Doc Rivers enjoyed an excellent career as an NBA player, and then took it to the next level as an NBA head coach. Rivers is now a prominent analyst on the ESPN/ABC broadcasts after 24 years as a head coach.

He spent 5 years as head coach of the Orlando Magic, 9 years with the Boston Celtics, 7 years with the Los Angeles Clippers and 3 years with the Philadelphia 76ers.

He has had various levels of success, but the most came with Boston Celtics. He coached the Celtics to the NBA title in 2008 and led them back to the NBA Finals in 2010.

Rivers had been with the Magic before he agreed to become the Celtics bench boss, and he credited Boston executive Danny Ainge for making it very difficult to say no to Boston.

In a recent story with Boston.com, Rivers explained that Ainge made a “boss” move in asking him to coach the Celtics.

“I was going to turn down the Celtics job because I had just left Orlando, I wanted a year,” Doc Rivers recalled. “Danny calls me and says, ‘Hey, can we talk?’ And I said, ‘Yeah’, I said, ‘When?’ [He said] ‘Now.’ I said, ‘What do you mean now?’ He said, ‘Look outside your window.’

“Danny just flew all the owners up to Orlando without asking me. He’s ringing the doorbell. So he comes in, and we’re sitting there and sitting there, I’m like, ‘The hell.’ It’s a boss move. It was cool.”

Rivers coached the Celtics from 2004-05 through the 2012-13 seasons. Rivers played with the Atlanta Hawks, San Antonio Spurs, New Your Knicks and the Clippers during his playing career. He averaged 10.9 points and 5.7 assists during his career.