Ainge still hopeful Doc Rivers will return to Boston

Despite all the rumors and contingency plans, Danny Ainge and the Celtics are still hopeful that Doc will ultimately decide to stick around Boston for a while longer.

Danny Ainge awaits Doc’s big decision | Boston Herald

Doc Rivers, Boston’s own Hamlet, continues a tumultuous inner debate over whether he is going to return for his 10th season as Celtics coach. Though the Celts are preparing for the worst — two league sources have confirmed to the Herald that Vinny Del Negro would receive serious consideration as Rivers’ replacement — Ainge is said to still believe that Rivers is coming back. "He’s being careful to give (Rivers) space," said a team source.

To leave, or not to leave. That is the question.
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of Clippers fortune,
Or to take Arms against the Heat and Knicks,
And by opposing end them: to be eliminated, to retire,
No more; and by retirement, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To retire to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of retirement, what coaching offers may come,
When we have shuffled off this parquet floor,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes Calamity of so long an offseason: