4. The Hype
Out of everything I’m writing here, this is BY FAR the least concerning to me, but several people in our Clipperholics Slack mentioned it, so I guess it should be included.
Look, the Clippers have a heaping pile of hype heading into the season. They got two All-Stars, one of which who just effectively ended the Warriors’ dynasty while winning his second Finals MVP. NBA fans will be watching this team with complete intrigue and will continuously praise them if things start going right.
The Clippers cannot fall into that pit though. The team has to keep a laser focus on their end goal – – an NBA championship – while brushing off all the sports media talk that will inevitably surround them.
Hype can be both positive and negative and as I talked about in the last slide, if things start to go off track early, the negative hype will likely explode. No matter which direction the team heads, they have to just brush everything else off.
This really shouldn’t be a problem. Doc Rivers is a players’ coach and knows how to keep the team focused and driven. Recently hired assistant coach Tyronn Lue has also dealt with this in it’s biggest form, leading LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to the franchise’s first ever title.
Hype really shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s still worth mentioning.