Jamal Crawford on Doc Rivers: "He Never Used What I Didn't do Against me"

Throughout his NBA career, former LA Clippers guard and three-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford has played for a lot of coaches — 19, to be exact. So when he offers an opinion of one, you have to believe that he knows the difference between good and bad coaches.

Crawford spent five years in Los Angeles, and four under Doc Rivers. It was during that time that he won two of his Sixth Man of the Year Awards, which helped establish him as a fan favorite and one of the best players on the roster. It was the longest period that Crawford had played for any team, and also the longest he had played under a single coach.

Crawford discussed what made Rivers such a special coach on the latest episode of The Platform Basketball Podcast.

"He empowered me," Crawford said. "He pulled all of us in front of each other, like, 'This is your role, this is your role...', he wanted to give everybody a role. He said, 'Jamal, don't nobody say nothing to him about the shots he takes.'"

Crawford went on to talk about what separated Rivers from other coaches he had played for in the past.

"A lot of coaches would be like, 'Oh Jamal, don't play defense like that' or whatever," he said. "[Rivers] never used what I didn't do against me. He just uplifted what I did do, and that's his genius."

Rivers' philosophy hasn't seemed to change since then, either. He gave a similar role to Lou Williams when he arrived in Los Angeles in 2017 by allowing him to have complete freedom offensively, so long as he was in the right place on defense.

Together, Williams and Crawford have been named Sixth Man of the Year six times, with four of those times coming under the direction of Rivers while playing for the Clippers.

Check out Crawford's full interview below.