After an up and down, but overall disappointing first half of the season, the Los Angeles Clippers and head coach and ultimate personnel decision maker Doc Rivers decided to overhaul the bench.
Out went Jordan Farmar, Chris Douglas-Roberts, and Reggie Bullock. In came Austin Rivers, Dahntay Jones, and a future second-round draft pick.
On paper, these did not seem like good, quality moves, but nevertheless, something was amiss in the Clippers chemistry on and off the court.
National perception of the trade for Austin Rivers has been mostly negative. Tony Manfred of the Business Insider gives a good overview of the reaction after the trade went down.
I did not like the trade either, it seems like nepotism disguised as a legitimate NBA move. The only reason you could even start to defend this deal is if Farmar, Bullock, and Douglas-Roberts were making noise behind the scenes and causing locker room friction.
Farmar certainly has voiced some concerns about his playing time and role during the season, and his reaction to the news of being waived confirmed that he may have been part of the chemistry problem. Here is Farmar talking to the Los Angeles Times’ Broderick Turner:
“I just never felt I had a real role,” Farmar said. “We talked in the offseason about what my job was going to be. The opportunity just wasn’t the same. It was never time for me to really ever get going and feel comfortable and feel like I had a place on the team.”
That sounds like there is at least some level of disgruntlement from Farmar, although having just been waived after a disappointing half of a season could be making him more grumpy.
Chris Douglas-Roberts, for his part, denied allegations that he was part of the chemistry problem, here he responds on Twitter to a report by Sam Amick of USA Today of chemistry problems with Farmar and Douglas-Roberts:
Hey man I know this is your job but this is the farthest thing from the truth & you can ask any coach or player from Clippers @sam_amick
— CDR (@AllHailSupreme) January 16, 2015
Chemistry issues, maybe, but locker room issues, No. I know you only have 140 characters but be clear here. My name is my name @sam_amick
— CDR (@AllHailSupreme) January 16, 2015
On the court, will things change?
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So far, the Clippers are winning, but Austin Rivers is playing terribly. In the Clippers game against the Boston Celtics on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Rivers scored just two points on 1-of-3 shooting to go along with three assists and two turnovers in more than 15 minutes of action.
He was a minus-2 during his time on the court. Dahntay Jones, meanwhile, played only five minutes and scored two points, ending with a minus-7. Not exactly great, but then again the Clippers did win, and none of the starters played more than 35 minutes.
Rivers is a much different player, stylistically, than Farmar was, even if their production was roughly the same. Rivers is a much better penetrator, getting into the lane with more ease than Farmar, and potentially creating better opportunities for his teammates.
Rivers has never had great assist numbers, averaging just more than four assists per 36 minutes, per basketball-reference.com. However, he takes a very high percentage of his shots in the paint, 30 percent of shots come within three feet of the basket, and 60 percent within 10 feet. He is not a great shooter in the paint, but he can get there with seeming ease.
So while his assist numbers are low, he clearly can penetrate, and perhaps given the tutelage of Chris Paul, along with higher quality teammates, Rivers can learn to drive and dish, rather than drive and miss, as he does now.
As for Dahntay Jones, I detailed his contributions already. He is not the answer long term, but maybe he can eat up enough minutes to keep Barnes fresh. Just beware that any injury to Barnes would potentially put Jones into the starting lineup. That, my friends, would be a disaster.
These moves put Rivers on the clock
Ultimately, the biggest take away from these moves is that this probably starts the clock on Rivers’ career with the Los Angeles Clippers. He has started to put his imprint on the team and its players. He has made controversial moves that the national and local media have openly questioned.
Players complaining about court time and their roles have been shipped out and replaced with either a veteran happy-to-be-here player in Jones, or someone biologically related to the coach.
So Rivers has his team now. The one he wants, not one he inherited or that a current or former general manager built for him. There are no more excuses for the coach. If this team continues to disappoint, flaming out in the first round after failing to secure the home-court, then people will start whispering. If it happens again next season, the whispers will get louder.
Eventually, if the team cannot get over the hump with the Blake Griffin/Chris Paul core, then people will start to look at Rivers, both in his capacity to pick the personnel and his coaching. The ring he got while coaching the Boston Celtics has kept the speculation about his future rather muted for such a high profile team.
However, continued on-court mediocrity will make that ring less and less relevant as time goes on.
The clock is ticking, and if Rivers cannot deliver a championship before the timer hits zero, this could be the end of Rivers being viewed as an elite head coach.