What will it take for Ballmer to admit that the GM/Coach Doc experiment has failed?

[Quake Griffin]

Should deliver results = why I said he should be fired.


Should deliver results = Him and Vinny are comparable as coaches??? nope.

[MartinToVaught]

Doc is better than Vinny, but that's not saying much. Vinny was an idiot who couldn't even get his players' names right ("Kurt Hinrich") or listen to his medical staff when they insisted that a player was too injured to play (Joakim Noah). He bragged about running the "Chris Paul Offense" like it was some revolutionary strategy. His idea of adjustments was to tell his players to "do it harder." His defensive scheme was yelling and stomping his feet on the sidelines in the hopes of distracting the opposing team's shooters.

With that said, Doc is the worst coach currently in the league and one of the worst GMs in sports history. No, I'm not exaggerating. The fact that this fraud has still managed to weasel his way into the second-biggest contract among all NBA coaches and the title of President of Basketball Operations on top of the two jobs he sucks at is truly disgusting. At least Vinny stuck to being a coach and didn't grab for absolute power over the organization. So while I'd argue that Vinny was a worse than Doc, I'd also argue that Doc has done more lasting damage to this franchise than Vinny could ever dream of doing.

[nickhx2]

the mandate of the owner and the results that ballmer wants is a different thing than saying that simply saying that doc rivers hasn't done better though.

has the team gotten past the second round? no. is the team and its core components a better iteration of itself than previous ones? yes. will steve ballmer be content with that? probably not. all of those can be true at once.

listen i dislike doc rivers as much as anyone but he has brought progress to the team for sure. it just hasn't manifested itself in playoff results for varying reasons. whether the owner will be content with that or not is up to him.

[Clemenza]

the mandate of the owner and the results that ballmer wants is a different thing than saying that simply saying that doc rivers hasn't done better though.

has the team gotten past the second round? no. is the team and its core components a better iteration of itself than previous ones? yes. will steve ballmer be content with that? probably not. all of those can be true at once.

listen i dislike doc rivers as much as anyone but he has brought progress to the team for sure. it just hasn't manifested itself in playoff results for varying reasons. whether the owner will be content with that or not is up to him.

Hell no.. This team is sh*t. Blake is a shell of his former self, CP3 still won't shoot the ball until we're down by 15, and DJ is overrated. Doc has brought no progress to this team whatsoever. Have we made it past the 2nd round, Have we acquired talent, have we drafted well, have we developed young talent not named Austin, have we scouted talent overseas, etc. ???.... nothing whatsoever!!

[wco81]

This might be of interest, my iTunes just downloaded this episode:

Bill Simmons is joined by Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer to discuss technology’s impact of viewing habits (6:00), the Clippers’ need for a championship (12:00), the potential of a new Clippers arena (24:30), the Seattle expansion for the NBA (35:00), the NBA boardroom (42:00), understanding the salary cap (54:00), the future of this Clippers core (1:02:00), and the Microsoft scouting report (1:12:00).

[wco81]

Well Simmons didn't ask about the Clippers directly except towards the end for a couple of minutes.

Ballmer first of all likes the structure of Frank reporting to Doc who reports to Ballmer, single-point of accountability he calls it.

Second, they've gone over all the scenarios for their free agents to be and will be deliberating in June -- he said "get it, I say June." (paraphrasing, but he's hinting that they will win the title).

Simmons asks what will happen to the team if they lose in the first or flame out in the second round, given how long the core players and Doc have been around.

Ballmer says "this is our time" but isn't being cocky (which he's been in his business career), just comes across more as an optimistic owner. He says that the current form of the team is trying to "regain the rhythm after the injuries" and that the team was great the first 16 games of the season before people started going down.

For the Cleveland game tomorrow night, he says Luc is the best SF to defend LBJ.

[MrHill]

Could Doc be on his way back to Orlando?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2698698-doc-rivers-reportedly-considering-leaving-clippers-joining-magic-for-next-job

...it may depend on this playoff run goes; he could be offered both the coach-president role down there.

At this point, I've just about given up on Doc (not that I was that big of a fan anyway), but if he goes, it might be for the better.

[MartinToVaught]

Doc Rivers is under contract to serve as Clippers coach and president of basketball operations through the 2018-19 season. This is Year 3 of the five-year deal Rivers landed with new Clippers owner Steve Ballmer -- believed to be in excess of $50 million -- after steering the club so admirably through the last days of Donald T. Sterling's famously chaotic and controversial reign that spanned more than three decades.

That monster pact, however, hasn't prevented Rivers' name from popping up in one of the league's more rampant recent conspiracy theories.

There has been persistent chatter for weeks over the NBA's front-office grapevine that the Orlando Magic and Rivers will explore a reunion down the road.

http://www.espn.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/5059/down-the-road-reunion-for-magic-and-doc-rivers-is-subject-of-latest-coaching-chatter

We all need to start hoping and praying for Orlando to bail us out. Doc getting hired away would be the second-best thing to ever happen to this franchise (only surpassed by DTS' wife selling the team). We'd finally be free of our terrible "GM"/"coach" without Ballmer actually having to fire him (which it seems like he's too scared to do). It might light a fire under Ballmer to build a real winner, too.

[Quake Griffin]

Give us that lottery pick and you guys can have him.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Wammy Giveaway]

If Doc Rivers is relieved of his position as coach/GM/father (never forget that Doc has three hats because his son's on the team), what are the odds that losing Doc will coincide with losing Chris Paul and Blake Griffin? The Clippers will have no draft picks this year, meaning they'll have to endure a very long rebuild where they could miss the playoffs for another 15 years, reducing themselves to becoming the NBA's unofficial audition club, or farm franchise.

There's nothing good to come of the Clippers losing Doc, only bad. (Might as well forfeit the next season as punishment)

[wco81]

Would CP and Blake take less money and sign elsewhere because Doc left.

[Ranma]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

[MartinToVaught]

Would CP and Blake take less money and sign elsewhere because Doc left.

If they leave because the worst coach and GM in the league decides to quit on us, it only proves that they were never interested in winning anyway.

[nickhx2]

only time will tell

[Ranma]

Chris Ryan, The Ringer (3/17/17)

Doc is treating you like you’re a ref here. Don’t get worked. Yes, the reason the Clippers are being harshly judged is because they haven’t won a title. That is exactly why. It’s unclear what, exactly, Rivers wants: to be judged against the league’s elite, or against an upper middle class that frankly doesn’t exist anymore? Does he think he’s coaching the Pacers? Are the Clippers not supposed to be contenders?
...

The Clippers have a self-belief that borders on the absurd. They think that if they just keep plugging away, with the same guys, playing the same style, even against teams like Houston, Golden State, and San Antonio that are trying to relentlessly improve and reinvent themselves, something will break right for them.

And this is why they don’t get the benefit of the doubt. They’ve given us no reason to do so. While they were waiting their turn, the league moved on.

Has the NBA Passed the Clippers By?

[wco81]

Yeah Ballmer talked in the interview with Simmons about having VR so you would have the same POV that CP had in a game.

He wouldn't have to wear cameras or anything, it would be rendered by software.

I think people would be interested in having the POV from those court side seats but it can't be too good and too cheap or else what is the incentive to buy $1000 tickets (or whatever they cost).

[Wammy Giveaway]

Chris Ryan, The Ringer (3/17/17)

The Clippers have a self-belief that borders on the absurd. They think that if they just keep plugging away, with the same guys, playing the same style, even against teams like Houston, Golden State, and San Antonio that are trying to relentlessly improve and reinvent themselves, something will break right for them.

Ranma, did you see my reply/highlighted comment with regards to that quote?

If there is one thing that can truly scare the Clippers into red alert panic mode, it’s an ejection [...] from Chris Paul. Clippers have lost their players to injuries, [but] rarely from a disciplinary standpoint [at] the league level (Griffin’s altercation with Matias Testi was handled by the team). If Paul got himself ejected from a game, it could mean he wants out of the Clippers.

The Clippers are, for all intents and purposes, an emotionally sensitive team. All it takes is a single tiny microscopic little thing to go wrong for their season to collapse. If Doc has his starters intact, he feels he’ll be invincible. But if Chris Paul got ejected, it will finally force the Clippers to realize they don’t have to lose him in the off-season. They can lose him now.

[MrHill]

Would CP and Blake take less money and sign elsewhere because Doc left.

I don't see Blake leaving the Clips, but I think the only way Paul leaves money on the table is if he goes to join his BFF along the shores of Lake Erie (and the Cavs are about as cap-strapped as we are). Hell, in a perfect world, I would love a sign-and-trade with CP3 for Kyrie; unless Cleveland signs Deron Williams beyond this season, someone gonna have to take a lesser role, and it shouldn't be Kyrie.

[Ranma]

Chris Ryan, The Ringer (3/17/17)

The Clippers have a self-belief that borders on the absurd. They think that if they just keep plugging away, with the same guys, playing the same style, even against teams like Houston, Golden State, and San Antonio that are trying to relentlessly improve and reinvent themselves, something will break right for them.

Ranma, did you see my reply/highlighted comment with regards to that quote?

No, I didn't read the comments until you pointed it out. I seriously doubt that even Doc thinks that we have the same level of talent as his 2008 Celtics team and, despite having CP3, we certainly don't have the same chemistry or leadership of KG and Pierce. I agree that this team is "emotionally sensitive" or lacking in emotional intelligence, but they have plenty of problems including what I would call a lack of competitive greatness or drive in the team as a whole. Ejections are the byproduct and symptom of the problem, but not the problem itself.

[og15]

Give us that lottery pick and you guys can have him.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

I'll take a second round pick

If Doc wants to move on, it's fine, of course technically Frank would still be the GM. We have little to go off in terms of Frank's capabilities as a GM. A solid coaching hire would be needed though, and we really don't know what Frank would do.