Clippers pick assistant Tyronn Lue, who won a title with Cleveland, as their new head coach.
After parting ways with Doc Rivers last month, the Clippers wanted a coach with a different perspective guiding their team.
Steve Ballmer and the Clippers believe they’ve found that person by looking one seat to Rivers’ side.
Tyronn Lue, the championship-credentialed coach who served last season as an assistant to Rivers, is in negotiations with the franchise to become its next coach, with the sides optimistic a deal will be finalized, three people with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed Thursday.
Lue’s staff will include Chauncey Billups, the former All-Star point guard who served last season as the team’s television analyst, and Larry Drew, a former head coach in Atlanta, Milwaukee and Cleveland, where he was part of Lue’s staff as well, the people said.
In the second-head coaching job of his career, Lue will attempt to re-create the results of the first. With Cleveland, Lue coached LeBron James and the Cavaliers to three consecutive NBA Finals and won the 2016 championship for a franchise that was in its fifth decade without a title. Sound familiar?
In 50 seasons, the Clippers have yet to reach a conference final, let alone taste the champagne from a championship. The 43-year-old Lue, who was 128-83 with the Cavaliers, came close to coaching the Lakers in 2019 thanks to the Larry O’Brien Trophy on his résumé and the relationship he’d formed with James in the process. But three months after Lue’s potential union with the Lakers fell apart, Rivers successfully recruited his former point guard in Orlando, whom he had worked with previously as an assistant with the Celtics and Clippers, to rejoin his staff for the season, anticipating that Lue would be a prime candidate for coaching openings in 2020.
One opening turned out to be unexpected: the Clippers.
After losing in the second round to Denver, despite holding a 3-1 series lead, several people within the organization expressed embarrassment over the outcome, which fell short of the team’s expressed championship expectations. Internally, it was believed soon after the season’s end that Rivers would return for his eighth season. Yet in several conversations following the early exit, Ballmer and Rivers weren’t aligned on a vision for how to rebound stronger next season. Ballmer, who believed the team had made key upgrades and progress in other departments yet had stagnated on the court, made the choice to find a new coach.
Lue’s year around the team helped his candidacy as players and staff became more familiar with his coaching style, and players are pleased with the choice of Lue, one person said.
“The guys have a lot of respect for him,” said one person who had spoken with players about the decision to hire Lue. “He’s a championship coach. He already knows the guys, and the transition should be seamless.”
Rockets GM leaving
Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey is stepping down on his own accord on Nov. 1, the team announced.
The Rockets are expected to promote Rafael Stone, executive vice president of basketball operations, to general manager.
Morey caused an international uproar last year when he tweeted support for antigovernment protesters in Hong Kong. Morey tweeted an image that said: “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” His tweet was in reference to pro-democracy demonstrations in the semiautonomous Chinese territory that had been mired in escalating violence between protesters and law enforcement.
The tweet caused businesses in China to cut ties with the Rockets and broadcasters there refused to air the team’s games this season. NBA telecasts in China, however, resumed during the recent NBA Finals.
The Rockets have made the playoffs 10 times since Morey was hired in 2007, including the last eight seasons for the longest active streak in the NBA.
The move comes after coach Mike D’Antoni told the team he would not return after the Rockets lost to the Lakers in the conference semifinals.
Houston went 640-400 with Morey as the GM and won a franchise-record 65 regularseason games in the 2017-18 season.