You can call Doc Rivers a lot of things -- some of them flattering -- but one nickname that we can safely say has never been used......

Mr. Accountable.

The former NBA point guard and head coach, who was just inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for the latter, had a habit during his time coaching five teams in 27 seasons of offering excuses whenever anything didn't go quite right. Like, say, losing 3-1 playoff leads.... or failing to get a team to reach its assumed potential.

This tendency was so known in the NBA community that former Rivers player J.J. Redick, while still with ESPN and prior to taking the Los Angeles Lakers coaching job, spoke to it publicly: "I've seen the trend for years. The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard... it's always an excuse. It's always throwing your team under the bus...…