Los Angeles Clippers

One year after winning the NBA offseason, there is speculation that the Los Angeles Clippers could break up their roster before the start of the 2020-21 season. 

In a survey of NBA agents by The Athletic's Ben Standig, Mike Vorkunov and more, one agent "heard (the Clippers are) going to break that roster up."

The comment was made as one agent voted that Kawhi Leonard would be the biggest star traded this offseason. 

While there haven't been any rumors about Leonard potentially being dealt, the Clippers are under an intense microscope. Leonard and Paul George can opt out of their current contracts after the 2020-21 season. 

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith reported on the Oct. 16 episode of First Take that Leonard has "clamored" for the Clippers to acquire a point guard who can create plays with the ball. 

After Los Angeles blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, Doc Rivers parted ways with the organization. Tyronn Lue, who was an assistant on Rivers' staff last season, was officially hired as head coach on Tuesday. 

Lue has an excellent resume from his time as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2016-18. He led the franchise to three straight NBA Finals appearances and a championship in 2016 over the Golden State Warriors. 

The Clippers finished the 2019-20 regular season ranked second in the Western Conference with a 49-23 record. They became the 13th team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead in the playoffs. 

The Los Angeles Clippers' supporting cast around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will likely see some major changes this offseason. If Leonard gets his way, the revamped roster will include a new point guard.

"They clearly need a point guard," Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN's First Take. "Everybody knows it, and Kawhi Leonard privately has clamored for one.

"It's not that he wants them to get rid of Patrick Beverley, but Patrick Beverley is basically a defensive ace who's small and has to play opposing guards. So they need a point guard that can run a team and can shoot."

                  

Beverley started in 58 of his 59 appearances during the 2019-20 season (regular season and playoffs) and has spent most of his NBA career in the starting lineup. However, his first five seasons came alongside James Harden, who nominally played the point guard role in the Houston Rockets offense.

The Clippers have eschewed the traditional point guard role over the past three seasons. Beverley is not a natural distributor in the halfcourt, averaging just 3.5 assists for his career. Sixth man Lou Williams led the Clippers in assists last season at 5.6 per game, and the team assisted on the seventh-fewest of its baskets during the regular season.

The low assist percentage is not always a harbinger for bad play. The Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, all playoff teams, had the NBA's lowest assist rates. Six of the bottom seven made the postseason.

However, Leonard has spent most of his career in offenses that successfully whip the ball around the court. The Spurs had some of the best ball movement in NBA history during their Finals runs, and Leonard thrived with Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet during his lone season as a Toronto Raptor.

VanVleet is a free agent this offseason, but the Clippers don't have enough financial maneuverability to get remotely in his price range, barring a sign-and-trade agreement. The free-agent market elsewhere does not have much in the way of traditional help unless the team coaxes Rajon Rondo to cross rival streams.

If the Clippers acquire a point guard this offseason, it will almost certainly have to come via trade.

Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams denied a report from Jovan Buha and Joe Vardon of The Athletic that he, Patrick Beverley and Montrezl Harrell were upset that teammate Kawhi Leonard was allowed to control his load management.

Williams made a comment on Instagram in response to a Bleacher Report post covering the report.

"Dawg, I don't even know what bristle mean," Williams wrote. "Lol @jovanbuha where ya'll get that from? Out ya source."

Lou Will denies report that he was “bristled” by Kawhi’s load management pic.twitter.com/JVrWuIvtAh

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 17, 2020

The line that Williams took umbrage toward can be found within a larger section from Buha and Vardon discussing Leonard's reported star treatment:

"In Los Angeles, there is an unquestioned, A-1 superstar in Leonard. His presence both instantly made the Clippers a title contender and also eventually ruffled the feathers of some teammates because of the preferential treatment showed to him from top to bottom.

"Players like Beverley, Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams—Clippers bedrocks before the arrival of Leonard and George—bristled when Leonard was permitted to take games off to manage his body and to live in San Diego, which often led to him being late for team flights, league sources said. The team also allowed Leonard to dictate to Rivers when he could be pulled from games, among other things. Lue was on Rivers’ bench for all of this, but the Clippers were Rivers’ show."

Murmurs of issues behind the scenes for the 2019-20 Clippers are nothing new. Of note, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports dropped news on Sept. 16 outlining some reported problems:

"The Clippers are arguably the most talented team from top to bottom, but their chemistry was among the worst of the bubble teams," Haynes wrote. "They could never find the relaxed calm to persevere and perform."

Haynes also reported that Harrell and Paul George had a "heated verbal exchange" during a timeout in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals versus the Denver Nuggets.

Furthermore, Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported the Clippers' chemistry problems in January.

L.A. finished with a 49-23 record and a No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs but blew a 3-1 Western Conference semifinals lead against Denver. The Clips and head coach Doc Rivers parted ways after the season, and Tyronn Lue has since taken over.

When Tyronn Lue agreed to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, as was first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, his biggest challenge instantly became handling a superstar in Kawhi Leonard.

While most coaches can only dream of being given the chance to work with a player like Leonard, he's only the second-greatest talent Lue, now in his second lead job, has overseen.

Spending two-and-and-half seasons (four total counting his associate head coach duties) with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014-18 has prepared Lue not only to handle a superstar on a team ready to compete for championships right away, but also to push that player by any means necessary.

After he coached James and spent time around some of the greatest players and coaches the NBA has ever seen, perhaps no one is better suited to lead Leonard and the Clippers.

As was the case in Cleveland, he's coming into his new job well-prepared.

Lue and David Blatt were the two finalists for the Cavaliers' head coaching job in 2014 before James had made his decision to return. General manager David Griffin liked Lue and wanted him to win the job. Cavs governor Dan Gilbert preferred Blatt and his overseas experience instead. Clearly, the person responsible for writing the checks got the final say.

Lue agreed to join Blatt's staff despite losing out on the job, and the Cavs made him the league's highest-paid assistant at the time. When Blatt was fired in January 2016, Lue didn't even want the job and was only pushed into taking it in part from advice he sought from Doc Rivers, the man he's now replacing in Los Angeles.

Lue spent a year and a half getting to know James, gaining respect from him and those in the locker room next to him. Similarly, he has spent the past season as Rivers' assistant on the Clippers, already establishing a relationship with the incumbent players.

Perhaps the most important thing a head coach can do is get his star player to buy in to his system, a strategy that allows all others to fall in line.

While James never seemed to respect Blatt or Mike Brown before him in Cleveland, Lue was different.

There was a timeout where James would typically talk over Blatt, only this time it was Lue telling James, in front of Cavs teammates: "Shut the [expletive] up. I got this."

Lue stated that the first thing he did when taking over as head coach of the Cavaliers was to sit down with James one-on-one and explain his vision and what they had to do together to fix the team.

Lue relayed James' response, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic: "Man, T. Lue, I'm on board. Whatever you need to do, whatever you need from me, you got it."

Now, he and Leonard need to have the same conversation.

Obviously, James and Leonard are very different players and people. While James has time and time again demonstrated his passion during games and timeouts (for better or worse), Leonard has preferred to lead by example and skip the yelling and screaming.

Neither is right or wrong, of course, as long as the message gets delivered.

Lue is actually more similar in personality to Leonard. He's fairly calm on the sidelines, an excellent observer who rarely picks up technical fouls. His even-keeled demeanor should blend in well with Leonard, who received very different coaching from Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs.

Lue needs to pick his spots to push and prod Leonard as well, not allowing his superstar to get too comfortable or believe he's doing enough.

Even in their biggest moment together, Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, Lue still challenged James in front of the team. Near halftime, James was on his way to a triple-double and had been brilliant while leading Cleveland to a 3-3 tie against the Golden State Warriors after starting the series down 3-1. Still, it wasn't good enough for Lue.

He criticized James for being passive, for being sloppy with the ball and for letting Draymond Green hit five three-pointers in the first half.

"Bron was mad, pissed off at me, and then we went into the locker room at halftime and I told him the same thing in front of all the guys," Lue told Lee Jenkins, then of Sports Illustrated. "He was mad again, pissed off again."

The moment may have been uncomfortable, but it worked.

James finished the game with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, and he turned the ball over just once in the second half while holding Green to 1-of-3 from deep after he went 5-of-5 in the first half.

While most coaches wouldn't have dared upset their superstar with Game 7 of the NBA Finals on the line, Lue knew all the right buttons to push. In the end, he got the result he was seeking.

Lue's experience in the NBA also goes well beyond James.

As a player for 11 seasons and now entering his 10th as a coach, his NBA contact list is legendary.

As a point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, he saw firsthand how Phil Jackson managed the egos of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, an experience that ended with a championship ring in 2001. He played alongside Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards, Jason Kidd and Dirk Nowitzki on the Dallas Mavericks and prime Dwight Howard on the 2008-09 Orlando Magic for his final season.

The list of players Lue has overseen as a coach is equally impressive.

Besides James, he managed Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in Cleveland, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce as an assistant under Rivers with the Boston Celtics and Chris Paul and Blake Griffin with the Clippers.

Perhaps that's why Lue never blinked when coaching James.

Having that one-on-one conversation with Leonard is a must, as is getting him to buy in and trust that Lue can get the Clippers to a championship just as he did with another superstar small forward on a franchise that had previously never won a title.

He must establish that relationship now so that when things get rocky, which they will, Leonard will have a solid base of trust to draw from, knowing Lue only wants what's best for the team.

James believed in Lue's vision, and it ended in three trips to the Finals and a ring. The Clippers have the talent to make a similar run, but only if Leonard does the same.

The Los Angeles Clippers are built around Kawhi Leonard and there's little doubt he holds plenty of power in the organization. After all, the team gave up a ton of assets to trade for Paul George last offseason as a way to entice Leonard to sign with them in free agency. 

But some players may feel as though Leonard took advantage of his clout, with Jovan Buha and Joe Vardon of The Athletic reporting it "ruffled the feathers of some teammates because of the preferential treatment showed to him from top to bottom."

Per that report:

"Players like Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams—Clippers bedrocks before the arrival of Leonard and George—bristled when Leonard was permitted to take games off to manage his body and to live in San Diego, which often led to him being late for team flights, league sources said. The team also allowed Leonard to dictate to Doc Rivers when he could be pulled from games, among other things. Tyronn Lue was on Rivers' bench for all of this, but the Clippers were Rivers' show."

Leonard wasn't alone in reportedly earning the ire of his teammates. Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium also reported in September that a number of Clippers "had verbal spats with George throughout the postseason, citing in their exchanges a lack of accountability from him."

Charania added:

"In the postgame locker room Tuesday night, George was preaching to teammates to remain committed, for all the players to return to the team this offseason and stay ready to make another run. It was met by some eye rolls and bewilderment, sources said, because George did not back up his words with action in the series and the team has multiple free agents with decisions to make."

The team hired Lue to be its next head coach on Thursday and Leonard and George were "consulted" on the team's candidates for the position. Per Buha and Vardon's report, "Neither player wanted the final say on the decision, but both offered to share their input, if the Clippers saw it necessary. Ultimately, both players told the Clippers that they trusted the front office and were on board with Lue's hiring, believing he matches the criteria of what the team needs moving forward." 

Sources: Clipper players happy Ty Lue was named head coach of the team. They felt Lue was best choice.

— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) October 15, 2020

Clippers did their due diligence but Ty Lue is the guy. Has respect from players and saw what went wrong last season as Clippers try to make another run with what’s expected to be the same core https://t.co/RulW05vkFN

— Ohm Youngmisuk (@NotoriousOHM) October 15, 2020

Ty Lue deserved another shot. It's insane he had to wait for as long as he did for another gig. The only available coach with a championship ring got canned 6 games into the post-LeBron era in Cleveland, so his career winning percentage should stay pristine with this Clippers job

— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) October 15, 2020

Lue may usher in a needed culture shift going forward. The Clippers unquestionably underachieved this past season, failing to reach the Western Conference Finals despite being the trendy pick to win the NBA Finals this season. Rivers took the hit for that failure. 

But Rivers also found himself between two very distinct eras, and cultures, of Clippers basketball. Two seasons ago, the Clippers team were a scrappy, team-first bunch that made the postseason without an established superstar. A large core of that group, namely Beverley, Williams and Harrell, returned this season. 

But in Leonard and George, the Clippers added two bona fide superstars. The team's identity was now more centered on those two players than the selfless and overachieving brand of basketball they had played the season prior. Rivers' job last season was to blend those two cultures. It was a trick he couldn't quite pull off. 

In comes Lue, who already won a championship with the NBA's biggest star, LeBron James, after replacing David Blatt, a coach who James didn't seem to trust. Lue quickly went to work changing the culture in the locker room, as Buha and Vardon noted:

"Upon Lue's promotion, the first thing he did was to demand that the Cavs' supporting stars—in this case, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love—sacrifice their individual brands and defer to LeBron. Lue also stripped LeBron of some of the power he'd stolen from Blatt inside the Cavs' locker room, and demanded the league's best player get in better shape, which got the attention of the entire team."

Like those Cavaliers, the Clippers had the talent needed in place but needed a new voice to lead the way. Like those Cavs, the Clippers may need Leonard and George to hold themselves to a greater degree of accountability going forward if they are to succeed in the long run.

Chauncey Billups, a former guard and five-time NBA All-Star, is leaving the door open to accept a head coaching job this offseason.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Thursday the Los Angeles Clippers hired Tyronn Lue as their head coach, and Billups will serve as a lead assistant.

However, according to the Indianapolis Star's J. Michael, the 44-year-old will join the Clippers' staff only if the Indiana Pacers don't hire him as the replacement for Nate McMillan: 

"Multiple league sources have told IndyStar that the Pacers' broad coaching search is winding down. They're expected to pick three finalists and have them meet with ownership before the end of the month.

"Billups, who has no sideline experience but is a popular figure with players around the league, is a strong candidate to be finalist along with veteran coach Mike D'Antoni."

Billups spent 17 seasons in the NBA as a player. In addition to his individual accolades, he was a critical member of the Detroit Pistons as they made six straight Eastern Conference Finals and won a title in 2004.

In retirement, Billups has worked as an analyst for ESPN and joined the Clippers' broadcast team for the 2019-20 season.

He has been linked to various front-office vacancies in recent years. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks both interviewed him as part of their search for a general manager during the 2017 offseason. Before the hiring of Gersson Rosas, he was also a candidate to be the Minnesota Timberwolves' president of basketball operations.

Coaching the Pacers would obviously be a more prestigious job than lead assistant for the Clippers. Losing out may not be the worst thing for Billups, though.

A transitional phase could be ahead for Indiana. Victor Oladipo will be a free agent in 2021, and The Athletic's Jared Weiss reported he's "looking to move on this offseason." Even if he stays, Oladipo may not be the same player who was a back-to-back All-Star in 2018 and 2019, thanks to his ruptured quad tendon in January 2019.

Only once in the last 10 years have the Pacers missed the playoffs, but their fortunes could be trending in the wrong direction.

Serving as an assistant might be Billups' backup plan, but it would allow him to build his profile before potentially being on the radar of teams looking for new coaches in 2021.

Tyronn Lue is reportedly an NBA head coach once again.

The Los Angeles Clippers are finalizing a five-year deal with Lue, who led the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2016 championship, on Thursday, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported Clippers players are happy Lue was the choice as next head coach.

Shamss Charania reported for The Athletic that Chauncey Billups will serve as lead assistant while Larry Drew also has a spot on the coaching staff.

This comes after Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon reported on Tuesday that the notion of Lue going to the Houston Rockets "gathered significant momentum after a meeting with Houston's ownership and management."

The report noted Lue was still in the running for the Clippers job as well, which made sense considering he was an assistant coach for Los Angeles last season.

Lue's name was included in coaching rumors before the season even ended, as Marc Stein of the New York Times reported in August that he and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Jason Kidd were the "prime candidates" to become the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans after they fired Alvin Gentry.

Charania of The Athletic and Stadium as well as Wojnarowski both reported Lue was on the short list of candidates for the Philadelphia 76ers after they fired Brett Brown.

Joe Vardon of The Athletic also reported the Rockets could be interested if they elected not to bring back head coach Mike D'Antoni, who ultimately told the Rockets he would not return following the team's loss in the second round of the playoffs.

Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported Lue was a candidate for the Clippers' opening after they parted ways with Doc Rivers.

What's more, Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports reported in March that Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving wanted Lue as the team's next head coach following the firing of Kenny Atkinson. Lue coached Irving with the Cavaliers during his only head coaching job until this hiring.

The former point guard, who played 11 seasons for the Lakers, Washington Wizards, Orlando Magic, Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks, took over for the Cavaliers after they fired David Blatt during the 2015-16 campaign.

All Lue did was lead Cleveland to its first and only championship in franchise history with LeBron James and Irving anchoring the on-court effort. Cleveland went back to the NBA Finals the following two seasons, only to lose to the same Golden State Warriors franchise it defeated in the 2016 Finals.

James left for the Los Angeles Lakers the following offseason, and Lue was fired after the Cavaliers lost their first six games in the 2018-19 campaign.

Still, he amassed an impressive 128-83 record during his tenure and will have a chance to bolster his mark with Los Angeles. Goodwill noted Lue was even in talks to become the Lakers head coach "before discussions broke down," and the job went to Frank Vogel.

Lue brings a resume and experience working with some of the biggest stars the league has to offer to another high-profile job now that Los Angeles hired him.

He is in charge of a team with plenty of talent in place with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as the anchors. Still, the Clippers have been defined by a failure to reach the ultimate level having never even reached the Western Conference Finals.

The 2019-20 campaign was the latest in the list of failures after they blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs.

It will be up to Lue to turn things around and contend for a championship, just like he did in Cleveland.

The Los Angeles Clippers are still conducting their search for a new head coach, but one candidate has reportedly stood out above the rest thus far. 

Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, Tyronn Lue is considered the "leading candidate to be offered the Clippers head coaching job."

Lue has been connected to a number of teams in search of a new head coach this offseason. 

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon reported earlier this week that Lue has "gathered significant momentum" with the Houston Rockets after the two sides met on Monday. 

Wojnarowski also reported that Lue will meet with the New Orleans Pelicans this week. 

The Clippers have been searching for a new coach since parting ways with Doc Rivers in September. Rivers left the organization after the team blew a 3-1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals. He went 356-208 in seven seasons with Los Angeles from 2013-20. 

Lue knows the Clippers roster well after serving as an assistant on Rivers' staff last season. The 43-year-old spent parts of four seasons as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2016-19. He led the franchise to an NBA championship in 2016 and two more NBA Finals appearances in 2017 and 2018. 

There's reportedly another name on the list of candidates for the Los Angeles Clippers' head coaching vacancy, though this one will be familiar to the players.  

Assistant coach Sam Cassell, who worked under former coach Doc Rivers for six seasons, interviewed for the position Tuesday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

A three-time NBA champion as a player, Cassell got his coaching start as an assistant with the Washington Wizards upon his 2009 retirement. In 2014, he joined forces with Rivers on the Clippers.

Cassell's name hasn't come up as a major headliner among the several NBA teams still seeking head coaches, but the possibility of his promotion to head coach hasn't been completely ignored. Before Rivers was let go by the Clippers at the end of September, he spoke highly of his colleague when he discussed the number of head coaching jobs available around the league.

"Sam Cassell should be a head coach, period," Rivers said Sept. 10, per ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "He's got an incredibly high basketball IQ, and I just hope he gets a shot. When they talk about paying dues, he's paid every due that is possible and he's yet to get a job. So I'm hoping that happens." 

Per MacMahon, the Houston Rockets have also expressed interest in Cassell, a former first-round pick who won two of his three titles with Houston when he began his career in the mid-1990s. When it comes to the Clippers job, Cassell would be competing against fellow Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue, as well as assistants from around the league in Mike Brown (Golden State), Darvin Ham (Milwaukee) and Wes Unseld Jr. (Denver), according to Sabreena Merchant of Clips Nation. 

The Los Angeles Clippers came away from their interview with Mike Brown with a strong impression of the former head coach as they look to replace Doc Rivers, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times.

Stein reports Tyronn Lue, who has long been considered the front-runner in Los Angeles, is scheduled to meet with the Houston Rockets next, though he may have some legitimate competition for the Clippers job with Brown.

The Clippers have the most pressure in the NBA to get their coaching hire right after trading a number of assets to pair Paul George with Kawhi Leonard for at least two years. The duo will become unrestricted free agents in 2022 along with point guard Patrick Beverley.

That's left the club—which parted with five first-round picks to get George—with few opportunities to capitalize on its immediate championship window.

Rivers was let go after failing to advance past the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs this year and quickly landed with the Philadelphia 76ers.

It would make sense for Brown to land in L.A. given his years of experience coaching on the hot seat.

The 2009 NBA Coach of the Year previously helmed the Cleveland Cavaliers during LeBron James' first stint and then took over the Los Angeles Lakers for two years after Phil Jackson retired.

Yet Brown's postseason record has done little to help his case.

His Cleveland teams feel in the conference semifinals on three occasions and lost the 2007 NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs. He took the Lakers to the Western Conference Semifinals in his first season but was fired after a 1-4 start the following year.

The Ohio native has been an assistant on Steve Kerr's Golden State Warriors staff since 2016, helping the club win titles in 2017 and 2018.

Whether that experience is enough to earn him the job with the Clippers remains to be seen.