"I consider this his real coming out party as an executive" - Balmer on Doc

[Quake Griffin]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-clippers-plaschke-20150619-column.html#page=1

looks like Doc has full license to go full potato this offseason.
One more bad move/ sacrificed asset and our championship/ contender window could close.


inb4 Wilcox, Redick and a 1st for JR Smith.

[nickhx2]

ugh this freaking guy.

dude gets rightfully hammered. instead of taking ALL the blame for it, he's gonna let his boss cover his ass?

ballmer should take some blame here too. if you freely admit that doc did a poor job because he was a rookie and you want to keep him, that's your prerogative. BUT HIRE MENTORS! HIRE PEOPLE WHO CAN TEACH AND KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING! HIRE PEOPLE WHO CAN USE A CALCULATOR JFC!!!!

it's the same as in any successful business: if you bring in people who are smarter than you, you learn things. there should be absolutely zero exception here, but my guess is ballmer didn't want to step on toes or doc said "no" when ballmer suggested it. if they go into next season without hiring some more FO help then that is a gigantic sign and a huge problem.

[Quake Griffin]

He said something about using "analytics" in Lance GOATensons press conference.
and I was thinking in my head, "we have an analytics department?"

Come on Ballmer. Nick is right. Surround Doc with some checks and balances.

[og15]

Well the one good thing is that Doc can't get worse. Seems like this season they decided to actually understand how the cap works, so no panic moves to clear cap room and trading a draft pick. So all the mistakes of the past are a lesson. Of course ideally we would have liked for those mistakes to not have happened, but we can't change it now.

[Ranma]

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[Woodsanity]

Don't like this. I don't mind Doc as pres of bball operations but he better have extremely competent help but that is not the case. Our GM department is mediocre at best. At the very least they did manage to get Stephenson so I will hold off for now despite Doc's numerous blunders the previous season but I don't agree with this.

[playaloc916]

Sigh... I miss Neil Olshey. Now he was a GM that you feel comfortable having.

[nickhx2]

yeah. his biggest mistake was not protecting the pick that turned out to be kyrie irving and maybe going a bit further, not gambling on the league giving teams the amnesty provision. but beyond that i thought he was great and it seems literally every year he found ways to make his team better, whether it was for the clippers or the blazers. i still am kind of scared of him over there because he rarely seems to make a bad move while at the same time piling up assets or bona fide players.

[Quake Griffin]

Sigh... I miss Neil Olshey. Now he was a GM that you feel comfortable having.

sucks to know if Sterling's tapes would have been leaked earlier, Ballmer MIGHT have paid him and he'd still be here.

0% chance he pairs Dudley up with a 1st with Dudleys friendly ass contract.
0% chance Austin Rivers is ever here in a jersey…..with a 2nd rounder going along with it.

[QRich3]

yeah. his biggest mistake was not protecting the pick that turned out to be kyrie irving and maybe going a bit further, not gambling on the league giving teams the amnesty provision. but beyond that i thought he was great and it seems literally every year he found ways to make his team better, whether it was for the clippers or the blazers. i still am kind of scared of him over there because he rarely seems to make a bad move while at the same time piling up assets or bona fide players.

That trade stunk of DTS threatening to get rid of Baron right now or else. Another thing Oshley was good at, he was able to convince Sterling of reasonable sh*t most of the time.

[wassuphomeboy]

Doc is a bad GM but thankfully he doesn't seem like the stubbornly bad type. I can see him surrounding himself with some analytics guys in the front office this season. And if we eventually get Pierce all will be forgiven, at least on my end.

[QRich3]

Doc is a bad GM but thankfully he doesn't seem like the stubbornly bad type. I can see him surrounding himself with some analytics guys in the front office this season. And if we eventually get Pierce all will be forgiven, at least on my end.

Yeah, a lot of people in this forum (and some parts of the media) love to just lump Doc with the old guard who's afraid of stats and analytics, but he's actually pretty open to it all, and apparently he's spear heading the health-analytics movement in the league. He's come up with a lot of analytic-driven changes in the way the team travels on the road, so the players can get the exact hours of rest and sleep they need, and the minute distribution and rest-timing is apparently very influenced by this health analytics.

If only he didn't shoot himself in the foot with his basketball operations, which make his rotation way shorter and a lot of this sh*t not realistic to use.

[MartinToVaught]

If this year is Doc's "coming-out party," then another second-round exit or worse is grounds for firing. No more excuses, no more revisionist history, it's WCF minimum or you're gone.

[HeartBreakKid]

Doc is a bad GM but thankfully he doesn't seem like the stubbornly bad type. I can see him surrounding himself with some analytics guys in the front office this season. And if we eventually get Pierce all will be forgiven, at least on my end.

Yeah, a lot of people in this forum (and some parts of the media) love to just lump Doc with the old guard who's afraid of stats and analytics, but he's actually pretty open to it all, and apparently he's spear heading the health-analytics movement in the league. He's come up with a lot of analytic-driven changes in the way the team travels on the road, so the players can get the exact hours of rest and sleep they need, and the minute distribution and rest-timing is apparently very influenced by this health analytics.

If only he didn't shoot himself in the foot with his basketball operations, which make his rotation way shorter and a lot of this sh*t not realistic to use.

Can't say I agree with that, Doc Rivers seems to still be stuck in the old age. If he looked into analytics or even used some common sense, there is no way he would make Jamal Crawford such a big part of the Clippers. Crawford cost you guys the Thunder series and the Houston one as well.

[nickhx2]

Doc is a bad GM but thankfully he doesn't seem like the stubbornly bad type. I can see him surrounding himself with some analytics guys in the front office this season. And if we eventually get Pierce all will be forgiven, at least on my end.

Yeah, a lot of people in this forum (and some parts of the media) love to just lump Doc with the old guard who's afraid of stats and analytics, but he's actually pretty open to it all, and apparently he's spear heading the health-analytics movement in the league. He's come up with a lot of analytic-driven changes in the way the team travels on the road, so the players can get the exact hours of rest and sleep they need, and the minute distribution and rest-timing is apparently very influenced by this health analytics.

If only he didn't shoot himself in the foot with his basketball operations, which make his rotation way shorter and a lot of this sh*t not realistic to use.

Can't say I agree with that, Doc Rivers seems to still be stuck in the old age. If he looked into analytics or even used some common sense, there is no way he would make Jamal Crawford such a big part of the Clippers. Crawford cost you guys the Thunder series and the Houston one as well.

i think qrich is right about the health stuff. but as far as on court analytics he is definitely a part of the larry brown type old guard.

[QRich3]

Doc is a bad GM but thankfully he doesn't seem like the stubbornly bad type. I can see him surrounding himself with some analytics guys in the front office this season. And if we eventually get Pierce all will be forgiven, at least on my end.

Yeah, a lot of people in this forum (and some parts of the media) love to just lump Doc with the old guard who's afraid of stats and analytics, but he's actually pretty open to it all, and apparently he's spear heading the health-analytics movement in the league. He's come up with a lot of analytic-driven changes in the way the team travels on the road, so the players can get the exact hours of rest and sleep they need, and the minute distribution and rest-timing is apparently very influenced by this health analytics.

If only he didn't shoot himself in the foot with his basketball operations, which make his rotation way shorter and a lot of this sh*t not realistic to use.

Can't say I agree with that, Doc Rivers seems to still be stuck in the old age. If he looked into analytics or even used some common sense, there is no way he would make Jamal Crawford such a big part of the Clippers. Crawford cost you guys the Thunder series and the Houston one as well.

While I agree with you (and mostly everyone else) about Crawford, I think that's a very simplistic view of what analytics are useful for, using analytics is not just looking at RAPM and bench the guys at the bottom of the list. Other analytics-driven franchises have rescued and given big minutes to dudes who don't do very well on the analytics we have access to (Warriors-Speights, Mavs-Calderon, Rockets-Josh Smith, etc.). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but basing Doc's use of analytics on how much he plays Crawford is not very reasonable.

Clippers stole Greg Peim from the Rockets last season to make him Manager of Basketball Analytics, and even before that, Doc himself created a position of "Director of Basketball Analytics" (this was in that brief period after the Sterling ousting and before Ballmer bought the team, so it was 100% a Doc decision) and hired one of his stats guys, Jud Winton, to fill it. So yeah, they do make use of analytics, how much they do it relative to other teams is arguable and none of us really know, but saying Doc is "stuck in the old age" when it comes to analytics is just uninformed and seems to be following an agenda.

[Wammy Giveaway]

...saying Doc is "stuck in the old age" when it comes to analytics is just uninformed and seems to be following an agenda.

The agenda word itself is valid. Doc goes after...

1. Players who have played for him before, especially in his 2008 Celtics championship team (Glen Davis, Lestor Hudson, Nate Robinson, and the inevitable Big 3 member Paul Pierce)

2. Players who have defeated his Big 3 Celtics from 2007-2012 (J.J. Redick, Hedo Turkoglu, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Byron Mullens, Dahntay Jones)

3. People who have worked for him before (Lawrence Frank, Sam Cassell)

The trade for his son Austin was the kicker. Doc has a favorites problem. Going after guys who have defeated him makes it seem as if Doc wants some payback from those players. That's jealousy and pettiness. He lets his emotions get in the way of business.

Onto Crawford. Here are his Prevention stats for the playoffs:

Round 1 - 0.86 shots/2.14 PTS, 0.18 POSS, 0.29 AST, 0.71 set-ups, 0.14 delays, 0.29 helps
Round 2 - 1.57 shots/3.57 PTS, 1.00 POSS, 0.71 AST, 0.14 screens, 1.14 set-ups, 0.29 saves, 0.14 delays, 0.29 helps

Now look at his bench opponent's Preventions:

Manu Ginobili - 2.43 shots/5.57 PTS, 0.43 POSS, 0.43 AST, 0.29 screens, 0.86 set-ups, 0.43 saves, 1.00 delays, 0.14 helps
Marco Belinelli - 0.57 shots/1.57 PTS, 0.62 POSS, 0.14 AST, 0.43 set-ups, 0.14 saves, 0.14 delays, 0.86 helps
Corey Brewer - 1.71 shots/4.71 PTS, 0.95 POSS, 0.29 AST, 0.14 screens, 0.43 set-ups, 0.43 saves, 0.43 delays, 0.57 helps
Josh Smith - 2.14 shots/4.43 PTS, 1.21 POSS, 0.29 AST, 2.36 screens, 1.29 set-ups, 0.14 saves, 1.00 delays, 0.86 helps

If you combined the bench players together and Crawford's rounds together, you will see that the bench beats Crawford by quite a good margin. Crawford's second round numbers are considered inflated because two of their wins were blow outs (he was basically contesting garbage shots in those games). The players above Crawford are solid rotation guys who knew when, where and who to contest.

These stats come from re-watching the game completely, with (hopefully high quality) frame advancing. We all knew Crawford being a defensive sieve was an indicator; these above stats confirm the eye test.

[MartinToVaught]

So far this "coming out party" has been more of a "losing out party" for Doc. Once again we will be forced to settle for the dregs of the free agent market thanks to Doc's complete mismanagement of our salary cap and assets.

[Ranma]

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Melissa Rohlin, Los Angeles Times (1/2/15)

Wrote Simmons: "Biggest summer mistake was the Clips signing Hawes instead of Pierce (who wanted to go to LA). Pretty sure they'd do that one over."

Clippers Coach Doc Rivers addressed Simmons' statement at Friday's practice, and apparently they wouldn't do anything over.

"He's got it wrong and that's all I'll say," Rivers said.
...

"I'm sure I've made more mistakes, but that ain't one of them," Rivers said of Hawes. "Let me put it that way."

Doc Rivers Addresses Bill Simmons' Critical Tweet About Spencer Hawes

[KDRE]

Doc needs to be quiet. Hes not even making any sense