Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers have already begun to narrow down their list of possible replacements for Doc Rivers after moving on from the 58-year-old head coach.

Rivers confirmed his departure Monday with a statement on Twitter. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and the Los Angeles Times' Broderick Turner, Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue and former New York Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy are among the names leading the coaching search.

Lue is the most obvious candidate to succeed Rivers. He has the continuity that comes from working with the team for a season, and he's a proven commodity who guided the Cleveland Cavaliers to a championship in 2016 and two more NBA Finals appearances.

The Athletic's Jovan Buha and Sam Amick reported in January how the Clippers weren't meshing behind the scenes after adding Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. The lack of cohesion was laid bare as Los Angeles threw away a 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Lue might have better luck in that respect after he brought some balance to a Cavaliers locker room that included LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

Ty Lue really is the best choice for the job. We've seen him make lineup changes when necessary, hold the greatest players accountable, and get creative with some of his offensive sets in CLE.

Regardless, Kawhi is going to have some pull. This doesn't happen without him on board

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) September 28, 2020

Marc Stein of the New York Times noted Lue remains in the mix for the Philadelphia 76ers job, though former Houston Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni is viewed as the favorite for the opening. Per Stein, Lue has also received support for the Rockets vacancy.

Van Gundy would be a more puzzling choice.

The ESPN commentator hasn't had an NBA coaching gig since 2007. He has a 430-318 record over 11 seasons, and he took the New York Knicks to the Finals in 1999.

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk noted Van Gundy has a strong rapport with Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank. He hasn't been out of the coaching profession altogether, either, having served in a variety of roles for USA Basketball since 2017.

Still, the NBA has changed a lot tactically since Van Gundy was last on the sidelines for the Rockets.

One could plausibly argue the Clippers needed a new voice as head coach given the way their 2019-20 season ended. But swapping Rivers with Van Gundy, especially when Lue is already a member of the staff, doesn't seem like the kind of upgrade that would improve Los Angeles' championship odds next season.

The Los Angeles Clippers and head coach Doc Rivers have mutually agreed to part ways, the club announced Monday.

https://twitter.com/DocRivers/status/1310693712524120067

"Doc has been a terrific coach for the Clippers, an incredible ambassador, and a pillar of strength during tumultuous times," Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said in a statement. "He won a heck of a lot of games and laid a foundation for this franchise."

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Rivers had two years remaining on his contract.

Doc Rivers had two years left on his contract, sources tell ESPN. This is a challenging coaching search for Clippers, who are the ultimate win-now team. Among top candidates in the marketplace: Clippers assistant Ty Lue and former Rockets and Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy. https://t.co/Ov02RYNbK9

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 28, 2020

The Clippers finished with the second-best record (49-23) in the Western Conference during the regular season but suffered a collapse for the ages in the playoffs. They threw away a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals.

Some changes were to be expected. Los Angeles' flameout exposed the team's lack of scoring depth behind Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, and the roster struggled to find cohesion while leaning too heavily on its talent advantage.

Still, jettisoning Rivers isn't something many considered to be on the table. The 58-year-old compiled a 356-208 record during his seven seasons in charge, and the Clippers reached the playoffs in all but one of those years.

Rivers is likely paying for his inability to get the franchise over the hump, though. Los Angeles has still yet to reach the Western Conference Finals, and the fact that he has coached three different teams that blew 3-1 series leads can't as easily be chalked up to coincidence anymore.

Doc Rivers has now lost six series after being up 3-2 and three after being up 3-1.

— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) September 16, 2020

The Clippers might have felt some pressure to move on now, lest they watch assistant coach Tyronn Lue move on. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey reported Lue will interview with the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, though he appears to be the Sixers' second choice behind Mike D'Antoni.

Lue helped lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA title in 2016 and successfully managed a roster that included LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. He would be a natural replacement for Rivers.

Clippers coach needs to be Ty Lue. Unless there’s an issue with the players I’m not aware of, anything else feels like overthinking it.

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) September 28, 2020

Regardless of whom the Clippers hire, the question is whether a new coach represents the extent of their offseason business.

Montrezl Harrell and Marcus Morris are free agents, with the former posing a particularly tough call. Los Angeles had a minus-11.6 net rating with Harrell on the floor in the playoffs, per NBA.com, and Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes reported the Sixth Man of the Year got into an argument with George on the bench during the second round.

Replacing Harrell wouldn't be that easy, though, since the Clippers will have little to spend in the offseason.

The Clippers may not be able to keep leaning on Lou Williams to the extent they have, either. The Athletic's Sam Vecenie and Jovan Buha explained how Williams became a liability in the postseason when the Nuggets attacked him on defense. The 6'1" guard also saw his three-point percentage fall from 35.2 in the regular season to 23.5.

If ownership and the front office were willing to be this cutthroat with Rivers, then it hints at some serious roster restructuring to come.

Montrezl Harrell may have cost himself millions with a disappointing postseason, but he's still expected to draw "multiple suitors" on the free-agent market. 

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported as much Monday, noting Harrell will be "sought after" when the free-agency period opens. 

Harrell won the 2019-20 Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging 18.1 points and 7.6 rebounds during the regular season.

However, Harrell's numbers took a sizable dip in the postseason—so much so that his market likely cooled. Harrell averaged only 10.5 points and 2.9 rebounds during the Clippers' disappointing playoff run and was played off the floor in a number of games.

The playoffs arguably exposed Harrell as someone whose sixth-man role is a perfect fit, rather than him being worthy of starter-level money. Harrell is at his best playing an undersized center role, but he's limited defensively and got eaten up by Nikola Jokic in limited minutes against the Nuggets. The Clippers' net rating was a jaw-dropping 28.5 points worse when Harrell was on the floor during the playoffs, per Basketball Reference.

If anything, Harrell's poor play might have put him back into the affordability range for the Clippers, who probably would have let him walk if a team offered him $20 million or so per season. Harrell's representation will point to his career-best regular season and try to extract every dime they can on what will likely be the only big-money contract of the 26-year-old's career, but his playoff performance may have put a clear cut-off price point on his market. 

The Los Angeles Clippers' loss to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Western Conference semifinals was an enormous disappointment on its own. But there may be deeper issues brewing off the court as well.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, there was a disconnect between Paul George and his teammates by the end of the season:

"For his part, George had a disappointing series against Denver, and had several moments that left him in compromising positions with his teammates—beyond just his production. Multiple teammates had verbal spats with George throughout the postseason, citing in their exchanges a lack of accountability from him.

"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. George scored 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting and 2-of-11 from 3-point range in the Game 7 defeat."

George was up-and-down in the postseason in general, averaging 20.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting just 39.8 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three.

Those aren't terrible numbers by any stretch, but they also aren't "we gave up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, three first-round picks, two first-round choices and two first-round pick swaps to bring you aboard as the second superstar Kawhi Leonard demanded as a condition of signing here" numbers.

Because George is billed as a star, he's going to be scapegoated to a degree. That comes with the territory. It is fair to point out that he wasn't the only issue at play, however.

Head coach Doc Rivers blamed a lack of cohesion, per Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe:

"You could just see the difference in the two teams; they've been together and we haven't. We didn't meet [expectations]. That's the bottom line. I'm the coach and I'll take any blame for it. If we had [met expectations] in my opinion, we'd still be playing. And although our numbers said we were a good defensive team, I don't think we realized that part of our game at all.

"It was hard to watch because I've got a good group of guys, I really do. Obviously, I could have done something more. I always think it's me, no matter what. I'll look at this and try to figure it out. But it's very disappointing."

Guard Lou Williams called it a lack of chemistry:

"We understood that this was going to take some time. A lot of the issues that we ran into, talent bailed us out, chemistry didn't. In this series, it failed us. This is our first year together. We're a highly talented group and we came up short.

"Chemistry is something you've got to build, and I thought we were moving in the right direction at the end of the year before the COVID thing happened."

And perhaps a team that had multiple players join the bubble late for various reasons never quite got back into game shape:

Several Clippers were so fatigued during Game 7 against Denver that they struggled to play stints longer than three minutes and asked out of the game for a breather in the fourth quarter, sources told @TheUndefeated.

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 16, 2020

It was more than just George. No matter how you slice it, it wasn't good enough. But the 30-year-old wasn't good enough, either, and the Clippers' future is tied to him and Leonard living up to expectations and leading them to a title.

Anything less, and the Clippers gave up years of valuable draft assets for nothing.

One NBA executive had a blunt assessment of the Los Angeles Clippers' 2020 NBA playoffs exit at the hands of the Denver Nuggets. 

"They ran into a real team that played together, not in spite of each other," the executive said to the Los Angeles Times' Andrew Greif.

For reasons in and out of their control, the Clippers never clicked this season. 

Partially because of their load management plan, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George appeared in 57 and 48 games, respectively. George's 29.6 minutes per game were his fewest since 2014-15, while Leonard averaged 32.4 minutes, down from 34.0 last year.

Carefully monitoring Leonard and George's workloads might also have adversely impacted Los Angeles in the postseason, when it would inevitably need to lean on the pair.

The lengthy break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic made it even more difficult to get Leonard and George to mesh with what was already a roster good enough to get the Clippers into the playoffs in 2019.

Hinting at larger issues behind the scenes, Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes reported George and Montrezl Harrell got into an argument on the bench in Game 2 of the conference semifinals. George effectively blamed Harrell for a turnover, while Harrell thought George shouldn't have made a pass into double coverage:

"Harrell responded with something along the lines of, 'You're always right. Nobody can tell you nothing,' and expletives were uttered from both players, sources said. George eventually toned down his rhetoric, but a heated Harrell wasn't having it. Teammates began clapping on the sideline, in part to disguise what was going on and in an attempt to defuse the situation. The incident deescalated shortly after as coach Doc Rivers took his seat to go over the game plan."

The Clippers' playoff flop is a reminder that talent only goes so far. Rather than regrouping as the Nuggets clawed back in the final three games of the series, Los Angeles unraveled completely.

"We start missing shots, and you can see us trusting less and less and less," Rivers said, per Greif. "I mean, listen, obviously I could have done something more."

Denver, on the other hand, had the kind of cohesion that generally only comes from experience. Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic have spent four years together. Gary Harris in his sixth year with the team, while Paul Millsap, Mason Plumlee, Torrey Craig and Monte Morris have three-plus years in the Mile High City under their belt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXFfAXy-sHs

The Clippers signed Leonard and acquired George to become a championship contender. Failing to even reach the Western Conference Finals is a failure.

Los Angeles can at least salvage something from this if its players discover how they need to be better as a collective in order to achieve their goals.

An NBA executive reportedly said the Los Angeles Clippers should focus on adding a true point guard in the mold of former San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker or the Toronto Raptors' Kyle Lowry, who each played alongside the Clippers' Kawhi Leonard when he won his two career NBA titles.

"Running it back is great, but the Clippers are beatable," the executive told the Los Angeles Times' Andrew Greif on Wednesday. "They need a point guard. They've got to get one. They need better chemistry. They've got to do a better job scheming and adjusting."

Leonard was forced to operate as L.A.'s top playmaker throughout much of the 2019-20 season, leading the team with 5.5 assists per game during the postseason before the team was eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals on Tuesday.

The typically reserved four-time All-Star made some pointed comments after the Clippers were knocked out of the playoffs.

"That's when it comes to the team chemistry, knowing what we should run to get the ball in spots or just if someone's getting doubled or they're packing the paint...get smarter as a team," Leonard told reporters. "Basketball IQ got to get better."

Those comments point toward a guard who can read defenses and consistently put the offense in a position to succeed like a Parker or Lowry did at Leonard's previous stops.

That's not to say the 29-year-old L.A. native did a poor job running the offense when called upon. He posted a solid 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio during the postseason. But asking him to handle that responsibility on top of being the team's leading scorer and chief wing defender is a lot.

The Clippers didn't have much choice, though. Their main premier contributors, Patrick Beverley and Lou Williams, are more of combo guards, while their one true point guard, Reggie Jackson, was reduced to a bit role in the playoffs.

Jackson is among five Clippers players set to become unrestricted free agents during the offseason, but the key duo of Leonard and Paul George remains in place. The departures should give L.A. some financial wiggle room to chase a point guard via trade or free agency.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx9qCN4k-eY

Los Angeles cruised through the regular season with a 49-23 record, but the loaded Western Conference playoffs, which were filled from top to bottom with dangerous teams, were always going to expose any deficiencies a team has, and for the Clips it was the lack of a floor general in key situations.

Filling that void and adding some frontcourt depth will headline the front office's offseason to-do list.

The Los Angeles Clippers entered this season with championship expectations, but their 2019-20 campaign is over after losing three straight to the Denver Nuggets to complete their seven-game Western Conference Semifinal series loss.

On Wednesday, ex-NBA center and current ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins cited an "inside source" that L.A. will look to break up the team after its disappointing finish (1:00 mark).

"But listen, here's the thing...the Clippers are going to break this up whether you like it or not," Perkins said. "I heard from the inside source they're all going to break this up. They are going to break this up."

The Clippers traded for two-time NBA Finals MVP and defending champion Kawhi Leonard and six-time All-Star Paul George during the offseason.

They were added to a team that had gone 48-34 the year before and took the eventual Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors to six games in the first round of the playoffs.

The Clips traded some members of that team to land the two stars, including Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But expectations were still high with Leonard and George being added to a team that included Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley, among others.

L.A. largely excelled during the regular season save for a few rough patches, finishing 49-23 and landing second in the Western Conference.

However, the playoffs were a struggle, with the team fighting to dispatch the No. 7 seed Dallas Mavericks in six games in the first round before the Clippers fell to Denver in the semifinals.

Word of internal issues emerged in January, when Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic dropped a Jan. 23 piece about them that included these notes:

"As more than a dozen sources shared in The Athletic’s reporting on the matter, the transition from the team’s overachieving past to its promising present has not been seamless. From the frustrations relating to Leonard’s injury management and his quiet ways, to the different views regarding regular-season competition, to the reality that their chosen style of play isn’t always conducive to collective joy, there are issues tugging at this talented team that will need to be resolved by the time the playoffs come around."

That article was published three weeks after a passionate postgame session with reporters from Harrell after L.A.'s 140-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Montrezl Harrell lit into his own team postgame - “We’re not a great team. We’re not a great team... I think that’s what we need to realize and wake up. We’re a team that still has to figure out things to win night in and night-out.”#Clippers pic.twitter.com/NEMjdIlYzV

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 4, 2020

After the Clips lost, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported more on some internal struggles, including a "heated verbal exchange during a timeout" between Harrell and George during Game 2 of the Denver series. 

"The Clippers are arguably the most talented team from top to bottom, but their chemistry was among the worst of the bubble teams," Haynes said.

"They could never find the relaxed calm to persevere and perform."

Any changes likely won't be at head coach, as Haynes reported that "discourse on [Doc Rivers'] job status is premature at the moment." In addition, Haynes said that Rivers will be "running it back" for 2020-21.

Also, Leonard and George are under contract for one year, and giving up on that partnership would seem premature at this time.

Still, the Clips can't help but be undoubtedly disappointed with the result, and now the team must figure out where to go from here.

Despite a disappointing second-round exit in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Clippers reportedly aren't expected to move on from head coach Doc Rivers. 

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported Rivers was "a major component in [Kawhi] Leonard joining the Clippers" and the coach will be back with the team next year.

Haynes called any discussions about Rivers losing his job "premature."

Rivers has spent seven seasons as head coach of the Clippers, winning at least 48 games in all but one season, but never advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

Los Angeles had high expectations in the past with rosters that included Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, but this year's squad was especially hyped after the additions of reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and six-time All-Star Paul George.

The Clippers were considered a top contender for a championship throughout the year alongside the Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, and they were still a top choice after building a 3-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals.

However, three straight losses led to the Clippers' elimination, including a 15-point loss in Game 7 on Tuesday night.

It's the second time the squad has blown a 3-1 series lead under Rivers after also losing three straight games against the Houston Rockets in 2015.

Rivers has a 943-681 career regular-season record as a head coach through his time with the Clippers, Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, ranking 11th in NBA history in wins. However, he has had limited success in the playoffs aside from one championship with the Celtics in 2008. 

This year's first-round win over the Dallas Mavericks (in six games) was the first series win for the coach since 2015.

Despite the concerns, the 58-year-old appears likely to return for the 2020-21 season with at least one more chance to lead the Clippers to a title.

With Leonard and George both able to opt out in 2021, however, the coach could have a short leash.

The fallout from the Los Angeles Clippers' disappointing playoff collapse is apparently beginning.

Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes reported Paul George and Montrezl Harrell had a "heated verbal exchange" during Los Angeles' Game 2 defeat.

Harrell was upset that George blamed him for a turnover when George probably erred by making a pass while Harrell was guarded by Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.:

"Harrell responded with something along the lines of, 'You're always right. Nobody can tell you nothing,' and expletives were uttered from both players, sources said. George eventually toned down his rhetoric, but a heated Harrell wasn't having it. Teammates began clapping on the sideline, in part to disguise what was going on and in an attempt to defuse the situation. The incident deescalated shortly after as coach Doc Rivers took his seat to go over the game plan."

Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic reported in January how the arrivals of George and Kawhi Leonard had helped create some friction behind the scenes. The report referenced how Harrell said the Clippers were "not a great team" while expressing his frustration with their performance level during a January media scrum.

At the time, it was easy to downplay details in the report as growing pains that are natural after adding two All-Stars to what was already a playoff roster. Head coach Doc Rivers had time to iron out any issues before the postseason, when the purpose of getting George and Leonard would become abundantly clear.

Instead, Los Angeles threw away a 3-1 lead in the conference semifinals and Haynes' report seemingly indicates the problems highlighted months ago never truly went away.

Harrell is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

The 26-year-old won the Sixth Man Award after averaging 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds prior to the NBA suspending the season due to COVID-19. Between the pandemic's impact on the salary cap and poor reviews about his defensive contributions, ESPN's Bobby Marks questioned what kind of dollar figure Harrell will command on the open market.

The Clippers finished the series with a +8.8 net rating with Montrezl Harrell off the floor against Denver.

-11.7 with him on the floor.

— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) September 16, 2020

The Clippers are bound to make some changes in response to their playoff exit. Letting Harrell walk this offseason could be one of those alterations.

The Los Angeles Clippers reportedly struggled with conditioning issues Tuesday during their Game 7 loss to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals. 

Marc J. Spears provided details about the Clippers' season-ending loss:

Several Clippers were so fatigued during Game 7 against Denver that they struggled to play stints longer than three minutes and asked out of the game for a breather in the fourth quarter, sources told @TheUndefeated.

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 16, 2020

L.A. head coach Doc Rivers hinted toward the problem after the game.

"I just knew conditioning-wise, like, we had guys that just couldn't play minutes, and that's hard, you know," Rivers told reporters. "I mean, there were two or three times a night where we actually started getting it going, and a guy had to come out. I mean, it is what it is. So, no, I was never comfortable."

The Clippers came out strongly in each of their three opportunities to win the series. They built a double-digit lead in each contest only to watch it evaporate in the second half. They were outscored in both the third and the fourth quarters each of the final three games.

Los Angeles looked totally gassed in the latter stages of Game 7. It scored just 33 points after halftime and didn't have anything left in the tank to mount a final fourth-quarter surge, tallying just 15 points in the final frame to get eliminated with a whimper.

It was a lackluster end to a season with sky-high expectations for the Clippers. This was the year they were finally supposed to end their 50-year drought of not reaching the conference finals, a streak that dates back to their time as the Buffalo Braves.

Instead, they were ousted before even reaching the long-awaited clash with the rival Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdQnQ5jYTEY

Most of the Clippers' key building blocks, led by Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, remain under contract heading into next season. Talent wasn't the chief concern throughout the year, and it wasn't the main reason for their exit, which came down to factors like conditioning and chemistry.

They'll probably cruise through the regular season again next year, but they must do a better job of making sure they're ready for the grueling nature of a Western Conference playoffs loaded with legitimate championship contenders.

Blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Nuggets should provide plenty of motivation.