Doc Rivers Says He Laughed at Clippers' Roster Before Taking Over Team
Somehow, almost impossibly, the Los Angeles Clippers’ season is done.
After recording three knockdowns early in their playoff series with the Houston Rockets, Doc Rivers’ team failed to land the knockout blow that would advance them to the Western Conference finals—completely foreign territory for the franchise.
No one really knows who’s to blame for the team’s unraveling, but the curtain could scarcely be yanked down on Los Angeles’ 113-100 Game 7 loss before the moody murmurs and equivocation began.
According to Fox Sports 1’s Bill Reiter, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan may have suffered a gradual falling-out over the course of the season—an interesting morsel, but not one that explains how a squad that booted the San Antonio Spurs in the first round managed to become the ninth team in NBA history to fumble away a 3-1 series lead.
Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe it was all smoke and mirrors. Maybe, as Doc Rivers said after the game, the Clippers restoration project was a bigger task than expected.
As USA Today’s Sam Amick reports, the Clippers head coach proceeded with a strange monologue after Game 7.
Before a gathered audience of assistants and media, he spoke about how he wanted to get the franchise over the hump and how he laughed at the Clippers roster when he first considered coming to Los Angeles:
"I want to fix it. I want to win. That’s why I came here. I knew when I came here that roster-wise it was going to be very difficult. The first thing I did before I took this job, I looked at the roster and we laughed. I was like, "What the [expletive] can we do with this?" It was more the contracts. But we have to try to do it somehow. I don’t know how yet, but something will work out.
"
So this is interesting to hear, that a coach with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan—all top-tier, blue-chippers at their respective positions—would laugh at such a paucity of talent. Or was he chuckling at their contract situation?
I’m not sure exactly what Rivers, certainly in a state of emotional distress at the time, meant by his comments. But I really hope he’s not trying to claim he inherited a titanic overhaul when he took the reins of a 56-win team with two All-Stars and a defensive monster in his starting five.
I hope that’s not what Doc’s trying to say, because these are the thoughts of a crazy person.
Dan is on Twitter. Austin Rivers will solve all this.
