Doc Rivers is an American Professional Basketball coach. He is best known for being the Head Coach of the 2008 NBA Champions Boston Celtics and until last season for the Los Angeles Clippers. In a career spanning over two decades, he is well-respected as one of the most competent coaches in the game. In the first episode of the fantastic Netflix series, ‘The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules for Life,’ Rivers discusses lessons he learned from his successful championship run in 2008 and dealing with racist remarks from the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Let’s dive into Doc Rivers’ Rules for Life.
The first thing he tells his players: I am human and I am going to make mistakes. Every decision I make is for the good of the team even if it is not good for you or me. If it’s good for the team, it’s good.
Doc Rivers’ Rules for Life #1: Finish the Race
People will tell you something is unrealistic and ask you to set lower goals, but you have to decide whether you are willing to do that. If you want to pursue something, finish the race you have started. Don’t stop because people are telling you it’s not possible. Rivers’ teachers advised him to be realistic when he said he wanted to be a professional basketball player.
It’s a great goal and maybe it’s too early right now but when you do finally settle on one, just finish the race.
– Advice from Doc’s dad to him
The morning routine is like clockwork, a preparation routine every day. Every day, he gets up, goes through his workout, and goes to his office in the early hours of the day. He recalls how his attitude towards the game used to be when he was growing up. He called it playing basketball, never called it practice. Basketball is a game to be loved, not something torturous that is to be done for the sake of it. We must view our work as something we love. Otherwise, it will be tough.
Some people like getting to their work earlier than anyone because they enjoy the quiet time and get an early start on their day.
You must love what you do because you will spend nearly 40 years doing it and be happy. You will also have to make a lot of sacrifices along the way, which you will be able to make only if you love your job. He recalls how he used to miss important things on a personal front because he used to be working or on the road with the team. In our lives, too, there will be aspects of our jobs that would require us to make sacrifices and aspects which we don’t necessarily like but deal with to succeed in the long run.
Doc Rivers’ Rules for Life #2: Don’t Be a Victim
When the Los Angeles Clippers team owner made racist remarks that went public, Rivers and the team were shocked by the incident. Rivers admits questioning his decision to leave Boston and come to the Clippers. For Rivers and many players, it was incredibly awkward to be in a position where the person you work for might feel this way about you. It’s a crossroads, and how you handle this may very well define what kind of a person you are.
There was a practice and I didn’t know what to wear. I kept putting on my Clippers jersey, the one that said LA Clippers, Coach, and I took it off. I didn’t know what I should do.
– Doc Rivers, the day after the remarks went public
You may find yourself torn between two conflicting parts of yourself. Whenever a situation presents itself, don’t be a victim. You will face adversities you didn’t want or ask for and deal with them. You are put in situations where you have no prior knowledge or education, and you will deal with them; you will get some of them wrong because you can’t get all of them right all the time.
My name is Glenn Rivers. I am from Maywood and I am a Black American. You see me as a coach and something that represents the Clippers and you don’t see my blackness right now. If anyone in this room thinks they are more upset than me, let me tell you about my life. If there’s one thing I learned from my parents, it was to never be a victim.
– Doc Rivers addressing the team at a practice session
Don’t allow people who create problems for you to interfere with your dreams and what you have to do. While we can’t always decide what happens to us, how we respond to it is entirely up to us. The decision is ours and ours alone.
We will not play if you don’t want to play. But I will tell you this when I was a little kid in my backyard shooting hoops by myself, making fake crowd noises every time I hit the game-winning shot, Donald Sterling was not a part of any of those dreams.
I will be damned if we are going to allow that guy to interfere with my dream and end it. It’s your choice but Donald Sterling wins if we don’t play.
– Doc Rivers
People who are causing problems are often trying to bring you down because they have insecurities and don’t want to see you succeed. You might be upset about the situation and would be justified but never let it come in the way of your duties. As much as you feel upset about something, others may feel the same; your suffering is not greater or lesser than anyone else’s.
When ignorant people want to advertise their ignorance, you don’t have to do anything, you just let them talk.
When you look at someone successful, you may assume that everything is good and well, but that’s not true. Everyone who has ever reached anywhere and been somebody significant faced challenges and their share of adversity. You must keep a straight head and believe in yourself and your actions. This, too, shall pass, and the tide will turn sooner or later. Who will believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself
Doc Rivers’ Rules for Life #3: Ubuntu is a Way of Life
On the prospect of working with Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, all of whom are leaders, Rivers said,
If we are going to win, we are going to have to sacrifice. We are going to have to change. If you want to shoot every time, that’s the wrong team. If you are going to do whatever you want to, that’s the wrong team.
Ubuntu comes from Africa as the essence of being human, it says that a lone human being is a contradiction in terms. I have to learn to be human from other human beings. A person is a person through other people. I can’t be all I can be unless you are all you can be. I can’t be threatened by you because you are good, because the better you are, the better I am for it
Ubuntu is not a word. It’s a way of life. It’s a way of living.
Ubuntu became the way of life for the Boston Celtics team as they became NBA Champions in 2008. It was all about teamwork, selfless play, and winning together for that group of players. It worked both on and off the field.
Work hard, stay out of trouble, and never quit. You are going to find yourself in tough situations and bad things are going to happen but it will be alright.
Doc Rivers’ Rules for Life #4: Pressure is a Privilege
You shouldn’t run away from pressure, a legacy, or expectations; you should run toward them. When I heard this line, my immediate thought was that we are lucky to strive for something more than our basic necessities, our struggle can be toward something bigger than ourselves, and that’s something I usually took for granted.
You don’t get into a lot of pressure situations in your lifetime. If you can put yourself in a pressure situation where the stakes are high, you have worked hard for it, you have earned it.
Whenever we are dealing with expectations or trying to live up to a legacy, we are constantly reminded of it, and we think we are not worthy because we haven’t done that so far. It’s good to focus on that legacy and try to live up to it because the pressure is a privilege. If we are not trying to be successful, why are we doing what we do daily?
When you walk into the Celtics arena, you see the 16 championship banners. There are no division banners and no conference banners, there are only championship banners. It’s like they are staring at you every day like you are not worthy because you haven’t achieved this yet.
Rivers recalls having a spotlight installed in the arena to point it at an empty space that was never shut off. This was the space created for hanging up the 17th championship banner. Rivers got this done because he wanted to remind his players of the legacy, the expectations, and what they had not achieved so far. The message to the players was that they would focus on this and play for this the entire season.
Embrace your legacy, your expectations, and your pressure. You don’t want an easy life without struggle. What memories will you have, and what will be your accomplishment then? As it is said, don’t wish for an easy life; pray for the strength to deal with any challenges. It’s a privilege to be in a pressure situation because you have worked hard to reach a point where the stakes are that high.
Doc Rivers’ Rules for Life #5: Champions Keep Moving Forward
People think if you are the champion, you don’t get hit. It’s the exact opposite. Champions get hit over and over and over again. It’s just that the champion is the one that decides to keep moving forward.
A quote from Rocky 2 comes to mind, “It’s not about how hard you hit; it’s about how many times you can get hit and get back up.”
In the 2008 NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers were the clear favorites to win it all. Doc Rivers was up against the most famous coach of all time, Phil Jackson (All hail… Respect), who, for the informed, had won 9 NBA championships so far, including the 6 with Michael Jordan.
The coaching match-up was, come on, it was Phil Jackson 100 and Doc Rivers zero. Listen, I can’t beat Phil Jackson in coaching. I just wanted to beat his team.
Rivers recalls a game where the Los Angeles Lakers took a commanding 24-point lead which seemed impossible. The commentators had written them off at halftime, but something incredible was brewing in the match’s back half.
This is why coaches are crazy because they have to be. to be a good coach, you to have to get your players to believe that you believe that you can win the next game.
He learned never to give up and fight till it was over by playing one-on-one pickup games with his brother. It was this belief that fuelled one of the most remarkable comebacks in modern basketball.
I kept saying, six less. It’s 24, let’s get to 18. This is what you learn, all of life is about how you move forward, you get hit and even knocked down, get back up and keep moving forward. Six less, let’s get to 12. Once we got to 12, let’s get to 8, let’s get to 4. When we cut it to two, Jack Nicholson said from the sideline, we are dead men walking.
You must put something on the line and raise the stakes to win in life. To set your heart on the line, put your body on the line, and keep your head in the game.
The only regret I have is I never went into the locker room. I may be the only coach in the history of sports that didn’t go into the locker room for the celebration. The next time we win, I will be front and center.
Mentoring Lessons from Doc Rivers
As a mentor and coach, you enjoy watching young men grow up. You watch them mature and improve as players and as people. and you feel like you are a part of that.
As a coach, get to your protege up close even if they might break your heart at some point because they might let you down; so what? Your job is to improve them and help them improve how to be tough and compassionate, be a humble winner, and be good losers. It teaches you life. I tell my players I will not coach you to who you are; I will coach you to who you should be someday.
I have followed and respected Doc Rivers since I began the following basketball in 2010. His attitude towards life and the game of basketball serve as an inspiration for coaches and leaders from all walks of life. Undoubtedly, one of the all-time great coaches in the league, he has mentored players in the league and helped them grow leaps and bounds. Doc Rivers’ Rules for Life have given me much to ponder upon and introspect. I will return with more lessons from Episode 2 with Jill Ellis.