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Rivers concerned the Clippers in 2013 after 9 seasons with the Boston Celtics, which included two trips to the Finals and an NBA title in 2008. With a progressing Big Three of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan already in place, the belief at the time was that upgrading from Vinny Del Negro to Rivers would be the relocation that transformed the Clippers into real contenders for the very first time in franchise history.
The timing was odd. Its been almost 2 weeks given that the Clippers lost Game 7 to Denver, and there wasnt a peep that Rivers exit was even on the table. As ESPN.coms Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday, Rivers has 2 years staying on his agreement, and they arent inexpensive– his $11 million annual income is one of the highest for a head coach in the NBA.
The groups main statement called it a “mutual choice,” but, for what its worth, Rivers thanked Clippers Nation and not the Clippers company or team governor Steve Ballmer in the declaration he published to his Twitter account. Draw your own conclusions there.
Was Rivers seven-year tenure with the Clippers a success? It depends on how you measure it.
Few things in the NBA are really stunning, but the Los Angeles Clippers choice to part methods with head coach Doc Rivers on Monday afternoon was an unusual exception.
Even after the Clippers blew a 3-1 cause the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals, nobody saw this coming. A lot of figured the coach who ushered the franchise through 2014s Donald Sterling scandal, made the playoffs in six of his seven seasons and helped bring significance to the most unimportant organization in the league would be as near untouchable as any coach not called Gregg Popovich or Erik Spoelstra.
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By those expectations, Rivers lost. His Clippers never made the Finals, let alone won a title. He didnt even get them to the Western Conference Finals, regardless of leading 3-1 in the second round in 2015 against Houston and this season versus Denver.
Most of the Clippers early playoff exits can be described away by injuries or other extenuating scenarios; the 2 indefensible ones are the 2 blown 3-1 leads. His best coaching job was the 2018-19 season, when he led a young group with no All-Stars and no playoff expectations to the 8th seed in the Western Conference and suddenly took the Golden State Warriors to 6 games in the very first round.
When Rivers joined the Clippers in 2013, he was provided the dual titles of head coach and senior vice president of basketball operations. After he was promoted to president of basketball operations in 2014, that status as the most powerful individual in the organization listed below the ownership level gave him the gravitas to lead the team through the Sterling ordeal.
The downside: He wasnt a great GM.
As an executive, Rivers tended to fall back on what he knew, signing past-their-prime veterans he coached either had (Pierce, Glen Davis, Brandon Bass) or coached against (Matt Barnes, Hedo Turkoglu, Stephen Jackson) in Boston. When the Clippers needed fresh bodies in the playoffs those years, they never had the depth to compete. Any conversation of Rivers playoff shortcomings with the Clippers should include the function his own front-office decision-making played in putting those groups together.
Its no coincidence that in the summer of 2017, when Ballmer eliminated Rivers front-office duties so he might focus solely on training, the Clippers rosters began to make much more sense. The benefit was that 2018-19 run, led by Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and novice point player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Rivers duties would have been spread too thin to coach that group to its complete capacity if he still had his front-office task, and Lawrence Frank and Michael Winger were more than capable of building him a quality lineup.
This was the most recent chapter in Ballmers long-term mission to transform the Clippers into a location, a real rival to the Lakers, and it appeared to work last summertime when Kawhi Leonard signed with them in complimentary firm, bringing Paul George with him via a blockbuster trade.
The truth that a superstar the Lakers were also pursuing picked the Clippers is a testimony to simply how far the organization had can be found in the years since Sterlings ouster. And Rivers was a big part of that.
Eventually, Rivers won three playoff series in 7 seasons with rosters in five of those years that were expected to contend. Theres no other way to spin that as anything other than an enormous frustration.
But Rivers effect on the Clippers can not purely be measured by on-court results. He brought stability and credibility to an organization that had formerly had none.
When he was wanting to move on from Boston following the break up of the Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen-Paul Pierce Big Three, he likely might have had any job he desired. He selected the Clippers because they offered the most upside with Paul and Griffin secured. That the Clippers might even get a coach of Rivers stature, and wanted to pay for one, altered their perception around the league.
During the 2014 playoffs, when TMZ published a dripped recording of then-governor Sterling making racist comments, it was Rivers that held the company together through the fallout. He was the one resolving press reporters every day about a controversy he had no part in developing. He was the one keeping his gamers joined (they thought about boycotting Game 4 of their first-round series with the Warriors in reaction to the Sterling tape). He was the one trying to keep up the spirits of employees throughout the organization.
The Clippers required a reputable, credible public face as they reached one of the most affordable points any pro sports franchise has actually ever reached. Rivers showed up to that job, and then some. A lower coach– a lower leader, actually– may have mishandled it, or seized the day to leap off the sinking ship. Rivers didnt. And when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life and the league helped with the sale of the Clippers to Ballmer, there was no talk of the new team guv generating a new coach. Rivers had actually proved he was somebody you desired representing your organization.
Kelvin Kuo/Associated Press
Its been almost two weeks because the Clippers lost Game 7 to Denver, and there wasnt a peep that Rivers exit was even on the table. That the Clippers might even get a coach of Rivers stature, and were willing to pay for one, changed their perception around the league.
And when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver prohibited Sterling for life and the league helped with the sale of the Clippers to Ballmer, there was no talk of the brand-new team governor bringing in a new coach. Any conversation of Rivers playoff imperfections with the Clippers need to consist of the role his own front-office decision-making played in putting those teams together.
Its no coincidence that in the summer season of 2017, when Ballmer got rid of Rivers front-office responsibilities so he could focus exclusively on coaching, the Clippers rosters began to make much more sense.
Whatever Rivers chooses to do next, hell have advocates in all corners of the basketball world. The Clippers frustrating playoff record throughout his time there is a big part of his story, but he represents a lot more
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Sean Highkin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. His work has actually been honored by the Pro Basketball Writers Association.
Hes also been one of the NBAs most popular and relied on voices on social justice in the Orlando bubble. Hes handled a function as a leader in this location, just as he did in moving the Clippers past the Sterling days.
Its troubling but worth noting that after his exit, along with the shootings previously this summer of the Indiana Pacers Nate McMillan and New Orleans Pelicans Alvin Gentry, there are only 4 Black head coaches staying in the NBA: the Phoenix Suns Monty Williams, Atlanta Hawks Lloyd Pierce, Cleveland Cavaliers JB Bickerstaff and Detroit Pistons Dwane Casey. With more scrutiny (rightly) on variety throughout the sports world, the sudden departure of the NBAs longest-tenured and most reputable Black coach is not great.
With Rivers gone, its unclear where the Clippers will go to discover his follower. The sensible move would appear to be raising his leading assistant, Tyronn Lue, a championship coach in his own right whos been connected to all of the highest-profile openings this year.
Rivers will be fine. Hell get another job as soon as he desires one (less than an hour after news broke of his separation with the Clippers, The Undefeateds Marc J. Spears reported that the Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers have actually currently connected). If he wants a break from coaching, he might easily return to his old job as a tv expert, which he was excellent at.
