Doc Rivers And False Security

[Wammy Giveaway]

First, a couple tweets from Diamond Leung:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/diamond83/status/652576742779916289[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/diamond83/status/652578618904702976[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/diamond83/status/652578912245952512[/tweet]

And a bonus Ethan Sherwood Strauss sighting:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/SherwoodStrauss/status/652577795067920384[/tweet]

All based on comments made by Doc Rivers himself:

(from "The Edge Of Glory: Will The Clippers Make The Leap Or Hit Reset" by Zach Lowe: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-edge-of-glory-will-the-clippers-make-the-leap-or-hit-reset/)

“The championship window in the West is so narrow,” Redick says. “Ours might only be open another couple of years. But you need some breaks. Golden State was the best team in the league, but they also had everything go right for them. They didn’t have one bad break. I don’t have any doubt about the DNA of our team.”

Rivers agrees. “You need luck in the West,” he says. “Look at Golden State. They didn’t have to play us or the Spurs. But that’s also a lesson for us: When you have a chance to close, you have to do it.”

Then it hit me. Didn't Doc say something similar, about how the Lakers couldn't defeat the starting lineup of Rondo-Allen-Pierce-Garnett-Perkins? And that they won only because Perkins got hurt, and was replaced by Rasheed Wallace in Game 7?

My problem with Doc is that he likes to put caveats, conditions and strings onto his successes and failures. In his mind, Doc thinks the title already belonged to the Clippers, well evidenced by them taking out the Spurs behind a clutch shot by Chris Paul and a Sudden Death Shot Prevention from Matt Barnes. He believed that if the Dubs were ever to claim the title, they needed to beat the Clippers first. Warriors never got to face the Clippers, let alone needed to, due to their own 3-1 collapse to the Rockets in the second round; Golden State got off Scot free. Dubs got the perfect pass to a title being top seed with league home court advantage and 60+ wins in the regular season.

Doc, and in extension the Clippers, have to stop rationalizing and conditionalizing their wins and losses. They do this to avoid having to show humility and integrity. They think admitting defeat will make them weak and unfit to compete in the NBA. This attitude demonstrates a lack of security and false belief that the Clippers are already champions until somebody defeats them otherwise. If that were the case, then the Warriors would have already won the title anyway as they've already won the season series against the Clippers in the 2014-15 regular season 3 games to 1.

I have this saying: "Regular season games can only be used against you."

Clips said Dubs needed to beat them to win the title. They did. And early.

Clips never lost 3 in a row under Doc Rivers. Came back to bite them in the worst way: the ninth team to lose a 3-1 series lead in NBA playoff history.

This coincides with Doc going after Paul Pierce and the stats I posted in various threads.

If the Clippers want to be taken seriously, they need to start taking competition seriously. They can start this step by winning games with no strings attached.

[og15]

I don't know why Doc was talking about this when the Clippers lost and a big reason was because of his poor team building.

Yes, we are all quite aware that the Clippers and Spurs were probably two of the better matchups for the Warriors, but the Clippers didn't get there, Houston did, and if the Clippers were already getting tired due to lack of rest and solid depth because of going 7 games vs SA and starting right away, then how much so if they beat the Rockets in 7 games and then play the Warriors?

Doc should worry about how well his management is building his roster to support his best players.

[Ranma]

I agree that Doc talks a better game than he does in playing it. Yeah, the Warriors caught some breaks on their way to the NBA crown but they showed themselves to be the best team in the NBA during the regular season last year and made the most of their breaks during the playoffs unlike Doc's Clippers. We had a 3-1 series advantage and I believe a 19-point lead with 15 minutes to go in Game 6 against the Rockets and absolutely blew it. Doc doesn't have much to stand on when the scoreboard hasn't been in his favor.

We've been clamoring for better defense, better roster depth, and more discipline yet Doc only now started addressing some of those issues this past offseason. Giving speeches about a sense of urgency is one thing, actually showing it in the way we play is another. I remember near the beginning of last season when I was taking Doc and the Clippers to task for the lack of defensive acumen being shown out on the floor and we even had some posters here take the same attitude as Doc about taking for granted that things will eventually work out by the time the playoffs rolled around. That contributed to another one of our postseason downfalls.

Not only did Golden State maintain their offensive excellence in pretty much matching the Clippers' adjusted offensive rating, but they improved to be the best team in terms of adjusted defensive rating while the Clippers remained in the middle of the pack. I wanted very much to see the Clippers play the Warriors in the playoffs as that was my most anticipated matchup for 2014-15, but it didn't happen because the Clippers didn't handle our business like Klay Thompson said. The Warriors are a worthy champion. Nothing Doc says will take away from that.

We still have a lot to prove, but there is now less focus on Doc the GM's shortcomings even though his handling of draft picks remains highly suspect. It's now all on the coach to fit the pieces together and get everyone on the same page as a cohesive and efficient unit. Steve Kerr came in as a fresh-faced coach and elevated his team to the NBA throne. I'm long past tired of Doc's excuses. Get it done or get the hell out (like that's going to happen).

[LACtdom]

Yes the Warriors had a 'lucky' run, but we simply weren't good enough to win it all. I often question Doc. His speeches are aligned with my beliefs for how the Clippers need to improve but then his actions are completely different. He constantly talks about the importance of defence but will play players such as Jamal inappropriately.

[nickhx2]

it's doc and his jackass talk like usual but to be fair, he is being misquoted a lot.

he said you need luck to win a championship and the warriors pretty much breezed to the finals. and both of those statements are absolutely true, so i'm not sure people should hammer doc on that. the warriors had literally one of the easiest championship runs i have ever seen in my life and soooo many people have echoed the same sentiment.

really all doc is saying is that they weren't challenged. and they weren't. we would have taken them to 6 or 7 games in round 1 or even won, and if the spurs played them i would have bet every damn dollar i owned the spurs win. they indeed were pretty damn fortunate and they capitalized on it and reaped the rewards.

[Neddy]

there is nothing wrong with some bravado talk especially if the coach is trying to empower his players. I frankly don't care what other teams players or fans have to say, as long as our guys believe in bravado spitting head coach of theirs.

that's pretty much the best asset Tommy Lasorda had, and yet he won World Series twice doing just that.

[nickhx2]

honestly i don't really care about what was said. our roster from top to bottom felt they were gonna beat gs. and people will usually say out loud what they believe.

this is just as snooze worthy as the bill simmons dysfunction stuff. i'm sure lots of people will eat it up since the season's about to start, though.

[NYKAL]

every championship team had their share of good fortune. Every team so, saying the Warrior got lucky is disingenuous.

I think if Kobe and Shaq hadn't had a personal meltdown, Celtic would not have won that series.

I've enjoyed the clips from afar and I think Doc is a better front office guy then he gets credit for but, that's just me judging the pieces I see. I admit I don't know a thing about the contracts or the other things that go into building a team so, I could be way off base.

Glad you guys kept Jamal (those calderon/crawford threads were comic gold). I've always though of him as the little guard that could....been a fan since his Knicks days. Loved his handle and seems to be a truly humble dude. Not sold on Stevenson being a good fit but, we can hop.

Enjoying the preseason and waiting for the regular to start. So Geeked up right now.

[Akklaim1]

I don't embrace being the villain especially when we haven't done ****.

[QRich3]

it's doc and his jackass talk like usual but to be fair, he is being misquoted a lot.

he said you need luck to win a championship and the warriors pretty much breezed to the finals. and both of those statements are absolutely true, so i'm not sure people should hammer doc on that. the warriors had literally one of the easiest championship runs i have ever seen in my life and soooo many people have echoed the same sentiment.

really all doc is saying is that they weren't challenged. and they weren't. we would have taken them to 6 or 7 games in round 1 or even won, and if the spurs played them i would have bet every damn dollar i owned the spurs win. they indeed were pretty damn fortunate and they capitalized on it and reaped the rewards.

Yeah, it's just funny. He didn't say anything that could be remotely misconstructed as disrespectful. He did a long interview on the state of his team, on how close they are to win and if they will need to rebuild if they don't. And the man wondered out loud if maybe the Clippers shouldn't be thinking about rebuilding cause may be closer than everyone thinks, maybe they just need a few breaks like the Warriors had last year. He didn't even singled out the Warriors, he spoke about other previous champions. And somehow that gets quoted as "the Warriors were lucky they didn't play us". And everyone buys into it cause everyone really wants him to be a villain.

Tabloid headlines for idiotic people.

Though I gotta admit it's amusing how the Warriors players are still insecure about us, even after they won a championship.

[nickhx2]

yeah definitely agree, especially on that last part.

these guys are SOOOO offended, insecure, and defensive about winning the title lol. my guess is the whole cupcake championship thing is hitting a deep nerve for them, cause it's probably not the first time it's been mentioned.