Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers is leaning toward leaving the team after this season, sources told the Boston Herald, but he told the newspaper Tuesday that no final decision had been made about his future.
There had been rumors in seasons past about the 48-year-old Rivers stepping down, and once again it's the tug of his family life -- not another NBA coaching opportunity -- that may pull him away.
His son Jeremiah will be a senior on the Indiana basketball team this fall. His daughter, Callie, will enter her final season as a volleyball star at Florida. And son Austin, an elite basketball prospect, will be entering his senior year in high school.
"Part of it is true," Rivers told the Herald. "Every year I sit down in the middle of the summer and I have a family discussion. We talk about what we want to do. That's nothing new, but every year it gets stronger and stronger. And I think people are making some common-sense reads. I've got three seniors next year, two in college and one in high school. That's important to me. We're all family men. We all have kids.
"Every year you've got to weigh what's best for your kids. That's just the way it is. But, I don't get into it now. I don't talk about it. I've never told anyone one way or the other, and that's how it's always been."
Rivers has one year remaining on his contract and said he told general manager Danny Ainge he didn't want to discuss a possible extension.
"Danny already brought it up, and I told him I didn't want to talk about it," Rivers told the Herald. "Danny came to me early in the year, and I said I didn't think it was fair to the players for the coach to be talking about his contract during a season. He said, 'Well, I think we need to do something,' and I said, 'Well, we've got all summer.' "
Another factor for Rivers to consider is the state of the Celtics. There is the possibility the Big Three could be broken up after this season, with Ray Allen's contract up and questions about the durability of aging stars Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
The Celtics, who with Tuesday night's loss to Chicago locked up the fourth seed, had a bumpy regular season filled with inconsistent play, injuries and head-scratching losses.
Rivers told the Herald he would not make a decision on his future during the season, saying it was the "worst time" to consider such things because "you're emotional either way about it."
"The one [thing] I will say is I'm committed to Boston," Rivers said. "It's either stay with the Celtics or I decide I need to stay more with the family."
