Rivers has extended family

Doc Rivers recently put out the welcome mat. (CHARLES KRUPA/Associated Press)

NEWPORT, R.I. - When the Celtics open the exhibition season Wednesday in Amherst, Mass., against the Philadelphia 76ers, coach Doc Rivers will be monitoring the situation of the newest member of his family back in Florida.

Rivers and his wife, Kris, have attained legal guardianship of Adam Jones, a basketball teammate of their son, Austin, but Jones's high school eligibility has been challenged. A hardship appeal with the Florida High School Athletic Association is expected to be heard Wednesday.

"As far as I'm concerned, he is a family member now," Rivers said yesterday of Jones. "My wife is now going to have to go appeal for him to play for the high school team.

"The only thing that upsets me about the whole thing is, why get in the way of a high school kid who is trying to make a better life for himself? This kid has had severe living problems. His uncle couldn't take care of him anymore, his mom left town, and his dad isn't able to take care of him. He has been sleeping outside, on porches."

Rival coaches protested after Jones was declared eligible to play for Winter Park as a junior transfer, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

"This gives the kid a sound family environment, which is great; there's no doubt about that," Cypress Creek coach Terry Howard told the Sentinel. "But playing for Winter Park, that doesn't smell real good to me. Wouldn't we all like to go out and get a 6-foot-7 kid who can play? From a competition point of view, I don't know if it's fair. I'm glad I don't have to make that decision. It's an FHSAA decision."

An FHSAA regulation forbids transfer students from residing with anyone associated with the athletic program with which they will be involved.

"Things were going great and then we find out two high school coaches contested him playing for Winter Park," Rivers said. "What upset me, again, is that high school coaches should be trying to make kids better and not worrying about their own individual won-loss record."

Jones has played at West Orange and Orlando Christian Prep, which won the state Class 1A championship last season.

"We all know why that is," Rivers said of Jones transferring schools. "This kid has not had a stable environment, so you can't very well expect him to have had success in school. He knows where he's going to go to bed every night now and he's doing terrific."

Once Jones joined the Rivers family, he would have to transfer schools, to Lake Highland Prep, where Spencer Rivers is a seventh-grader, or Winter Park.

"We weren't going to become a three-school family," Rivers told the Sentinel. "That's not fair to Kris. I'm gone all season."

Jones has been staying with the Rivers family during holidays and while playing summer basketball.

"He plays on my son's AAU team," Rivers said of the process of taking in Jones. "We had a family discussion first. We couldn't adopt him, and so we decided to get guardianship papers for him. I would have done whatever it takes. We sat him down and asked him, first, would he like to do this, and he was ecstatic.

"I told him, look, the bottom line is from this day going forth you have no more excuses. That's the only thing I told him. Last year, you did, and I understand - I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't know what home I would be sleeping in each night. So, your grades were bad, but from this day forth we're removing all excuses. I said, we can afford tutors, whatever you need.

"He's gotten the best grades of his life. He called me last week because he was so excited, because he got his first progress report and he had all A's and B's. My wife was ecstatic about it. Things were going great."

Soon after that, though, Jones was declared ineligible.

"I told him, 'It'll work out,' " Rivers said. "If it doesn't, it's a shame. But I told him if it doesn't it's fine because you are still going to play summer AAU ball. All you have to do is get your grades. The kids love him. It's always the coaches. They get it mixed up. It is a competition, but their job is to make kids better players and better students."

Frank Dell'Apa can be reached at f_dellapa@globe.com.