Rivers has the Clippers' attention, trust

Post #1 » by **mkwest** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:57 am

Rivers has the Clippers' attention, trust

“He’s been what I expected and then some,” Clippers guard J.J. Redick said. “A bunch of us went to dinner last night and we were talking about some of the things he has said already in the locker room and the team meetings and you get goose bumps sometimes. It’s that good. It’s refreshing to play for a guy like that. We’re all excited.”

Sometimes a message is only as valuable as the person delivering it. As good as Rivers’ message is it likely would have been lost on the players if it were delivered verbatim by Vinny Del Negro. As personable as Del Negro was, he had lost his players and the locker room by the end of his time in L.A. DeAndre Jordan’s faith was lost as he sat at the end of the bench late in games, Blake Griffin’s trust was eroded as the team constantly changed their defensive philosophies depending on that night’s opponent and Del Negro never seemed to have the full respect of Chris Paul.

“It’s one of those things where you’re hanging on every word,” Griffin said. “Everything he says, it seems like it’s important and has a lot of meaning. Sometimes you’re listening to coaches talk in general and it gets repetitive and you start to check out a little bit. But every film session, every team meeting everything he says and everything we do is very productive.”

“After I signed and he was the coach, we had a conversation and I’ll never forget it,” Paul said. “I got goose bumps talking to him.”

Arash Markazi, ESPN Los Angeles

TheNewEra · Post #2 » by **TheNewEra** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 7:53 pm

Its great to have overall team unity and faith in a coach.

Post #3 » by **mkwest** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:02 am

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz0JIu2zR90[/youtube]

Quake Griffin · Post #4 » by **Quake Griffin** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:14 pm

oddly enough...I don't like it. this is just a backhanded way of taking a crap on Vinny. Lord knows I don't give a damn about Vinny but I think we are a bit better than that.

We haven't went to war with the Doc yet. You say everything he says resonates? I'm sorry bro...but that is a statement I cannot take at face value. I need proof...playoff proof.

LACtdom · Post #5 » by **LACtdom** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 11:20 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:We haven't went to war with the Doc yet. You say everything he says resonates? I'm sorry bro...but that is a statement I cannot take at face value. I need proof...playoff proof.

could not agree more. In the pre-season our 3p%, FT%, reb are all inferior to the non-contenders we have been playing against. When we show the mental toughness to consistently contend at the top level then I will believe it all.

Post #6 » by **mkwest** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 12:25 am

I have a different take on it.

Doc is like "E.F. Hutton" for a lot of players. There are currently only 4 head coaches in the association that have won a championship. Doc is one of them. He is able to relate with the players as a former player, but also impart knowledge/wisdom from having been at the helm of a team that competed for 2 championships and were limited only by injury from making a serious threat of pursuing a 3-peat. He has something that all of the players want and that's a ring.

Monty Williams, Bower, SVG, Vinny, Dunleavy, Scott, Vogel, McMillan, Woodson, Drew, Nelson, Thomas, Skiles, Floyd, Cartwright, etc. have been coaches for most of rotation guys. None of them have coached a team to a title. Obviously, Nelson, Thomas, Scott & Cartwright won as players. Collison and Barnes can say that they played for a championship coach with Phil and Carlisle. I'm not the biggest fan of Phil, but he's done it many times even if he did have the highest quality players. It would be in a player's best interest to soak in what he's saying. Doc doesn't quite have the resume of Phil Jackson, although he did coach a team to give Phil a rare finals loss and almost beat him again 2 years later.

To a lot of these players, he's the best/most accomplished coach that they have played for. They're trying to soak it in and possibly gain something that other coaches have been unable to teach them. I like Vinny as a person and don't think that everything should be blamed on him, but it's a big difference. Not every Bulls fan disliked Vinny or appreciated how that situation ended either, but I think it is safe to say that the majority loves that Thibs is now their coach and that the Vinny years are behind them. Vinny deserves respect as a human being, but will not command the respect that some of his peers do as a coach.

I believe that beyond strategy/tactics, the most important thing a coach can do is get the team to believe in him and themselves. It doesn't matter how good of a coach you may be, you won't accomplish much if you don't have the respect of the players. They won't compete for you and definitely won't give it their all.

It remains to be seen just how much his presence will add to the players individually and as a team, but they have a great reason to buy what he's selling.

Liver_Pooty · Post #7 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 2:47 am

Wasn't sure where to put this, but Bobcats fan here. Does Mullens randomly hoisting threes like hes Dirk Nowitzki make you guys nauseous yet? Or does it not bother you since he may/ may not be playing much?

Just speaking as someone who has watched him over the past two years and seen so much potential, but also seen someone with such a low basketball IQ. Frustrating to me and hes not even on my team anymore.

mttwlsn16 · Post #8 » by **mttwlsn16** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 3:34 am

Mullins has already fallen to pretty much dead last on the depth chart. I live in Charlotte and liked what I saw when I went to a few Cats games last year. Was excited about us signing him as a stretch big. But he's shot 22% overall and 20% from 3 this preseason. Kid has been bad.