I can't help but consider all of the above information when I watch what is happening with the Los Angeles Clippers this year: not only does Rivers seem to lack any sort of direction for what he wants to do on the court, he has absolutely no excuse for it because he's the one that built this team. I don't need to run over the litany of roster issues and lineup mismanagement which are crippling the team's season, because they are numerous and readily apparent to anyone that watches the team play...at least, anyone that isn't getting paid millions of dollars specifically for his supposed ability to recognize and repair just these sort of issues. If only the Clippers had a position in their organization that could perform this vital function; oh that's right they already do, and its called Head Coach, the position which Rivers currently fills.
Winning in the NBA is hard, no one discounts that; and no one expected the Clippers to be an overnight success, but...compare his inability to make sense of the talent which he has on hand, let alone find an effective use for it, with what is happening in San Antonio right now, or Dallas - where two of the actual best coaches in the NBA reside.
The Spurs added a brand new player in a key role on the team, and have the second best record in the league; and lest we say that it is simply because the rest of the roster is already so good - which is not an entirely unwarranted criticism of my argument - we should first remember that this is the 4th successful redirection of the franchise which Popovich has overseen, the only other constant in which has been the seemingly immortal and immutable Tim Duncan. He has done so by maximizing the talent at his disposal, and structuring both offensive and defensive systems which feed off of the abilities of his players, even if it was a style of basketball which he personally found aesthetically unpleasant. Simply put, the man adjusts as well as anyone.
Perhaps his only equal in the entire league also coaches in Texas: Rick Carlisle, of the Dallas Mavericks. Much has been made of his (somehow still) surprising ability to mold a roster of almost completely new pieces every season since taking the helm, into a functional, even successfully wining basketball team. The thing surprises me the most, however, is that everyone is still surprised when it happens; which is likely because they have either forgotten or never knew about his earliest years coaching in the league. Remember the Malace at the Palace, when Ron Artest was suspended for almost an entire season? You may not recall what the Pacers record was that year, after losing their second best player, who arguably had been their best and most consistent player for most of that calendar year:44-38, which in the Eastern Conference that year assured home court advantage in the first round. You know who coached that team? Rick Carlisle.
Essentially my point is, the best coaches in the league tend to be the ones who are the most flexible and are able to most effectively utilize the players on their roster. Doc Rivers is not currently, nor has he ever been, such a coach. He has also never been known as an "X's and O's" coach, capable of constructing brilliant strategies and on-floor tactics. He owes the longevity of his career to a single, over-publicized and disproportionately accredited word from his first year with the Celtics: Ubuntu. Rivers was known as a chemistry coach, a guy who would come in and use his energy and enthusiasm to help maintain a cohesive locker room, and hopefully develop an unbreakable team unity. Forgotten in all of this is that he "developed" that unity only because he had three of the 15 best players in the league on the same team, each of whom was willing to sacrifice possessions and shots for the good of the team. Which is not to discredit his role in coaching that team; what I mean to say is that the Clippers' issues are not chemistry related, they are basketball related. And while the secret of basketball may that it is not about basketball, no amount of chemistry can overcome consistenlty underwhelming lineups and the complete misapplication of a player's strengths.
Here's a clip from one of my favorite shows, that illustrates my thoughts on the matter.
To keep it brief: Dr. Kelso is Steve Balmer, Dick Van Dyke is Doc Rivers. He has refused to take the necessary steps to fulfill the requirements of his position, and perhaps it's time to move on.
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