Doc Rivers is busy this offseason.
It was short to begin with, as the Celtics brought the Heat to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then it was right into the draft, where his son, Austin, was a lottery pick. Then it was home to Orlando for the first of two summer leagues -- the other being in Las Vegas a week later.
Now, Rivers is part of NBC's Olympic coverage as an analyst for basketball games.
As you can imagine, there hasn't been much time for golf -- a time Rivers cherishes when he can fit it into his hectic schedule. And there's certainly no time for practice.
Practice?!
Rivers admitted Thursday on the Golf Channel's "Morning Drive" that he's gotten worse over the years, but that hasn't kept him from loving the game.
But the talk wasn't focused on golf, it was focused on Team USA and their chances at bringing home gold in this summer's London Olympics.
Boston Celtics
Rivers was part of the 1982 Men's World Championship Team -- a big part for that matter. He was named MVP of The Ninth World Championship, but the U.S. team came up just short in the gold medal game despite not having any professionals on their squad at that time.
Rivers supports the idea of the U.S. using professionals now, because back then he says other countries were already doing it.
"I played in the World Championship game back in 1982, "Rivers recalled. "We played in the gold medal game at that time against USSR. That afternoon I was in the swimming pool and I noticed the group we were playing had their kids, their families. They were already professionals. The other countries were playing professionals in the Olympics, they just were not called pros. We lost by one, I remember that (95-94), and I just thought the age difference was huge. And either they were going to have an age difference at age 22 or 25 that was a cut-off or everyone should be allowed to play. And I thought it was the right thing to do.
Ten years later, "The Dream Team" as they would be known, changed basketball around the world forever.
"In a good way," Rivers said of the change. "Very similar to golf in some ways. Years ago when Arnold Palmer came over to the British Open, and all of a sudden it just changed and that's what it's doing here. It's a good thing though.
The Celtics just recently have played around the world in places like Rome and London. They're having training camp stops in Istanbul and Milan in a couple months too.
But before Rivers puts on his coaching hat, he's got his analyst hat on. He knows that while the U.S. team is the favorite to win, there are others that pose serious threats to them.
"I think it's Spain, Argentina, or Brazil. I think those teams are very good," Rivers said. "They have NBA players. Argentina's a rough team. That's how they've always played, so I think you can't discount them. And they've all played together for so much longer than the U.S. team has."
The U.S. will have to bring it -- and want it more -- for success. There was a time when people thought the Olympics didn't matter to NBA players, but Rivers said that isn't the case anymore.
"It does now. After they lost a couple of times it does now. I don't think it will replace an NBA championship. I think honestly that is what you grow up to be. You don't grow up to win a gold medal, you grow up to win an NBA championship. I do think now guys are growing up, they want a gold medal, and they want an NBA championship.