Game 28: Los Angeles Clippers (17-10) @ San Antonio Spurs (14-14) - 5:30 PM PT

[Ranma]

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[Ranma]

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[Ranma]

So... are we supposed to be praising the horrible basketball that this team is playing now?

It's funny how the Doc apologists keep finding ways to deflect from the real issues despite how most of us pointed out the exact problems that would lead to our downfall, then when it comes to fruition, they complain about our negativity? The excuses and patience excercised by the cult of Doc would have him still running basketball operations.

Let's see. We called that Doc was overmatched in the role of GM/PoBO, but his apologists kept defending him at every turn even when it cost us first-round picks and resulted in bad trades and free-agent signings. Then we pointed out how Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers were undeserving of playing time due to their net-negative effect, but we were accused of hating.

What has happened since? Lob City broke up, in part, because of favoritism to Junior Rivers. Crawford went over a month before signing with the dysfunctional Suns. Austin has already worn out his welcome in Washington in his 1st season with the team.

Doc complained about not being able to build depth with the roster by being saddled with large contracts despite the fact that he was inept as a talent evaluator and that he joined the Clips because of the stacked amount of talent he had at his disposal.

After removing Doc from front-office duties, Jerry West & Co. provided him with depth and talent through smart trades and the draft and now Doc can't maintain the excellence that the team showed itself to be capable of. Before that, it was pointed out how Beverley and Bradley are offensively abysmal and not even consistent defensively and this was coming from a guy who defended playing them early for good reason, by the way. And yet Doc gives them the Austin-Jamal preferred treatment at the expense of the superior and more ready rookie in Shai.

I pointed out how Harrell was not ready for more minutes given his effectiveness as an undersized energy player, but you hear Doc talk about how he can play with non-stop energy even for 57 minutes or so. I recently pointed out that our lack of length at the center position has been our biggest weakness in terms of rim protection and rebounding.

All of these things have been pointed out recently and even repeated to show that Doc's decision-making was unsustainable in the hopes of getting the team to play better. When everything that was pointed out happens to come true, it's the critics to blame?

Like I've said, Doc apologists are not interested in the truth or apparently what's best for the team. Under their approach, we'd still have Doc as President of Basketball Operations, Jamal and Austin as our starting backcourt, Jeff Green would be our starting small forward, and both of our 2018 lottery picks would have been traded away for someone like Zach Randolph among any number of travesties.

Demoting Doc and bringing in actually competent personnel executives have us in line as a premier free-agent destination and, because he's proven to be able to coach only stacked rosters for a full season's worth of success, he'll still get the opportunity to benefit from West's roster building and free-agent wooing should we be fortunate enough to land a big fish or two.

On top of that, it's laughable for the cult to accuse us of an agenda when what we've been pointing out has been expressed by those who cover the Clippers as their occupation. Has anyone seen any journalists or bloggers endorsing to play Bradley and Beverley together for extended periods of time or even over Shai?

The lack of accountability for Doc's failures is mind-boggling.

There's a reason why I choose not to pay attention to those on my ignored list.

[MartinToVaught]

I don't even understand why Doc has these apologists in the first place. He's not Pop, he's not Carlisle, he's not Stevens. He's done nothing to warrant this absurd level of blind faith, especially during his time with the Clippers.

[esqtvd]

So... are we supposed to be praising the horrible basketball that this team is playing now?

It's funny how the Doc apologists keep finding ways to deflect from the real issues despite how most of us pointed out the exact problems that would lead to our downfall, then when it comes to fruition, they complain about our negativity? The excuses and patience excercised by the cult of Doc would have him still running basketball operations.

Let's see. We called that Doc was overmatched in the role of GM/PoBO, but his apologists kept defending him at every turn even when it cost us first-round picks and resulted in bad trades and free-agent signings. Then we pointed out how Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers were undeserving of playing time due to their net-negative effect, but we were accused of hating.

What has happened since? Lob City broke up, in part, because of favoritism to Junior Rivers. Crawford went over a month before signing with the dysfunctional Suns. Austin has already worn out his welcome in Washington in his 1st season with the team.

Doc complained about not being able to build depth with the roster by being saddled with large contracts despite the fact that he was inept as a talent evaluator and that he joined the Clips because of the stacked amount of talent he had at his disposal.

After removing Doc from front-office duties, Jerry West & Co. provided him with depth and talent through smart trades and the draft and now Doc can't maintain the excellence that the team showed itself to be capable of. Before that, it was pointed out how Beverley and Bradley are offensively abysmal and not even consistent defensively and this was coming from a guy who defended playing them early for good reason, by the way. And yet Doc gives them the Austin-Jamal preferred treatment at the expense of the superior and more ready rookie in Shai.

I pointed out how Harrell was not ready for more minutes given his effectiveness as an undersized energy player, but you hear Doc talk about how he can play with non-stop energy even for 57 minutes or so. I recently pointed out that our lack of length at the center position has been our biggest weakness in terms of rim protection and rebounding.

All of these things have been pointed out recently and even repeated to show that Doc's decision-making was unsustainable in the hopes of getting the team to play better. When everything that was pointed out happens to come true, it's the critics to blame?

Like I've said, Doc apologists are not interested in the truth or apparently what's best for the team. Under their approach, we'd still have Doc as President of Basketball Operations, Jamal and Austin as our starting backcourt, Jeff Green would be our starting small forward, and both of our 2018 lottery picks would have been traded away for someone like Zach Randolph among any number of travesties.

Demoting Doc and bringing in actually competent personnel executives have us in line as a premier free-agent destination and, because he's proven to be able to coach only stacked rosters for a full season's worth of success, he'll still get the opportunity to benefit from West's roster building and free-agent wooing should we be fortunate enough to land a big fish or two.

On top of that, it's laughable for the cult to accuse us of an agenda when what we've been pointing out has been expressed by those who cover the Clippers as their occupation. Has anyone seen any journalists or bloggers endorsing to play Bradley and Beverley together for extended periods of time or even over Shai?

The lack of accountability for Doc's failures is mind-boggling.

There's a reason why I choose not to pay attention to those on my ignored list.

nobody reads through your lengthy bloviations either LOL

[13th Man]

Since the Clippers don't have a true effective starting center right now, Doc needs to try:

SGA
Beverley
Gallinari
Harris
Harrell

Move Bradley to the bench, let him play with Lou. Bev is more of a SG anyway so would work with SGA. Trezz gets his 30 minutes without getting burned out. Boban first off the bench to feast on the 2nd unit and Gortat as a 3rd option.

How Doc Rivers was even mentioned as coach of the year in the main forum baffles me. He makes his lineups way more complicated than it should be and filled with personal preferences over logic.

[Galloisdaman]

Ill take the blame for this loss. I talked trash to my dad (diehard Spurs fan) so I knew it would backfire. UGH. To the Spurs credit they have won 5 in a row.
While the individual defenders are not great I do not think they are 60-70 point halves bad. I think it is more a structural issue. They need to either get more offensive rebounds, pressure the ball more, or get back on defense. Its just too easy to score on this team. Rebounds on both ends are a good part of defense.

[esqtvd]

How Doc Rivers was even mentioned as coach of the year in the main forum baffles me. He makes his lineups way more complicated than it should be and filled with personal preferences over logic.

Because he had the same roster that everybody's spitting on now at 17-9 only 2 games ago.

Re: Do you guys still want Doc Rivers gone?

Post#6 » by esqtvd » Wed Nov 28, 2018 12:20 pm



the vultures will be back at it as soon as we lose three in a row

three was too generous

[esqtvd]

Ill take the blame for this loss. I talked trash to my dad (diehard Spurs fan) so I knew it would backfire. UGH. To the Spurs credit they have won 5 in a row.
While the individual defenders are not great I do not think they are 60-70 point halves bad. I think it is more a structural issue. They need to either get more offensive rebounds, pressure the ball more, or get back on defense. Its just too easy to score on this team. Rebounds on both ends are a good part of defense.

None of our centers or forwards are plus rebounders except maybe Tobias when he's playing the 3.

As for the D, we are pressuring the ball, but the next line of defense is tissue paper. You attack the rim on us, and even if the help defense does manage to collapse on the paint, you kick it back out for the open jumper.


Not counting last night's game:

In their six games since a Nov. 29 win at Sacramento, the Clippers (17-10) have tumbled down the league’s defensive rankings. They’ve gone from first in overall effective field-goal percentage allowed through their first 21 games to 24th since; fourth to 20th in defending catch-and-shoot attempts; fifth to 23rd on pull-ups and sixth to 20th on attempts from 10 feet or closer.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/clippers/la-sp-clippers-report-20181213-story.html

Both inside and out are affected. Doc has been doing it with smoke and mirrors, and the league has found out you just go right straight through the Clipper defense rather than over or around it. At the moment we're just way too soft.

“We just have to pick up our intensity and pick up our physicality,” said reserve forward Mike Scott, who scored six points and is enduring a scoring slump of his own.

Offense was not an issue for the Spurs. Rudy Gay and LaMarcus Aldridge made 20 of their 24 combined field goal attempts for 48 points and their team shot 57.8%.

Avery and Bev do not guard Gay and Aldridge. The answers must lie elsewhere.

“We clearly have to be better defensively,” Rivers said. “I turned to one of the coaches and said even if we’re making shots we lose tonight because they’re just shooting the ball so well. I didn’t think we were into [the Spurs] enough. I thought they were very comfortable.

“When we’re good, teams are uncomfortable. When we’re bad, teams are very comfortable and I thought they were very comfortable tonight.”

[Roscoe Sheed]

Doc hasn’t made proper adjustments rapidly enough. In the past two games the clippers have been victimized by bigger centers- valincunious and Aldridge yet he continues to go with small ball line ups in those situations- very disappointed

[Ranma]

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[esqtvd]

Doc hasn’t made proper adjustments rapidly enough. In the past two games the clippers have been victimized by bigger centers- valincunious and Aldridge yet he continues to go with small ball line ups in those situations- very disappointed

Small ball IS the adjustment. Our centers are worse. Have you seen Trezz's numbers lately?

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[Roscoe Sheed]

Doc hasn’t made proper adjustments rapidly enough. In the past two games the clippers have been victimized by bigger centers- valincunious and Aldridge yet he continues to go with small ball line ups in those situations- very disappointed

Small ball IS the adjustment. Our centers are worse. Have you seen Trezz's numbers lately?

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Harrell is a power forward in real basketball terms- meaning he can’t guard a real center. You have to give Gortat or Boban more time in those situations because Harrell and Gallo get eaten alive

[esqtvd]

Doc hasn’t made proper adjustments rapidly enough. In the past two games the clippers have been victimized by bigger centers- valincunious and Aldridge yet he continues to go with small ball line ups in those situations- very disappointed

Small ball IS the adjustment. Our centers are worse. Have you seen Trezz's numbers lately?

Read on Twitter

Harrell is a power forward in real basketball terms- meaning he can’t guard a real center. You have to give Gortat or Boban more time in those situations because Harrell and Gallo get eaten alive

Well, it sure didn't look that way a week ago, is all I'm saying. He was already a shoe-in for MIP if not 6MOY.

https://www.sbnation.com/2018/12/6/18128927/montrezl-harrell-motor-explained-clippers-workouts-friends

He’s a versatile defender, ferocious rebounder, a rim protector, and nasty finisher — the heartbeat of the team despite coming off the bench. Most importantly, he has a motor that just won’t quit.

“I’ve watched him 15 straight games give other guys at his position hell on both ends of the floor,” says Lou Williams, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year.

There is no one in the NBA quite like Montrezl Harrell. He is the only player in the league who averages at least 14 points, six rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game off the bench. If he keeps it up, he’ll be the only reserve with those numbers in NBA history.

On a superstar-less, but deep Clippers team, Harrell is a game-changer. He has a Player Efficiency Rating of 25.89, the ninth-best in the league. Stephen A. Smith called him “the closest thing to Dennis Rodman in today’s NBA.” Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, who played 60 games with Rodman in San Antonio, chuckles at the comparison. “They’re a little different,” he says.

The calls for Gortat are especially amusing since he was #1 on the spitlist earlier this year. As for Bobi, it's like the backup QB argument. The backup QB is always the most popular guy in town...until he plays.

[Roscoe Sheed]

I’m referring to one on one post d. Harrell is too short to guard real centers. It’s like he isn’t even there. Bobi would have bothered Jonas and at least Aldridge wouldn’t have been able to shoot over him so easily

[esqtvd]

I’m referring to one on one post d. Harrell is too short to guard real centers. It’s like he isn’t even there. Bobi would have bothered Jonas and at least Aldridge wouldn’t have been able to shoot over him so easily

Harrell's height is why he doesn't start. But this was written just 9 days ago.

In just his fourth NBA season, Harrell is averaging 16.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steal in 25.8 minutes per game for the Clippers. he also has the ninth-best Player Efficiency Rating (PER) in the league with 25.89.

Now he's crap.

As for Bobi, I guess the only way to prove he's not up to the job is to give him the job. The Peter Principle.

[Ranma]

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