The danger profile on next season, already trending toward the red, simply got hotter for the LA Clippers.
After a terrible postseason collapse along with the crashing realization that both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can end up being free representatives next summer, parting with Doc Rivers Monday has just increased the stakes. This is a turning point in franchise history.
Its the kind of relocation that might end up being the start of a championship story and kept in mind as a gutsy call by owner Steve Ballmer. Or it ultimately could be viewed as compounding dissatisfaction and putting the group on the roadway to catastrophe.
1 RelatedBut for now, Ballmer and team president Lawrence Frank need to execute one of the hardest things to do in high-level sports: replace a successful coach. And that was a discomfort that Ballmer undoubtedly had to mull in the 2 weeks because his team blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets.
Was the failure a one-off? Did the bizarre nature of the Orlando bubble, integrated with players who had been ill with COVID-19 and others who had handled individual tragedy, result in a derailment? Or was it the outside symptom, produced by optimal stress, of problems that had been dogging the group for months?
In the days that followed the Game 7 loss, the agreement within the Clippers front office was the latter, sources stated, and that forced some severe truths to be dealt with– tough evaluations such as: If Doc Rivers wasnt “Doc Rivers,” would he have lasted as long as Clippers coach as he had?
Rivers won just 3 playoff series in seven years regardless of having exceptional skill throughout the majority of his period. His teams consistently blew leads, including those two 3-1 series discolorations– this year to the Nuggets and in 2015 to the Houston Rockets.
His time as group president was flawed, and 3 years ago he was stripped of the title, though it was framed as a favorable result that everyone was open to at the time. Not unlike how Ballmer presented the separation with Rivers on Monday as a mutual choice.
Rivers likewise occurs to be a remarkable leader of guys. He was the teams rock during the Donald Sterling affair in 2014 that triggered significant stress in the middle of the playoffs. He was a prominent voice in Orlando this year after the gamers chose to sit out games, speaking in front of all the gamers, using advice and handling his team, which initially voted to leave the bubble.
And he demonstrated his management a multitude of times in between, whether it was holding the franchise together after Chris Paul and Blake Griffin were traded, or serving as a lead recruiter when Leonard and George were mulling their big relocation.
Because he was anything however the average coach, rivers got more freedom than the average coach. However honestly, his playoff results had been typical long enough for that grace period to expire.
Doc Rivers is one of 7 coaches with at least 90 playoff wins in his profession (91 ). Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE through Getty ImagesThere were whiffs of speculation that Rivers task might be in difficulty after the Nuggets series, but often it came back to the very same bottom line: whether Ballmer had it in him. Ballmer is used to winning.
Possibly the essential Ballmer story happened in 2013 when he resigned under some pressure as Microsoft CEO after financiers had actually grown frustrated. The next day he benefited $1 billion when the stock leaped on the news of his departure. Later that year he purchased the Clippers for $2 billion in money.
Last fall Ballmer was asked about his battle over land and principles with Dolan and his response spoke volumes: “Were grinders. Were long-term gamers, and were grinders. You desire to hit us in the nose? OK! Well keep moving. You cant knock us down.”
Thats about to be tested.
MORE: Was parting ways with Doc the ideal relocation?
1 RelatedBut for now, Ballmer and group president Lawrence Frank must carry out one of the hardest things to do in top-level sports: replace an effective coach. The discomfort in understanding the set of scenarios that precipitated the seasons end was intensified by just how difficult this Clippers group was to read. And that was a pain that Ballmer undoubtedly had to mull in the two weeks since his team blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets.
He was a leading voice in Orlando this year after the gamers selected to sit out games, speaking in front of all the gamers, offering advice and dealing with his group, which at first voted to leave the bubble.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE by means of Getty ImagesThere were whiffs of speculation that Rivers task might be in difficulty after the Nuggets series, but often it came back to the very same bottom line: whether Ballmer had it in him.
