Former NBA player Lou Williams is one of the few who is vocal about his appreciation for Doc Rivers. The three-time Six Man of the Year awardee believes that Rivers changed the trajectory of his career and helped him become one of the best role players in NBA history.
“ I love Doc. It’s a gray area with Doc like either guys really love him or got the worst sh*t in the world to say about him. That wasn’t me. There’s a handful of them, bro, like they don’t run with Doc. That wasn’t my experience. When I got here, I thought my career was done. I wasn’t excited to be a Clipper. Doc reassured me and that ended up being the best run of my career, ” Williams said via “ The Underground Lounge ” podcast.
Doc wanted Lou to be Lou
Williams, who played for Rivers for four years, also appreciated how well the coach approached his players. Unlike most of the coaches he played for during his career, the guard was encouraged to just be himself under Rivers’ system. The one-time head coach of the year knew that Williams wasn’t a lockdown defender, so he utilized his best skill to prolong his career.
“He allowed me to be myself, he rolled the ball out and said ‘Bro just do your thing.’ Defensively, he just wanted me to be at the right spots and didn’t expect me to be a lockdown defender so he didn’t put the pressure on me to try to be someone that I wasn’t. He just needed me to be the best I could be on the defensive end, but offensively, gotta be Lou Williams, and I ran up damn near 5,000 points with Doc. I love playing for him, bro,” Williams added.
Perhaps this means a lot to players like Williams, who was moving from one team to another until he found a home with the Los Angeles Clippers . Normally, it’s the superstars and max contract players that coaches cater to when it comes to maximizing their skill sets, but that’s not the case with Glenn. Based on Lou-Will’s experience, the current Milwaukee Bucks head coach seems to value the buy-in and roles of his supporting cast.
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But Doc didn’t want Williams at first
What’s ironic about Williams and Rivers’ relationship is that it didn’t get off to a good start. When “Sweet Lou” was part of the package in exchange for the Clippers trading Chris Paul, Rivers reportedly admitted that he felt the team could’ve gotten a better player.
"When we traded for Lou, I was not having Lou," Rivers said on The Bob Ryan and Jeff Goodman Podcast. "I saw a guy that kept getting traded. And I appreciated his offense, but not nearly, never thought it was this good... When he finally showed up three days before training camp, I was not having him. I was like, 'We're not gonna work', you know?” he added.
However, Rivers soon realized that Williams was there to stay, so he decided to take the high road. He invited the scoring guard to his office and candidly shared his initial reservations about acquiring him.
"I said, 'Lou, you're one of these guys that wanna do whatever you wanna do, and you don't want to buy in. We asked everybody to come in. Everyone did except for you... I don't know how this is gonna work.' And he said, 'I've been traded five years in a row. Why would I buy in to you?' And I didn't have an answer,” Rivers added.
Ultimately, both of them realized that they needed each other to succeed, which is why they found a way to develop a close bond and bring out the best in each other.
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