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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND

February 18, 2011

Doc Rivers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Q. What were your thoughts when you first heard that Jerry Sloan resigned in the middle of the season?
DOC RIVERS: In one way, I was saddened by it because he's just been such a staple in our league. He's like been the rock. You think of Utah and the NBA and you think of this solid organization, this solid guy that's always going to be there, I thought forever.
In the other way, I said it the day before he resigned, someone asked me about him and I said, "Sloan will be one of those guys that will Wake up one morning and say I'm done." I said it literally the day before; I didn't think he would do it that way.
I thought he was just great for our league and it's sad not to have him around.

Q. The reports that he could not co-exist with Williams; do you buy into that?
DOC RIVERS: You are going to have arguments and stuff like that. You just hope the day that you decide to quit or you get fired, one of the two, and you don't have an argument the day before. Because whoever it's with is going to get the blame. So I never buy into that stuff.

Q. How do you talk about the balance of making them work and push them like you need to?
DOC RIVERS: It's a players league because they are great players but players want to be coached. I have always believed that. I think that's the biggest misnomer in our league that the players don't want to be coached. They absolutely want to be coached and it's our job to coach them and our job to coach them in the best way we can and what we do. Sometimes it may not vibe with that guy or that player, but coaches can never worry about that.
But yeah, player league, it should be. We have the best players in the world.

End of FastScripts

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