The Clippers Continue to Be One of the Worst Franchises in All of Sports
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I want to start off today with a question.
What in the hell are you doing Los Angeles Clippers?
Look, I know that I have written about my extreme dislike for this team, but to give Doc Rivers an extensions, that is bananas. Yes, he was an okay coach at one time, although I think he gets a little inflated with his one title when the Celtics acquired KG and Ray Allen. Before that though, the Celtics wanted to fire him because he wasn't winning. And even before that, I'm pretty sure he was let go by the Magic. Rivers is a very, very middle of the road NBA coach. He has that one title, but that can only take you so far. Since he took over the Clippers, my mind has not changed on him. He had some very talented teams there, and the furthest he got in the playoffs, the second round. He had a team that had a prime Chris Paul, a never better DeAndre Jordan, and a healthy Blake Griffin, and they blew a 3-1 lead against the Rockets. And before that, there is the epic Chris Paul meltdown against the Thunder. There is the plethora of injuries that have this team bounced in the first round. There is his horrific instincts as a GM that has cost this team any semblance of a bench. His go to move as a GM was to sign guys that played the Celtics well when he coached there, but they were far out of their prime, or give his son a ridiculous contract because he's his son. Last year they got bounced by a Jazz team that was not that good in the first round, and I blame the majority of that on his coaching. They had game 7 at home, and his team laid a total egg. Chris Paul looked disengaged. Deandre Jordan wasn't being played hardly at all in critical moments, and Blake Griffin, well, he has been a shell of himself since the blown 3-1 series lead. Then this offseason, after losing Chris Paul, which Rivers did not handle well publicly, they gave Griffin a max deal. They said he would be a Clipper for life. They then went out and signed Danilo Galinari and some other dudes off the scrap heap, and the offseason chatter was that this team may be good. Well, they traded Griffin halfway through the year, Galinari was constantly injured and the guys they acquired from the Pistons, Avery Bradley and Tobias Harris, they were either hurt, Bradley, or didn't do much of anything, Harris. And they were out of the playoff picture before the year was close to done.
So, I assumed, much like everyone else, that the Clippers would relieve Rivers of all his duties, head coach included. They stripped him of player personal development and his GM duties, and I figured head coach was next. But today, they totally flummoxed me. Not only did they retain him, but they gave him a decent extension. I believe his deal lasts into the 2020's. That is insane. Do they really think this team, led by Austin Rivers and Deandre Jordan, if he sticks around, and coached by Doc Rivers will be a viable option in the West? Do they think Doc Rivers will be the guy to lure free agents like Kawhi and Paul George and LeBron to the Clipper over the Lakers or 76ers or any other team that is currently better than them? Do they really think they can reach the Finals being coached by Doc Rivers? None of that is going to happen. As long as Rivers is the coach there the Clippers will continue to be mediocre. He hasn't adjusted his coaching style to the modern game. He still lives in the past, and as I said earlier, signs guys that were once great against him, but are now trash. He will continue to give the keys to the team to his son, and his son is not a great NBA player. His teams will always hover around 38, 39 or 40 wins, but that will never be enough to be a playoff team in the West.
This is a dumb decision by a historically dumb franchise. I've been impressed with a lot of the offseason coaching moves, but this one is a head scratcher. Teams in the West will continue to pass by the Clippers, and the Clippers will return to being a laughingstock of a franchise. This move makes zero sense.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on all the internet. He also does think it is awesome how LeBron handled the MAGA hat wearing douche in his last game.
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