Boston Celtics don't have same regrets ex-championship coach does about split

Inside The Celtics' Bobby Krivitsky didn't see the Boston Celtics having the same regrets Doc Rivers -- who verbalized such at the annual The Tradition event at the TD Garden -- and were better off going their separate ways, unlike Rivers.

"While his decision to leave for the Los Angeles Clippers and continue competing for the Larry O'Brien Trophy as the Celtics embarked on a rebuild was a practical and understandable choice, in hindsight, the Chicago native who accumulated over 1,000 wins as a head coach wishes he stayed in Boston," Krivitsky wrote of Rivers, who said he regrets leaving every day.

"I regret it every day," expressed Rivers. "It was the right move for me at the time -- nine years at one place. We were going to rebuild. I look back on that all the time. My life would have been so much smoother if I had stayed where I was at," adding, "You don't look back, and I don't, but I regret that at times, for sure."

Doc Rivers stepping aside left the groundwork for Brad Stevens era of Boston Celtics basketball

It was in Rivers' departure that Brad Stevens rose to the top of the Celtics organization, first as a hot-shot head coaching hire out of Butler and later as the President of Basketball Operations successor to Danny Ainge in the front office.

Is that to say that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum would've never been drafted, Kristaps Porzingis would've never been traded for, and Marcus Smart wouldn't have become ingrained in the hearts of Celtics fans everywhere?

Actually, yes, probably. Butterfly effect and whatnot.

Boston's laughably short rebuilding period of just one postseason-less season was as smooth a transition of eras as you can get. Of course, Isaiah Thomas was a once-in-a-lifetime torch-bearer in between the Big Three and Jays eras, but success always requires a little luck; though swapping Marcus Thornton and a future pick for an MVP candidate is quite a bit past "a little luck."

All we know now is that Stevens' presence in the Celtics organization has led to wins on the court despite the occasional controversies off the floor.