What appeared to be a very promising season for the Los Angeles Clippers ended up being a complete fiasco after the team blew a 3-1 lead in front of the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the 2020 NBA playoffs. The Clippers choke; there is no other way to put it, but this was something that they could have avoided if it wasn’t for some decision that the front office and the coaching staff made during the season.
During the last offseason, the Clippers landed two big names in Kawhi Leonard (who was recently crowned Finals MVP with the Toronto Raptors) and Paul George, two of the best two-way men in the league. The future looked great and they were immediately labeled as the favorite to win the NBA championship. However, things got twisted along the way, leading to the Clippers meltdown against the Nuggets last month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9WVyr9RSpI
Now that the season is over, that Doc Clippers was fired as the team’s head coach and Tyronn Lue is set to replace him, we learn more details about what went wrong with this team that had everything to win it all this campaign. According to Jovan Buha and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, the relationship between the role players and the star wasn’t the most desired. The team’s special treatment for Kawhi Leonard and all the things they allowed him to do caused some stir with other players, damaging their chemistry.
Via The Athletic:
Players like Patrick Beverley, Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams—Clippers bedrocks before the arrival of Leonard and George—bristled when Leonard was permitted to take games off to manage his body and to live in San Diego, which often led to him being late for team flights, league sources said. The team also allowed Leonard to dictate to Doc Rivers when he could be pulled from games, among other things. Tyronn Lue was on Rivers’ bench for all of this, but the Clippers were Rivers’ show.
This wasn’t a good way to handle this. Yes, Kawhi was expected to take them to the NBA Finals and win the championship, but conceding all these things sounds a little too much, even for Doc Rivers. The drive from San Diego to Los Angeles isn’t the easiest thing in the world and it’s crazy to see Leonard went to live there while playing in LA. Of course, this was going to cause some trouble, eventually.
Tyronn Lue is the new head coach of the team and fans and players surely will expect some meaningful changes around the Clippers. This season is going to be huge for them. This is the time they win or Leonard and George will probably take their talents somewhere else.
