Doc Rivers dropped a quote that has LA Clippers’ fans upset.
During his introductory press conference with the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday, Doc Rivers dropped a quote that surely has every single fan of the LA Clippers beside themselves.
Seriously. I almost want to write to Meriam-Webster and suggest that they put this quote under examples of “irony”.
The quote, courtesy of Tomer Azarly:
"“I don’t think you can ever stop growing as a coach or as a person. It’s a fact. If we’re gonna win, you just can’t keep doing what you’ve always done and think you’re gonna get different results. You have to do something different.”"
You have got to be kidding me.
In case you tried to forget or just need a painful reminder, the LA Clippers blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs. I won’t place all of the blame on Doc but he deserves a lot of it.
During the series, it became apparent that the Clippers rotations weren’t working, with one of the big problems Montrezl Harrell getting matched up against Nikola Jokic.
But guess what! Doc didn’t change anything despite saying that he recognized the issues that were plaguing the team. In fact, in game seven, he played Ivica Zubac only 14 minutes which meant more time on the court for Harrell. Apparently, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you get the same results.
Thankfully, Steve Ballmer saw that there were some big issues and decided to go forward with a change at the head coach position. It seemingly has worked out well for Rivers who was quick to land a job with a talented 76ers team while the Clippers can find someone who probably believes a bit more in the analytics side of the sport.
The LA Clippers are still conducting their coaching search with several interviews happening this week. The team is being thorough in their process and hopefully will find a candidate that will practice what they preach when it comes to making changes and winning.