Do Clipper Fans Even Like Doc Rivers?

[Ranma]

Let's not get carried away here. I still think Jeff Hornacek is a good coach dealt a bad hand by his front office. They traded away Goran Dragic, then traded away Isaiah Thomas while getting Brandon Knight back and still kept Markieff Morris. Is Hornacek better than Doc? No, but pair him with a good GM and he might be a better option than Doc the GM/Coach.

Look. Doc deserves credit for keeping the team not only competitive, but rolling during Blake's absence. However, he was able to do that because he started to finally address our defensive and depth shortcomings during his 3rd season with the team. These were things a lot of us have been calling for. The question is how come it took so long for Doc to come to such realizations and implement such game plans?

It sure helps when he stopped going after the likes of Byron Mullens and Antawn Jamison and giving more play to Cole Aldrich and Wesley Johnson. Having said that, Pierce has overall been a detriment that we can only hope steps up in the postseason. Crawford is still playing a lot but seems to have toned down a bit and has actually been contributing of late. Stephenson and Johnson could use more burn as well. The loss of Griffin has forced the team to be more focused and reduced the tendency to take opponents lightly, not counting the game against the T-Wolves tonight.

The bottom line is that we'll have to see how we do finish out the regular season and how far we'll progress in the playoffs before we shower Doc with accolades of accomplishment. Here's a question: if Doc leads us out to another early playoff exit, would you be content with him moving himself upstairs in a Pat Riley role as solely the President of Basketball Operations with another one of his cronies filling in as coach? This was posed by Kevin Arnovitz recently. I would think the vast majority of sentiment would want it to be vice versa with Doc as coach only and a legit personnel executive as GM. If Doc chooses the former, I'm scared to death that Ballmer would not have the guts to fire him on the spot.

[Wammy Giveaway]

I would think the vast majority of sentiment would want it to be vice versa with Doc as coach only and a legit personnel executive as GM. If Doc chooses the former, I'm scared to death that Ballmer would not have the guts to fire him on the spot.

There's something to be said about Doc's tri-role as coach/GM/father and Griffin's punching incident. The part I emphasized is the crux of my argument. Look at the parallels:

1. Doc Rivers is the worst GM since Elgin Baylor. He's traded picks to get rid of bad players. He loves his old Celtics and his own son, and hates rebuilding. His own pride gets in the way of making the right decisions. But you'll live with that because he helped guide the Clippers through the Donald Sterling scandal. He visited fellow workers and offered his condolences. He's a people's coach. You can't fire him after that.

2. Blake Griffin punched a team staffer and friend. He's afraid to get physical on the court. His deadpan humor camouflages his knuckleheadedness to protect his nice guy image. The Clippers are 15-4 without him, and are considering trading him. But they just can't let him go like that. He helped resurrect the franchise. He inspired David Stern to veto the Laker trade. He trotted a culture change.

When you have Steve Ballmer being unwilling to fire Doc Rivers, and the Clippers as a whole being unwilling to let Blake Griffin go, because of all the good things they've done before their fatal flaws were exposed, you know there is a serious attachment problem.

Fire Doc, you're rebuilding. Keep Doc, bad decisions will be their undoing.

Trade Blake, you're rebuilding. Keep Blake, your image is tainted, and the second round is your permanent ceiling.

Love is the root of the Clipper's dysfunction. Even if their heart is in the right place, they're suffering because of it.

[bestnamezRtaken]

See, this is why I asked this question here. To get all sorts of opinions on something that I was genuinely curious about. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the question and given good, full length posts. Not only did it help me see things from another side, but I was able to see that, there are indeed fans that are unhappy with Doc Rivers.

[Ranma]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Ananth_Pandian/status/697609817255514113[/tweet]

[nickhx2]

wow, ugly

[Quake Griffin]

If that was on Doc's bench, Doc would be called the cancer and the player would be thought of as an angel that would thrive elsewhere if he wasnt subject to Doc's poor leadership.


semi-green.
semi-srs.

[Quake Griffin]

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/241014/Doc-Rivers-We-Dont-Have-Many-Assets-But-We-Keep-Getting-Guys