Doc Rivers opens up about regrets, rifts and second chances after nearly losing DeAndre Jordan

[mkwest]

"Losing him would've always gnawed at me," Rivers told Yahoo Sports. "But it wouldn't have stopped me. I would've said, 'F--- that, we're going to figure out a way to get this right.' But it also triggered something else for me. It might have been my front-office wake-up call. I was not a pleasant guy to me, or my staff, after I thought we lost him – and even after we got him back. We had a lot of 'come-to-Jesus' meetings.

"I told them, and told myself: 'We've got to get f------ better. I don't care if we don't like how this was done, or we thought there was some injustice. We didn't get him. We've got to be f------ better.'

"I didn't do my job enough," Rivers says. "You can't take it for granted. You can't leave it for anybody else. Sometimes you've got to get your hands dirty. You've got to get in there and make sure, and you've got to make sure it's not the bull---- talk. Because you get a lot of bull---- talk as a coach. They say, 'No, we're good. No, I'm happy.'

"They've got to communicate with each other, and they've got to learn how to communicate with each other. 'No' is a positive word. No one wants to say no anymore, and no one wants to be unpopular anymore. I'd rather for my guy that he be unpopular and a leader, than popular and full of s---."

"But that's on me too," Doc Rivers finally says on his way down to the driving range to grab his driver, to try to hit it long and straight.

"That's on me."

Adrian Wojnjarowski, Yahoo! Sports

[Texas Chuck]

He's not real subtle in the message he's delivering to DeAndre, is he? And I don't blame him.

[QRich3]

Yeah to be honest I wouldn't be surprised if DJ is traded before his contract is over if he doesn't develop as the top defensive anchor he's expected to be. But he's been talking to Deandre through the press ever since he got here. He pegged DJ for the insecure child with a need to be flattered that he is the moment he set foot in LA.