Austin Rivers On Relationship With His Father: "We Know Each Other As Strictly Basketball"

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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Really good story by Arash Markazi, which kind of shatters the narrative that ensued when the Clippers traded for the "coaches son"

“She was his rock,” Austin Rivers said. “My father’s a very private person. I mean a very private person. His life outside of basketball, he doesn’t really share it with anybody.”

When Doc, in need of a back-up point guard, traded for Austin midway through last season, it was easy to point to nepotism, but the truth is Austin and Doc have never really had a true father-and-son relationship. While Doc was coaching the Boston Celtics from 2004 to 2013, Austin was growing up in Winter Park, Florida, going to Duke and getting drafted by New Orleans. The two of them have probably spent more time together over the past year and half than Austin can remember. The closest they ever actually got to having a father-son relationship was when they would visit Bettye together.

“He doesn’t really share his life outside of basketball with me,” Austin said. “He and I don’t know each other like that. We know each other as strictly basketball. A lot of people on the outside don’t understand that because people think we have a relationship like every other father and son. We just don’t. That’s because he’s been gone my whole life, and that’s fine.

"It’s worked out for the both of us. But the one person he could always really be with was his mom. That’s the toughest thing I’ve ever seen him go through; more than the Sterling stuff and even when his dad passed away. His mom was everything to him. I’ve never seen him like that.”

Doc and Austin may never have the prototypical father-son relationship many on the outside would like to think they do, but the Rivers family is now closer than they have been in years. Not only is Austin on the Clippers but Doc’s daughter, Callie, lives in Los Angeles and is a staple at home games. His youngest son, Spencer, is a guard on the UC Irvine basketball team. After the game Rivers will routinely go back to his office and hug Callie, who waits for him to finish his postgame media conference.
http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/clippers/post/_/id/8096/doc-rivers-stays-strong-in-eye-of-clippers-storm
 

Steve Dillard

wishes drew noticed him instead of sweet & sour
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Oct 7, 2003
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Between an estranged son, a daughter making sex tapes with Brandon Spikes, and his homophobic rant at officials, Doc sounds like a prince.

edit: AR is right, just dating Brandon Spikes
 
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moondog80

heart is two sizes two small
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Sep 20, 2005
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Between an estranged son, a daughter making sex tapes with Brandon Spikes, and his homophobic rant at officials, Doc sounds like a prince.

edit: AR is right, just dating Brandon Spikes
That's about as uncharitable view as one could come up with.

Estranged? The article said Doc wasn't around much because of his job, but that's about it.

The sex tape stuff was debunked by AR.

And the ref in question has said that Doc never used a gay slur.

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2015/12/report_nba_referee_bill_kenned.html

But other than that, you're right on.
 

DJnVa

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Dec 16, 2010
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Between an estranged son, a daughter making sex tapes with Brandon Spikes, and his homophobic rant at officials, Doc sounds like a prince.

edit: AR is right, just dating Brandon Spikes
Good job, good effort.
 

pdaj

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Dec 15, 2002
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From Springfield to Providence
I certainly don't condemn Rivers for this information, but I find it to be interesting and surprising. Rivers, to me, always seemed to enjoy a really tight bond with his players. He appears to be such an emotional, loving dude; I figured this generalized to his home life. The way Austin talks about Doc is a bit ... sad. He's not just saying that they spent a lot of time apart because of his father's job. They, like, still don't enjoy any aspect of father-son relationship, even today. If I were to only watch Bellichick's interviews, I would have expected him to be that way with his sons. Instead, he seems to enjoy a pretty close relationship with them.
 

moondog80

heart is two sizes two small
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Sep 20, 2005
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I certainly don't condemn Rivers for this information, but I find it to be interesting and surprising. Rivers, to me, always seemed to enjoy a really tight bond with his players. He appears to be such an emotional, loving dude; I figured this generalized to his home life. The way Austin talks about Doc is a bit ... sad. He's not just saying that they spent a lot of time apart because of his father's job. They, like, still don't enjoy any aspect of father-son relationship, even today. If I were to only watch Bellichick's interviews, I would have expected him to be that way with his sons. Instead, he seems to enjoy a pretty close relationship with them.
Could some of that be because father/coach, son/player on the same team is a tricky situation? Maybe it would be easier if Austin was on the Bucks?
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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Could some of that be because father/coach, son/player on the same team is a tricky situation? Maybe it would be easier if Austin was on the Bucks?
Probably the opposite. Austin was saying basically that when he was a kid, through college and his time as a pro in Charlotte he had no real relationship with his father, and he still doesn't have a normal one now, but this is the most he and his siblings have been around Doc.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Jan 15, 2004
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Probably the opposite. Austin was saying basically that when he was a kid, through college and his time as a pro in Charlotte he had no real relationship with his father, and he still doesn't have a normal one now, but this is the most he and his siblings have been around Doc.
Doc lived in Boston through Austin's HS years traveling back to Orlando or to see his kids play ball on off days. We've also seen Doc at his son Jeremiah's Georgetown games the night following a Celtics same day practice. People used to criticize Doc for not traveling with the team all the time as he'd either go to or from one of his sons games.

The key part to me is Austin saying how this has obviously worked out well for everyone. I mean Doc only lived with them for 3 months a year and had a rock of a wife raising the family.
 
Dec 21, 2015
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Doc lived in Boston through Austin's HS years traveling back to Orlando or to see his kids play ball on off days. We've also seen Doc at his son Jeremiah's Georgetown games the night following a Celtics same day practice. People used to criticize Doc for not traveling with the team all the time as he'd either go to or from one of his sons games.

The key part to me is Austin saying how this has obviously worked out well for everyone. I mean Doc only lived with them for 3 months a year and had a rock of a wife raising the family.
I think it's also hard for most of us to put ourselves in the shoes of someone with the mentality and commitment required to hold a position like NBA head coach. Every time I see something that deep-dives into the view of his life that Bill Belichick occasionally gives out - like the A Football Life thing in 2009 - it's absolutely incredible the sacrifices that, seemingly, every ambitious coach in the NFL has to make in order to get a shot and make a dent. He literally works 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, 9 months out of the year, and probably 70 hours a week the rest of the year. College coaches are having heart attacks from overwork. It's not melodrama or machismo, it's a simple reality of the career choice.

The people who lead professional sports teams, and frankly lots of the people who play on them, are some of the most monomaniacally driven people on the planet. The value many of us get out of a balanced life, and even the joys of being with and raising a family, may pale in their views when compared with the satisfaction they get from their careers. This, I suspect, describes Doc Rivers. He's got a family, and they're nice, sure. And he's going to provide for them, and check all necessary boxes to be a responsible parent. But his primary, overriding passion in life is basketball. While I and, frankly, most people would make a different choice, him making that choice is a big part of what makes him good at his job (and arguably, what makes him even qualified to do it).

That sort of mentality exists in plenty of professions besides sports. I've known a few people who worked directly for Larry Ellison at Oracle, most of them were on their third marriages. Likewise most serious politicians, and the senior investment bankers I've known. Elon Musk's ex-wife wrote a hell of a book about him, and it echoes the theme. I suspect most of us have met people to whom that description applies. But the level of focus does seem frequently correlated with success in extraordinarily demanding careers. Which direction the causation goes, I sure couldn't say. But to most normal, well-adjusted people, it's unusual to the point of being bizarre.
 

Cellar-Door

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Doc lived in Boston through Austin's HS years traveling back to Orlando or to see his kids play ball on off days. We've also seen Doc at his son Jeremiah's Georgetown games the night following a Celtics same day practice. People used to criticize Doc for not traveling with the team all the time as he'd either go to or from one of his sons games.

The key part to me is Austin saying how this has obviously worked out well for everyone. I mean Doc only lived with them for 3 months a year and had a rock of a wife raising the family.
Yeah, I'm pointing out that it has nothing to do with the player/coach dynamic, he was saying his relationship with his father was pretty limited and focused around basketball.
Austin seems to accept that, and recognize the good things he had from a supportive mother, and the opportunities that came from his father's work (and money). They pretty clearly have an unusual relationship, I don't know that I'd call it estranged, but unusual for sure. I mean in Austin's own words Doc was gone most of his life, and they don't have much of a normal father/son relationship.