Doc Rivers Will Coach Celtics through 2011

Doc Rivers is returning to the Boston Celtics for the 2010-2011 NBA season. While Paul Pierce is busy considering his NBA free agent options, Rivers has decided to commit himself to the Boston Celtics for at least the next season.

“A lot of soul-searching with the family,” said Rivers as he responded to how he reached his conclusion to continue coaching in the NBA. “Talking to my wife, she was really the one who said, ‘You’ve got to.’ I just think she wanted me out of the house more than anything.

“My kids all said, ‘You’re a coach. That’s what you are. And you’re a parent, and we appreciate both.’ And so that mad it easier.”

That will also make life a lot easier on the Boston Celtics, a team that could be headed for the dreaded “R” word: rebuilding. With Rasheed Wallace seemingly headed for retirement, Kevin Garnett getting long in the tooth, and Paul Pierce officially putting himself on the market at a very high price, the Celtics certainly have a lot of questions to answer if they plan on returning to the NBA Finals in 2011.

One has to wonder if Doc Rivers official stance with the team will embolden the Celtics to join the ruckus that is the current state of affairs in NBA free agency. The Celtics are currently well over the cap with Ray Allen and Pierce, but if they were to let both of them go, sign-and-trade deals could be made to bring in somebody like Chris Bosh or Amare Stoudemire.

Of course, Rivers is all about bringing back the same team he had a season ago. “We want to go after this one more time, and we have Kevin [Garnett] and Paul [Pierce]and Ray [Allen] hopefully all coming back, so why not? Let’s see if we can do it one more time.”

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