/ STAFF WRITER
PLAYA VISTA – The office decorations were just a coincidence, but considering Doc Rivers’ history, it was pretty fitting.
A black-and-white picture of Doc’s father, Grady, in his Maywood (Ill.) Police uniform sits inches in front of a San Francisco 49er helmet.
The placement is unintentional.
But with tremendous focus placed on how athletes and teams will react to social injustices, primarily the use of deadly force by police, Rivers is ready to draw on his past to help guide his team.
In addition to sharing a roof with a police officer, Rivers also got to see the messiness racial injustice can cause as riots ripped through the high school a few blocks away from his home.