Los Angeles Clippers: The Head Coach Conundrum
Photo Credit: Chrishmt0423 (Flickr.com)
There is a hostage situation currently taking place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and it’s being conducted inadvertently by free-agent, all-world point guard Chris Paul. The victims? The Los Angeles Clippers, as they are now stuck between a rock and a hard place in their search for a new head coach to get this once-moribund franchise over the proverbial hump.
It’s a Catch-22, really. How can a quality, proven head coach take a job for a team when the best player isn’t sure if he is going to be back next season? And on the flip side, how can a player commit to a team when he isn’t really sure who the head coach will be and isn’t exactly included in the interview process? Unfortunately in the NBA, where the popularity and success of both the league and its teams is essentially built around the star power of its truly great players, the predicament the Clippers are in has become commonplace. One player can transform a team from an also-ran into a contender and that fact has given elite players an incredible amount of power in recent years.
The original example of this goes back to “The Decision.” Byron Scott took the available Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching vacancy in 2010 assuming (along with the rest of the universe) that there was an excellent chance LeBron James would be returning to the team he spent the first seven seasons of his career with. After the King skipped town to South Beach, Scott went from coaching a contender to babysitting a lottery team. He would eventually lose his job after three miserable seasons coaching one of the league’s worst rosters.
It got worse. The Denver Nuggets, at the time a pseudo-contender in the Western Conference, spent the following season in flux trying to figure out whether or not to trade Carmelo Anthony (eventually selling him off to the New York Knicks for 50 cents on the dollar at the trade deadline). In 2012, Dwight Howard essentially got Stan Van Gundy axed in Orlando when he placated the possibility of staying, only to force his way out of town anyway. The Magic were left in shambles and received virtually nothing in return for one of the NBA’s best big men.
The Deron Williams situation in New Jersey/Brooklyn was also interesting. With the threat of Deron bolting to his hometown in Dallas to play for Mark Cuban looming, Nets general manager Billy King panic traded a lottery pick for Gerald Wallace at the 2012 trade deadline. He then compounded that mistake by giving Wallace a ridiculous four-year, $40 million contract despite the fact that Wallace is clearly entering the twilight of his career. That lottery pick is now Damian Lillard, the reigning Rookie of the Year. Gerald Wallace proceeded to have the worst season of his career in 2012-13.
Which brings us back to the Clippers. Free agency is every player’s right. But the problem here is a precedent has been set. Chris Paul IS the Clippers. For the first time in franchise history, “the other guys” are L.A.’s best team. So if you were a head coach with a decent reputation, would you take the job knowing there was a 50-50 shot of Paul exiting stage left? Byron Scott is believed to be on the short list in L.A. Having been burned before, would he take another gamble and risk another massive blemish on his coaching resume?
Chris Paul isn’t eligible to sign anywhere until July 1, so its hard to really hold him responsible. But what Paul could do is give the Clippers an idea of the direction he is leaning. There hasn’t been any indication he has done that so far. And if he doesn’t? The entire franchise will continue to be held captive and watch elite coaches choose other, more stable destinations.