Harrell leaves Clippers for family emergency
He’s expected to come back. Rivers mum on other players yet to join team in Orlando.
Coach Doc Rivers declined Friday to say whether any of the three Clippers players who had yet to report to the NBA restart have since arrived at the Walt Disney World campus in Orlando, Fla.
Starting center Ivica Zubac, forward Marcus Morris and guard Landry Shamet had yet to arrive by Wednesday, when the team last practiced before taking Thursday off.
“As far as guys that have showed up and not showed up, we don’t talk about that, so we’re going to continue to not talk about it,” Rivers said before Friday morning’s practice.
After practice, center Montrezl Harrell left the campus to tend to what was called an emergency family matter, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed.
Harrell, whose 18.4 points off the bench are third most by a reserve in the NBA this season, will return to the team at a later date, according to the person not authorized to speak publicly. The NBA’s health and safety protocols state that Harrell will be required to quarantine between four and 10 days upon his return.
The arrivals of Zubac, Morris and Shamet still are considered a matter of when, not if. The team expects to eventually have all 15 players on the roster available. The first of the team’s three scrimmages will be held Wednesday, and the first of eight “seeding games” is scheduled for July 30 against the Lake rs. The post season focused Clippers have not viewed the players’ absences as overly concerning because the first round of the playoffs does not begin until Aug. 17.
One week after the Clippers began practicing together, Rivers said he’d seen progress as well as plenty of work ahead.
“There’s days I think our conditioning is great, and it is, and then there’s days I don’t know if our conditioning is ready for an NBA game,” he said. “Practicewise our guys are hanging in there doing great.
“Continuity will take time. You can see that. That’s been the thing that I would say, especially with us being a new team together and had made a lot of different trades right before the trade deadline, you can see we need to be in the gym.”
Being away from the team doesn’t mean players have been disconnected. A group text chat among players that already was lively before the season was suspended in March became much more active during the hiatus, and though Clippers players have gone fishing and played cards together since arriving in Florida, limitations on group gatherings have kept the group chat essential. It’s there where star Kawhi Leonard, one of the NBA’s most reserved personalities in public, has shown a different side, guard Reggie Jackson said.
“The funny thing is people don’t know Kawhi has a lot more personality than I think people give him credit for,” Jackson said. “I think you just have to be his teammate or be close to him. But the guy is amazing. He’s funny. He’s outgoing. He is who he is. I don’t think a lot of people get to see who he is, and it’s unfortunate for them.”
Of course, those who have yet to arrive in Florida have missed out on some experiences.
“[Patrick Beverley], shoot, he’s one of the funnier stories,” Jackson said. “We’re all locked up now in quarantine, can’t leave your room, but it’s probably 2 a.m. and all we get is a ‘Yoooo! Yoooo!’ Everybody is like, what is going on? Bev is just yelling through walls, making sure everybody is good. It’s the first day, he’s just checking, everybody opening their doors saying what’s up, looked at each other, and that made, I guess, the first part of the 24 hours of lockdown even better just knowing that your teammates were there with you.”