Clippers Media Day 2020: Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Top Interviews, Quotes

Some members of the Los Angeles Clippers got an early start on making the media rounds this week, but the team officially met with members of the press on Friday to discuss what happened last season and their expectations for the 2020-21 campaign.

The Athletic's Jovan Buha reported on significant questions about their chemistry  in the wake of their playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets, Kawhi Leonard said they are taking steps during training camp to make sure that's not a problem this season:

The Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead to the Nuggets in the second round. They lost each of the last three games in the series, despite having double-digit leads in all of those games. 

"We shoulda won and coulda won," Leonard said when asked about the team being accountable for that loss. Just looking at it from my perspective we should have played better."

On the subject of accountability, Paul George seemed to put the blame for the Nuggets' loss on Doc Rivers' lack of adjustments as the series went on.

Here's what George told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the All The Smoke podcast, via ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk:

"We are talking amongst each other like the conversation is, we are going to be all right. The conversation should have been like, nah, we need to change this, we need to switch this up. I don't think we deserved it. We wasn't prepared enough going into it. ... We didn't put the work into it. It was kind of just like, yo, we got PG, we got Kawhi [Leonard], Lou [Williams], Trezz [Montrezl Harrell]. We going to be straight; we are going to figure it out."

George took a very different approach when discussing what went wrong on Friday. 

"The fact that I gave up 3-1 series sits with me and haunts me. ... I want to clear things up: I respect Doc," he said. 

Rivers has since moved on to become head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers after stepping down on Sept. 28. Tyronn Lue is taking over after being an assistant on Rivers' staff last season. 

George also said he's his own "toughest critic" and called last year "unacceptable" for himself. 

One significant step George said he wants to take is moving into more of a leadership role, alongside Leonard. 

"It has to start with us, and from there we can enforce that on the team," the six-time All-Star explained.

Leonard's approach to leadership may have started during free agency when he made a very blunt recruiting pitch to Serge Ibaka:

Even though that may not be the most conventional sales tact, Leonard made it work because Ibaka opted to sign a two-year deal with the Clippers. 

Ibaka and Leonard were teammates on the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors team that won the NBA championship. Their pre-established rapport should help the Clippers build the chemistry that seemed to be missing throughout the 2019-20 season. 

The Clippers will begin to answer questions about what kind of team they are going to be right out of the gate. They open the regular season on Dec. 22 against the reigning NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.