The Doctor is in demand: Well-wishers love to approach Celtics coach

Rivers always has been one of the league's most personable coaches, usually pleasant and approachable, disarming strangers with his self-effacing chatter. He understands just how lucky he has been as an NBA player and coach.

"I tell people all the time, I'm no smarter today than I was the day before, but winning changes the way you're perceived," he said. "I try to keep it in perspective. It's no different than any other profession, except that in sports it's magnified."

Rivers has talked almost daily with Celtics general manager Danny Ainge, reviewing their plans for next season, whom they might still sign and whom they might lose from the championship team. Rivers mostly has steered clear of trying to capitalize personally on the title. He has had several offers to collaborate on books about his rise, his team, all of which he rejected.

"I've said no to almost everything. Look, I'm only 46 years old, this book isn't done. I hope to coach a lot more basketball, have a few more chapters in my life before I could write anything," he said. "My belief is that, 'Let's keep this going as a team here.' We're not done yet."

He has spoken at a few corporate outings, where big-business people gather to talk about ways to be successful, about motivating employees. He usually attended those in the past to listen. Now he is asked to speak.

The Celtics will return next season with their Big Three intact, giving Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce a chance to defend their title. They will be without key reserve James Posey, who left as a free agent, but almost everything else will remain the same.

While Rivers was the scapegoat when the Celtics won just 24 games, almost losing his job early last summer, he also has been credited with meshing the three big stars in the first year they played together. Keeping them together might be an even tougher task for him.

"I never let negative opinions in the past change who I was or what I believed in," he said. "And it's the same way now. I don't know what will happen this season, but I do think winning breeds hunger, not apathy."