LA Clippers: 3 takeaways from Doc Rivers’ departure as head coach
By Duncan Smith
Since the NBA restarted its season, coaches have been dropping like flies. The most recent to move on is Doc Rivers of the LA Clippers.
It doesn’t seem like so long ago when the teams of the NBA had only fired two coaches over the course of the season. The New York Knicks fired David Fizdale in December, and the Brooklyn Nets fired Kenny Atkinson in March just days before COVID-19 brought the world to a screeching halt, and that’s it. Since then, eight other teams have fired their coaches or their coaches stepped away, and on Monday, Doc Rivers and the LA Clippers joined that list.
It’s not the biggest surprise to see the Clippers decide to move on from Rivers considering the urgency that they win a championship in their ever-narrowing window, but at the same time, Doc Rivers is just not a coach you expect to see getting fired. His struggles in the playoffs are well-documented thanks to one of the highest-profile collapses we’ve seen in recent NBA history against the Denver Nuggets, and apparently the Clippers decided they’d be better off with a different voice in the locker room.
Let’s take a look at three takeaways from the situation.
It was a “championship or bust” season after all for the LA Clippers
Following the Clippers’ colossal failure against the Nuggets, Paul George had the sheer audacity to suggest this wasn’t a “championship or bust” season. In George’s eyes, losing wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t a big deal either.
This is a message from ownership and management that indeed, this was a spectacular failure, and Paul George could not possibly have been more wrong in his comments and assessment. The message will likely not be received by George, but it’s clear for the rest of us.
No more excuses from the supposed best players on this team next year, regardless of who the LA Clippers hire to run it.
Speaking of which, there’s a big favorite in town.