Clippers turning corner under steady Rivers
‘Emotional hijacks’ costly but club clearly on rise as Raptors hit town
LOS ANGELES— He walks into a room full of reporters and dominates it with the strength of his personality, a strength, a booming voice, a presence.
If you could pick someone to help rebuild the shattered remnants of a pro sports franchise, you could do a lot worse than Doc Rivers.
And all that the Los Angeles Clippers have done to resurrect themselves from decades in the dumpster can be traced to the veteran coach who is now the face of the franchise.
Yes, Steve Ballmer rescued the club from the clutches of Donald Sterling with a $2-billion gamble of a purchase, but it is Rivers who is best associated with the resurrection of the Clippers, who were once laughingstocks and are now seen as legitimate championship contenders.
It goes far beyond the game on the court. During the worst of the Sterling days, when the former owner’s racist comments threatened to cripple the entire NBA rather than just one team, it was Rivers who held things together. He assured the Clipper players and the rest of the league that patience was prudent and while protests were appropriate, overreaction would serve no one’s best interests. He calmed anxious front office employees and part-time workers that things would work out in the long run. He was a voice of reason and calm. When he first arrived here, Clipper home games were played in a Lakerdominated arena and he felt slighted. Now, the Staples Center rafters for Clippers game are adorned with pictures of the team’s players and not retired Lakers numbers. The signage, the colour scheme are all Clippers.
He made a home. Now, as the president and head coach of the Clippers — with a five-year, $50-million contract — he is the undisputed leader of an ascendant team.
“Very different, very good,” he said of the overall organizational atmosphere in a quick chat before the Clippers beat the Golden State Warriors on Christmas night.
It is to Rivers’ credit that there is some semblance of calm around the Clippers, who take a 20-10 record into Saturday’s meeting here with the Raptors. His influence on the general tone of the organization is evident. His influence on the basketball part of the franchise is overwhelming.
These have been tough times of late for the Clippers. They haven’t performed particularly well in a portion of the schedule that will see them play their sixth game in nine days Saturday afternoon. But as he does, Rivers takes the sting out of the moment.
“You don’t get anything from losing, but I just like the way we’re playing. I think we’re getting closer in a lot of areas and that’s all you can ask for,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s the end of the year when you want to be playing right and figuring it out.
“As the year goes on, you go through some (stuff ) . . . but if you have to take some hits to go down and get back and get better, you’re willing to take those and we’re going through that now.
“I put weight on every game. I just don’t overreact to them.”
Rivers coaches a very good team that can be overly emotional at times and he continues to preach the need for calm and composure on the court like he did during the tempestuous Sterling affair. The Clippers average almost a technical foul a game this season — most in the NBA — and can be undone some nights by their volatility. Rivers can be excitable, but he’s trying to makes players see a subtle difference in how they act.
“Playing with emotion is good, playing emotional is not, if you know what I mean,” he said. “We have to walk a better line, in my opinion. He can’t have the emotional hijacks that we have at times.
“Techs I’m not really concerned with. It’s more just losing your cool on the floor and now you can’t function. I think that’s an area (that was a problem) the last year, two years ago and we’re still growing. I still think that’s an area that as a team we have to be better at.”
If Rivers is trying to influence them that way, look for the numbers to drop dramatically.