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New Clippers Coach Doc Rivers wants to meet expectations head on

"The expectations are great. I don't want us to shrink from that at all. I don't want us to run from that," he said. "But what we've got to get our guys to understand is expectations are one thing. Realization is a whole different thing, and just because you're expected to do anything doesn't mean you've arrived.

He has deliberately limited the chats. "I don't try to overdo that," he said. "I recognize that, at least hopefully, we're together a long time next season. They'll hear my voice enough. I talk to them enough to try to get a feel on their thoughts on the team and their teammates and all that stuff."

"As athletic as we are, we didn't run enough. We have to get up and down the floor more offensively. We have to do a better job of our spacing offensively. And we have to find a way to close games. Over anything, that's what stands out. We have to execute as a group better. Each guy has to buy into that execution, and so there's things we have to do."

"We have to have a big lineup that you can function with, with DeAndre [Jordan] and Blake, and we also have to have a small lineup as well that is a very functional team. And I think that's an area where we really have to improve in," Rivers said.

Helene Elliott, LA Times