Doc Rivers says Los Angeles Lakers counting Minnesota titles ‘actually bugs me a little bit’

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/doc-rivers-says-los-angeles-011847354.html



Doc Rivers says Los Angeles Lakers counting Minnesota titles ‘actually bugs me a little bit’




Kurt Helin, NBC Sports

23 minutes ago



Los Angeles is a Lakers town.

The Dodgers can get close to energizing the city the same way, although Dodger fans are a little cautious after the past few playoffs. The Rams and Chargers are in a league that ignored Los Angeles for a couple of decades, lost a couple of generations of fans, and it’s going to take time to win them back. The Kings’ following is passionate but not massive (same with the two MLS teams in town).

The Lakers are the team that fathers take their sons to see, like their fathers did before them. The Lakers have won 16 NBA titles…

About that, it’s really 11 in Los Angeles. The first five carried over from Minnesota (where the name Lakers makes more sense). That kind of bothers’ Clippers coach Doc Rivers, something he told Marc Spears of The Undefeated in a story previewing the Clippers’ season.

“It is a Lakers town. I’m good with that. I have no issues with that,” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers told The Undefeated from his Staples Center office recently. “They have how many titles that they’ve won here? You know, they claim them all, but they only won a certain amount here. I will say that. That actually bugs me a little bit. … Having said that, that’s generations of loyalty.“I look at us as, we’re creating our own movement. … We’re not trying to take away shine from the other. We’ve got our own thing going. I never thought we could get our own thing going. That was what I was so frustrated with being here. And now we got our own thing going.”

Carrying titles over is common… and controversial. Should the Dodgers be able to count Brooklyn titles? It feels wrong to think Oklahoma City could count Seattle’s titles. Should Sacramento be able to count the 1951 Rochester title? Personally, the Lakers carrying Minnesota’s doesn’t seem a big issue, but you know Rivers is going to take a shot at the Lakers when he can.

That hallway rivalry at Staples Center is building.

Few things seem to irritate Lakers fans like the Clippers putting posters of players over the Lakers’ title banners at Staples Center for Clippers home games. Lakers fans think of Staples as their building — and it might not exist but for the draw of the Shaq/Kobe Lakers. However, Staples is owned by AEG (whose primary owner is Philip Anschutz, who owns the NHL’s Kings), not the Lakers. It’s a hockey building.

Doc is right about one thing: The Clippers have their own thing going.

The Clippers, on paper, are the better Los Angeles team and better built for the playoffs with versatile wings such as Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The Clippers have more trusted depth with Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Tuesday night’s Clippers’ home opener will go how it goes — LeBron James and Anthony Davis will go for the Lakers, Paul George is out for weeks still for the Clippers — but a playoff battle between these teams this season could be epic.

And decide who gets to hang the next banner in Staples Center.



bob
MY NOTE:  Doc should win one in the Staples, and then he can start talking.  As you have always said, you are your record, Doc, and right now your record in LA is Oh-fer.  What has always bugged me is that the Lakers retired Gail Goodrich's number, even though he only won one title but STILL, TO THIS DAY, has not retired George Mikan's number.  They'll take credit for Mikan's success, but they won't retire his number.  No Mikan, no 5 Championships.


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Bob this has long been my argument against that 16 title count as well. No Mikan, no 5 extra titles.

Also I really just dont like that Lakers, no matter the city they play in.

Ahhhh. One of the many age old arguments from BDC that led to this site! Gotta love it. Good luck, Doc. I'll never forget where we came from. Thank God Sam had had enough.

db

Maybe if the Clippers win the title the Lakers will count that one too since they are using the same facility.

If the franchise itself is the same, then it makes sense.


KJ

Mikan's number not retired? Claiming titles he especially earned is a travesty then.

Lakers never retired his number?! I can understand Minnesota not being able to retire it because he was probably still playing or hadn't reached the 5 year mark before team moving to LAL. But that's ridiculous! Doc may be right!

db

The Lakers last year in Minnesota was the 1959-60 season.
Then they moved to Los Angeles for the 1960-61 season.
The Lakers had 8 players play for Minnesota one year, then the Lakers the next year.
The Lakers had the same owner for years before they moved to LA and for years after they moved to LA.
To claim that retired jersey's has anything to do with a team move or counting championships is silly.

If Boston's ownership group decided to move the team to Las Vegas for financial reasons, I'm pretty sure they would count the previous 17 championships in Boston.

I'm surprised some Celtics fans won't move on from this topic...

The Celtics franchise was swapped for the Braves franchise and moved to San Diego and renamed the Clippers.  Braves owner, John Y Brown and Celtics owner Irv Levin made that deal.  It was like a house swap, kinda

So technically last night the Lakers got beat by the Celtics, lol

Doc clarified his Lakers banner comments:

“What I was saying and obviously I was not understood when people say we’ve won them here, no you haven’t. You’ve won this many here. It’s still the same organization. They deserve all their banners, but that’s the point I was trying to make. It was just taken and run away with, but I’m fine with that, too.”

https://www.lakersnation.com/doc-rivers-clarifies-comments-about-16-lakers-championships/2019/10/23/


I am not sure who the people are who Doc claims that they say "we've won them here."
Everyone knows 5 were won in Minnesota and 11 in Los Angeles.