Stern’s thinking is off base.
Secondly, if the Clippers and Celtics actually believed Stern had any control over this deal being completed, why would they have pushed negotiations to the limit and came to an agreement? That is simple. Reports are Paul strongly “suggested” the Clippers’ pursuit of Rivers and had indicated he was ready to sign a max five-year deal if it happened. Just another case of the players running the league, not the front offices. It’s highly arguable either team did it just to see if Stern would keep his word and virtually say all the weekend work by both clubs was for nothing.
The most likely scenario is both clubs know Stern has a built in reason to allow the deal, and that escape from Stern keeping his word is the use of the word “compensation.” Stern will ratify the completion sometime over the next couple of days, or at least before the draft Thursday. This will allow Rivers to have input in any personnel moves made by the Clippers, if he hasn’t already.
All major sports Commissioners are hypocritical in their rulings on a daily basis. This is just another case of the NBA showing everyone they are just a step above the WWE and TNA in entertainment. The league has always put the value on what makes the most money for the league, rather than the pursuit of harmony and legitimate play on the court. All this happening under the leadership of Stern. Why would this deal be different than anything else?
Now will Stern keep his word? That answer is obvious.
Dave Mitchell and Mark Donahue co-host the “Ohio Baseball Weekly” show every Monday night at 9pm. Dave also host’s the “Ultimate Sports Talk” show every Thursday night at 7pm. Each show can be downloaded on I tunes and You Tube.
