LeBron James created somewhat of a preseason trash talking war last week when he basically accused Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett of being hypocrites. Garnett and Pierce were both open in expressing their disappointment with Ray Allen for choosing to sign with the Miami Heat. LeBron felt that KG and Pierce did the same thing by going to the Brooklyn Nets. Doc Rivers does not see it that way.
Unlike Allen, Pierce and Garnett were traded. Rivers pointed that out on Thursday when asked about LeBron’s criticism toward his former players.
“Paul and Kevin were traded,” Rivers said on ESPN Radio in Miami, via the NY Daily News. “They were traded. Paul was traded whether he wanted to be or not. Kevin was the only one who had to agree to be traded even though he had already been traded. He had to agree to the trade. That’s completely different.”
[Related: Kevin Garnett tells LeBron James to worry about his own team]
It makes sense that Doc would defend his former stars. Had it not been for the certainty that Rivers was going to leave Boston for greener (well, not literally) pastures, there was a chance the Celtics would have tried to keep their core together for one last run.
“You could make more of a case for me leaving than Paul and Kevin,” Rivers added.
We get why LeBron said what he did. He was trying to stick up for his teammate, although the issue is kind of a dead one at this point and didn’t really need to be addressed. As we have heard so many times in the past, it’s all part of the business side of the game.
