| | Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. -- All things considered, Doc Rivers would
rather have been somewhere else Wednesday.
The playoffs began without his Orlando Magic last weekend, and
winning the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA's Coach of the Year
didn't soothe the pain of being eliminated from contention in the
next-to-last game of the regular season.
|  | | First-year coach Doc Rivers guided a Magic team with marginal talent to within one game of the playoffs. |
"I tell you, I would have loved to have been in Indiana
receiving this award," said Rivers, whose team finished a
surprising 41-41 but finished a game behind Milwaukee in its bid
for the eighth position in the Eastern Conference.
The Bucks meet the Pacers in Game 2 of their best-of-five,
first-round series Thursday night.
"Having said that, getting it is still nice ... If you look at
our organization, we're absolutely headed in the right direction.
As tough as that loss to the Bucks was for me and the players, it
makes you want it more now. It makes you put a value on what it
takes to get things done."
The Magic finished with a .500 record despite launching a
massive rebuilding project that began with the trading of four of
five starters from last year's team, including All-Star Penny
Hardaway.
Starting four players -- Darrell Armstrong, John Amaechi, Bo
Outlaw and Ben Wallace -- who were not drafted by any NBA team,
Rivers kept the Magic in contention until the final week with a
hustling, up-tempo style that relied on defensive pressure to
create scoring opportunities.
Rivers, who played 13 seasons for the Hawks, Clippers, Knicks
and Spurs before retiring in 1996 to become a television analyst
for Turner Sports, is the first coach in league history to win the
award without leading his team to the playoffs.
He's the third to receive it with a team that posted a record of
.500 or below, and the fifth to be recognized after his first
season, joining Harry Gallatin (1962-63), Johnny Kerr (1966-67),
Mike Schuler (1986-87) and Larry Bird (1997-98).
|
Coach of the Year voting
|
|
Coach
|
Votes
|
|
Doc Rivers, Magic
|
60
|
|
Phil Jackson, Lakers
|
53
|
|
Paul Silas, Hornets
|
3
|
|
Jerry Sloan, Jazz
|
2
|
|
Pat Riley, Heat
|
1
|
|
Scott Skiles, Suns
|
1
|
|
Butch Carter, Raptors
|
1
|
"It's gratifying because of the fact that people undervalued
our players. I didn't mind them undervaluing me because I hadn't
coached. But I did mind them undervaluing my players," Rivers
said. "I had felt from day one that we had better players than
what everyone thought we did. And I think by the end of the season,
that proved to be true."
Rivers received 60 votes from a 121-member panel to win by seven
votes over Phil Jackson, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to the
league's top record. They were followed in the balloting by
Charlotte's Paul Silas (3), Utah's Jerry Sloan (2) and Miami's Pat
Riley, Phoenix's Scott Skiles and Toronto's Butch Carter (1 each).
"I personally voted for Jerry Sloan with the Sporting News,
he's never won the award," Jackson said. "He's a guy who's teams have been at the top for the last decade. That he would get (only) two votes is absolutely ludicrous."
Rivers said last week that he thought Jackson deserved the honor
because teams are judged by the number of games they win, and
coaches should be, too. He changed his tune Wednesday.
"I was being diplomatic," he said, breaking into laughter.
"To be honored next to names like Red Auerbach, Phil Jackson and
Lenny Wilkens is a tremendous honor. I was joking today that the
only time I had heard a Phil Jackson comparison to was that: 'Boy,
he's no Phil Jackson.' To be honored with him is real nice."
|
Rookie Coaches of the Year |
|
Year, Team
|
Coach
|
Record
|
|
1999-00, Orlando
|
Doc Rivers
|
41-41
|
|
1997-98, Indiana
|
Larry Bird
|
58-24
|
|
1986-87, Portland
|
Mike Schuler
|
49-33
|
|
1966-67, Chicago
|
Johnny Kerr
|
33-48
|
|
1962-63, St. Louis
|
Harry Gallatin
|
48-32
|
Rivers replaced Hall of Famer Chuck Daly, who retired last May,
and inherited a team that shared the best record in the Eastern
Conference during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season.
But the Magic also were beaten in the first round of the
playoffs by the younger, more athletic Philadelphia 76ers and
management faced a critical decision on whether to try to keep
Hardaway from fleeing as a free agent or rebuild without a marquee star.
General manager John Gabriel opted for the latter. And by
season's end, the Magic made 37 player transactions involving 38
different players and cleared about $18 million under the salary
cap to try to lure one or two big-name free agents to town this
summer.
In addition, Orlando has accumulated nine first-round draft
picks over the next five years, including three lottery picks in
June.
"You think about what's happened here and it's amazing,"
Armstrong said.
"People are still going to say we overachieved. But we didn't.
Overachieving is when a high school team beat a pro team or
something like that. We felt like we had talent as good as any
team, and Doc was part of that. We worked hard. That's how you win
games. That's why it's not overachieving."
| |
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Doc Rivers credits his team for his award.
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