It’s obvious that Doc Rivers and Bill Simmons aren’t each other’s biggest fans. But, the beef could be personal between the two.
In a radio interview Friday on WEEI, Rivers accused Simmons of doing “everything he could to get me fired,” and went on to say that Simmons even wrote letters to Celtics ownership and requested meetings to share his plans for firing the coach.
“He had an agenda, but thank God our owners didn’t believe him,” said Rivers. “They actually laughed at him and thought he was a joke.”
The feud between the two reached national heights Thursday night when Rivers — who was being interviewed during the NBA Draft coverage on ESPN — suggested that Simmons is an idiot, but wouldn’t go as far as name-calling, saying he’s “too classy for that.”
Simmons believes that Rivers quit on the Celtics and their rebuilding project to leave for greener pastures. But even though Simmons accuses Doc of jumping ship when the times got tough, he adamantly refuted Rivers’ claim that he was trying to boot him out of town.
WEEI’s Ben Rohrbach tweeted out Rivers’ accusation shortly after the interview, and Simmons didn’t seem to appreciate jab.
[tweet https://twitter.com/brohrbach/statuses/350733674637037569Â align=’center’%5D
[tweet https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/statuses/350738891302641664Â align=’center’%5D
It’s easy for both to point fingers at one another now that Rivers is no longer the Celtics coach.
Simmons — who grew up in Boston a diehard Celtics fan — has been a Clippers season-ticket holder since relocating from Boston to L.A. in 2002. No word yet on whether or not he’s renewed for the 2013-14 season.
To listen to Rivers’ entire interview, click here.
