Doc Rivers is 42 years old, and unemployed. How did it happen that a youthful, successful and revered Head Coach goes from untouchable to, simply, untouchable in the space of just 6 short weeks. Sure, Orlando’s unarguably poor record of 1 and 10 is the prima facie reason, but the real story must lie much deeper than this. The Magic and have another day off before continuing their road trip at the 4-6 Phoenix on Thursday, and the pressure will be on the players as well as their new coach as they try and prove that no, they weren’t actually part of the problem.

It’s the day after the Orlando Magic fired their respected and successful head coach, the man who has helped take Tracy McGrady into the NBA stratosphere and guided his team into the playoffs the past three years, and the Tampa Tribune has two NFL stories, two baseball stories, a hockey article and something about high school football ahead of this news. That this story is being treated in the local press with such a low priority means one of three things;

1. It was expected.

2. No-one really cares.

3. I really should subscribe to the Orlando Sentinel.

Throughout his memorable playing career with, most prominently, the Hawks and Knicks throughout the 80’s and 90’s, Doc Rivers was the perfect coach-in-waiting. Controlled, mature and efficient, his league-wide image of a wise professional wasn’t just an extrapolation based upon his nickname. Rivers, replete with a degree in Political Science, was the real thing, modestly unspectacular but always effective, at either guard spot, at both ends of the floor. So it was no suprise that the Magic, their roster re-tooled in the wake of the lockout in 1999, chose this youthful but shrewd basketball mentor out of the broadcast booth to take over from the wisened Chuck Daly and be the figurehead of their next era.

And Rivers did a superb job – coaching as he played. Tough, unified, unpretentious, successful. His best efforts were when his team consisted mostly of undrafted bit pieces, requiring the type of hard work to succeed that he himself personified over his tradesman-like career. Of course, in every game he had Tracy McGrady as well, who went from child prodigy to the brink of League MVP under Rivers’ 4 seasons in charge.

But you need to be something more than just a good coach to survive a 10 game losing streak. A loss last night, as the Magic got out-hustled and ultimately rolled in Utah, was always going to be the end of the road. And as much as his dismissal, announced right after the game, wasn’t necessarily a surprise, it also wasn’t necessarily due to a case of bad coaching, either. This was a move made more as a way of changing the vibe of the team, rather than laying all the blame on the guy in the suit.

McGrady, after a low start to the season, was scoring his points, but overall the team wasn’t clicking as a unit. This type of criticism, heard from all quarters today, is a notoriously subjective one, but just looking at the offensive numbers, the Magic are at the bottom of the league, shooting 40% from the floor and averaging just 88 points a game. Defensively they’re not much better, and the less said about their abject performance on the boards, the better. Was this all Rivers’ fault? Were his players no longer battling for him? That’s the whisper in today’s press, but it’s not that simple, even if it is true.

The Magic have a shallow roster. Behind Tracy, Drew Gooden and offseason free agent addition Juwon Howard, everyone else on the team is either young, injured, or a bench player. The early season losses of key shooters Pat Garrity and Gordan Giricek had an impact during this debilitating 10 game L streak, as opponents were able to gang up on McGrady and not worry about anyone except Tyrone Lue, who’s actually been playing quite well, beating them from outside. And, speaking of injuries, every expert up to and including the AP article in the Tribune has today linked Rivers’ demise with Grant Hill’s desolate time in O-Town. It’s true, the dual impacts upon the team of the unenjoyable decline in Hill’s career – loss of a franchise player, salary cap strangulation – were both significant issues in the broader term ability of the franchise to compete. There were also chemistry questions at the beginning of last season when Horace Grant left the team under circumstances which were, at best, unclear. These limitations have always been there; last year, the year before, and the year before that, when Rivers and the Magic were winning games and making the playoffs. And in fact it was in some ways because of these lower echelon players packed into Orlando’s locker-room that actually enabled Rivers to do what all coaches actually love doing – coaching.

Over the years, Rivers has made legitimate players out of the enfeebled bodies of the likes of Garrity, Andrew DeClercq and Darrell Armstrong, all of whom should be retired small town celebrities instead of still-current NBA participants. In fact, it has been Armstrong’s offseason flight to New Orleans, permitted by Orlando management only because of his off-court indiscretions, which has hurt this team this season more than any other single factor. Last year, as they took Detroit, the Regular Season Eastern Conference Champions, to the brink of first round elimination, the Magic actually had more than $8 million of their precious salary cap room devoted to players no longer with the team (Grant, Jud Buechler and Patrick Ewing). This season, these problems were thought to have been resolved – GM John Gabriel did a remarkably good job over this summer to bolster their worryingly thin lineup with free agents of the calibre of Lue and Howard. Nevertheless, the fact that all this roster management was taking place in consultation with, but out of the hands of, Doc Rivers still didn’t save his job.

Taking over the team is fomer assistant Johnny Davis, himself no stranger to the benefits and dangers of W/L records from his time temporarily presiding over one of those 20-win Philadelphia 76ers teams in the mid 90’s. Davis is a solid coach, who was a loyal assistant to Rivers over his time in charge, and who sounds, initially at least, as if he has a good rapport with the players. McGrady’s quote that Davis is… “not the kind of guy that really yells and screams at the top of his lungs.” is a good sign, but this statement should not be necessarily taken a direct criticism of Rivers’ successful and professional coaching style. Davis now has a honeymoon period and should readily be able to change the atmosphere around this team – whether he can turn things around on the court is quite another matter.

Still, any side with a 24 year old Tracy McGrady is one that should be a force to be reckoned with, if not actually defeated by, every night. They make not make the playoffs this season, but, just 11 games in and the Eastern Conference being that way it is, they just as likely may. If they do, it will be credit to Davis, McGrady, and the Organisation. And, Doc. Rivers is proud, believes in himself, and was understandably disappointed by the team’s decision to fire him. However, publically, he has said and done all the right things over the past 24 hours. He has accepted the Magic’s decison with honesty, professionalism and humility, which was exactly what anyone who knew his personality would expect, and, in his post-firing press conference, actually went so far as to compliment team management and wish them all the best.

Doc Rivers is a man who knows how to relate. He doesn’t burn bridges. He doesn’t swear and slam the door in team meetings. And, the last 10 games notwithstanding, he can coach. He may be out for now, but he will be back.