Doc Rivers was participating in a randomized tournament created by a social media filter that pits random players against each other. Rivers' tournament ended with Michael Jordan winning, while Rivers also picked his former point guard Chris Paul over current point guard Damian Lillard.
The filter threw multiple matchups at Doc, including some bizarre combinations like Kyle Lowry over Aaron Gordon or Michael Jordan and Scottie Barnes. Ultimately, Rivers picked Jordan to beat Barnes, Chris Webber, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Paul Pierce to win this fictional tournament.
Rivers eliminated his current starting point guard on the Bucks in the first round by picking Chris Paul over him, his former starting point guard on the Clippers.
A hypothetical tournament like this would be fun, but it would be odd to see Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan play each other immediately after Aaron Gordon and Kyle Lowry. These filters are fun to fuel basketball discourse, and Rivers got to make his contribution by picking players according to what he wanted, no matter how random.
The Dame and Paul matchup was interesting and Rivers didn't give it much thought before picking Paul. It does make sense that he picked a prime version of Chris over Lillard given the incredible accomplishment he has under his belt from his time in the NBA. Rivers and Paul were integral to each other's success, so it's fair for that relationship to weigh out over what he has with his current guard Lillard.
Doc Rivers Thinks Michael Jordan Is The GOAT
Before Rivers was a coach in the NBA, he was one of the league's premier point guards in the 1990s. He played for the Knicks and became extremely familiar with the greatness of Michael Jordan as the pair battled in the same conference and even met in the 1993 Playoffs.
Rivers knows what the Jordan experience was like first-hand and has coached against LeBron James across different stages of his career. With the knowledge he has of the two players, Rivers picks Jordan as the greatest ever.
"I hate the GOAT debate. You know, I'm a Michael guy, but that doesn't mean anything bad about LeBron. For me, the single player is Mike but it doesn't make LeBron bad... LeBron's gonna have the greatest career ever. It's no doubt, he's going to have the GOAT career," argued Rivers. "I don't know why but it feels like if you say one, that means you putting done the other one.... they're both amazing."
Rivers and Jordan played each other 40 times in their careers, with Jordan winning 23 of those contests. In that span, Rivers averaged 13.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 7.3 assists while Jordan averaged 31.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists.
Doc was out of the NBA by the time LeBron made his way into the league, but he's been consistently coaching against him since the early 2000s. They've faced off 48 times in the regular season, with James holding a 28-20 lead. Rivers is 12-13 in the playoffs against LeBron as well.
Rivers has seen both players up close and personal, ascertaining that Jordan is the GOAT. He has plenty of respect for LeBron but it seems that he has more to achieve before he can convert Rivers into his camp.
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