Former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling stopped trades so beneficial for the Clippers you’d fall off your chair if you heard them. Just ask Clippers president and coach Doc Rivers.
Via CBS Sports by way of “The Fred Roggin Show” on The Beast 980:
“This is really only my third year but you can make a case this is our second year if you know what I’m saying,” Rivers told Beast 980’s Fred Roggin. “If I someday wrote a book and told you a couple of the trades we had in the first year that we didn’t do because of other reasons, you would fall off your chair.”
So if only Sterling had gotten out of the way, the team would be in much better position than they are currently constituted.
Rivers’ revelation probably does nothing to soothe Clippers fans’ anxiety and worry about the current construction of the team. Rivers, while lauded as one of the top coaches in the league, has proven to have a mixed record at best as the head of basketball operations. His trade of Jared Dudley to the Milwaukee Bucks last summer that forfeited a first-round pick was widely criticized, and his subsequent signing of Spencer Hawes to a four-year $23 million deal was a disaster.
Rivers just made his boldest move yet in trading for Lance Stephenson. Rivers is hoping Stephenson solves a problem that’s plagued the team for years: the lack of an athletic wing. Stephenson comes with his own issues, of course, including lack of maturity, consistency and an ability to alienate himself from any team he’s been on. Although, maybe having The Truth around could help to keep Stephenson in line.
In the end, fans probably never want to hear the name Donald Sterling ever again. They are more concerned about Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan actually liking one another and not flaming out in the playoffs than remembering a dark, dark past.
Rejoice, Clipper fans! You no longer have Sterling lurking over your franchise like a plague. Now you have this guy.
