Clippers coach Doc Rivers no longer in charge of basketball operations

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/clippers-coach-doc-rivers-demoted-lesser-role-front-office-180331695.html



Clippers coach Doc Rivers no longer in charge of basketball operations



Henry Bushnell,Ball Don't Lie 5 hours ago



Doc Rivers will no longer be in charge of both the team on the court and the front office. (Getty)




Los Angeles Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers is losing one of his titles.

According to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and later confirmed by the team, Rivers will still have a say in front office and personnel matters, but he will cede control of basketball operations to Lawrence Frank, who moved to the front office as the team’s vice president of basketball ops in 2016.

“I’ve owned the team for three years now, and I really better understand what an owner’s responsibility is — and it turns out that running a franchise and coaching are two enormous and different jobs,” Ballmer told ESPN. “The notion that one person can fairly focus on them and give them all the attention they need isn’t the case. To be as good as we can be, to be a championship franchise, we need two functioning strong people building teams out beneath them. There needs to be a healthy discussion and debate with two strong, independent-minded people.”

The Clippers had seemingly been moving in this direction in an unofficial capacity ever since Frank took over as the VP of basketball operations last summer. Balmer told ESPN that Rivers put Frank “in charge of the non-coaching aspects of the front office last year.” The franchise also hired Jerry West as an adviser in June. The shift in responsibilities for Rivers had long been rumored, and is now official.

The move is also long overdue. Rivers had too much on his plate, and his performance in both of his roles had been underwhelming. With Frank capable of running the front office, it made little sense to keep Rivers inundated with split responsibilities. Ballmer also mentioned that a squad that could be welcoming as many as 10 new players — and one that lost its former franchise cornerstone, Chris Paul — will need Rivers’ undivided attention.

The Clippers are the second team this offseason to move away from what is becoming an outdated front-office structure. The Hawks did so earlier this summer, hiring Travis Schlenk to run basketball operations so that head coach Mike Budenholzer could do what he does best. As Wojnarowski pointed out, the Clippers’ restructuring leaves only three teams with coach-presidents: The Spurs (Gregg Popovich), the Timberwolves (Tom Thibodeau) and the Pistons (Stan Van Gundy).

The Clippers traded an unprotected first-round pick to Boston for Rivers in 2013, and subsequently named him both their head coach and president of basketball operations. The sides originally agreed to a three-year, $21 million deal that would task Rivers with overseeing both on-court and off-court operations. They then agreed to a five-year, $50 million extension the following year. (According to USA Today’s Sam Amick, Rivers will still make $10 million per year despite being relieved of his front office duties.)

The two contracts, though, were given to Rivers by two different Clippers owners. The notorious Donald Sterling was responsible for the first one, and for putting Rivers in change of a flawed front office. Balmer bought the team in 2014 after Sterling was forced out by scandal, and has been stabilizing the organization since. His re-assigning of duties between Rivers and Frank is just the latest example.

Per the ESPN story, both Frank and Rivers will report directly to Ballmer.



bob



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Interesting, huh? You could almost see this coming at the end of the year and the early part of the summer. I wondered if Doc would continue coaching there with some of the controversy surrounding Paul's defection to Houston and all of the other rumors. I wonder how long a rope the owner is giving Doc before he replaces him. This guy thought he was buying a sure fire threat to Golden State. He has to be a little disappointed in the results. This will be a tough year for Doc because I think he will be under a microscope all the time

And, if he doesn't progress further in the playoffs he may no longer be their coach either.

Doc can now focus on winning with the best team he ever had.

Good luck to the yoyo master

dboss

Are you serious? Best team???

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Are  you serious?  Best team???

Rosalie

No I was not being serious. I was just reminding everyone one what Doc Rivers said when he went to the Clippers.

dboss

Thanks, I thought you were flip flopping on me!!!! Just joking. He is really under the gun here. Sometimes I wonder if something were to become available close to Florida if he would jump.. It is pretty clear he will not win a title with the West stacked the way it is.

Poor Doc, right Matty????? Where are you on this subject, I can only remember back when............. you were FireDoc!!!!

Thanks, I thought you were flip flopping on me!!!!  Just joking.  He is really under the gun here. Sometimes I wonder if something were to become available close to Florida if he would jump.. It is pretty clear he will not win a title with the West stacked the way it is.  

Poor Doc, right Matty????? Where are you on this subject, I can only remember back when............. you were FireDoc!!!!

dboss wrote:Doc can now focus on winning with the best team he ever had.

Good luck to the yoyo master

dboss

I don't know you well enough yet to know if you are being sarcastic or not. I, however, happen to agree with you. As I've written before, I know I'm in the minority here.

This is certainly the DEEPEST Clippers team Doc has ever had. Can Beverley, Rivers, Williams, Tesodic. Liggins and Evans make up for Paul, Redick and Crawford? Probably not, although I always felt CP3 was mildly over-rated.
However, Gallo, Dekker, Thornwell and Johnson gives him the best "3" combos he's ever had.
Blake, Jordan, Brice Johnson, Harrell and Willie Reed is a major upgrade over last year.
So, yes, I think this may be the best CLIPPERS team he's ever had. Time will tell. Living out here, I certainly hope the Clippers do something before the lakers get back in the picture. Even when they are irrelevant, they still get all the press!

red16russ11 wrote:

dboss wrote:Doc can now focus on winning with the best team he ever had.

Good luck to the yoyo master

dboss

I don't know you well enough yet to know if you are being sarcastic or not.  I, however, happen to agree with you.  As I've written before, I know I'm in the minority here.

This is certainly the DEEPEST Clippers team Doc has ever had.  Can Beverley, Rivers, Williams, Tesodic. Liggins and Evans make up for Paul, Redick and Crawford?  Probably not, although I always felt CP3 was mildly over-rated.
However, Gallo, Dekker, Thornwell and Johnson gives him the best "3" combos he's ever had.  
Blake, Jordan, Brice Johnson, Harrell and Willie Reed is a major upgrade over last year.
So, yes, I think this may be the best CLIPPERS team he's ever had.  Time will tell.  Living out here, I certainly hope the Clippers do something before the lakers get back in the picture.  Even when they are irrelevant, they still get all the press!

Red

To know me is to know a passionate Celtics fan that starting watching them play in 1960. I really enjoy satire.

My comment was related to a statement that Doc made back when he had left Boston for LA.  To put this into perspective, we used to post on the Boston Globe where I referred to Doc as the yoyo master (it was the counter to the Zen master)  Doc had a real problem coaching young players and would frequently put them in and yank them out of games like a yoyo

Anyways doc stated that the Clipper team was the most talented team he has ever coached.  I took exception to that given the 2008 squad that was loaded with 3 high end hall of famers and a very deep bench.

I am still waiting for Doc to win with all that talent and it is somewhat amusing to me that he has not been able to do so.

dboss

Me too dboss. Hence, my referral to our good friend Matty who went by a few names during that BDC time!!! Before 2007-08 and after