Matt Barnes has taken another shot at Doc and Austin Rivers for ruining the ‘Lob City’ Clippers on Instagram while replying to a comment from former NBA All-Star Joe Johnson. Johnson said that the Jazz broke the ‘Lob City’ Clippers up, but Barnes believes Doc using his position to get his son paid made everyone lose faith in the coach and GM at the time.
Joe Johnson: “Utah Jazz broke that sh*t up.”
Matt Barnes: “Nah, Doc broke that sh*t up. When he paid his son that money, he lost the team after that.”
Johnson is referring to the 2017 Playoffs where the Utah Jazz pulled off a surprising first-round series win over the Clippers in seven games. Johnson was on that Jazz team and led them in scoring for multiple wins in that series. That series loss ended the ‘Lob City’ Clippers, as Chris Paul was traded to the Rockets that summer.
Barnes contests this by saying that the Clippers locker room had lost faith in their head coach, Doc Rivers after he decided to give his son a three-year, $35 million extension. Austin Rivers wasn’t a starting-caliber player but had plenty of moments that would justify him getting a sizable contract, though Barnes believes that hurt the locker room.
Rivers averaged 11.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists during his four-year stint with the Clippers.
Austin still has to battle criticism about his career being handed to him by his father because of that contract, with most people viewing it the way Barnes did. That sort of lack of faith is tough to overcome, but so is blaming the coach after having multiple years of playoff failures. The Rivers’ are to blame for that era flaming out, but so are players like Barnes for not performing when it mattered most.
Doc Rivers Said The Lob City Clippers Didn’t Get Along Well
Doc Rivers has had time to marinate on what happened during the Lob City era with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. In retrospect, he believes that the team never had what it takes to win a title, a pretty scathing remark given he also constructed that team.
“Not trying to take anything away from that team. That team was never going to win when you look back at it. We just didn’t get along well enough as a group and you can’t win without cooperation.”
JJ Redick was on those Clippers’ rosters along with the likes of Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes and blasted Rivers for blaming those losses on chemistry issues. But even Barnes in the past has indicated that chemistry issues were the cause of their downfall.
“On the court, it was just, it was different. At times, we would look like the best team in the league, hands down. We would blow out the best teams in the league, we’d be hitting on all cylinders. And other times, there would be finger-pointing and issues.”
Barnes specifically pointed out Chris Paul’s leadership style as one of the major issues.
“I know one of the issues was… it was the way that Chris Paul delivered his messages. Like Chris is a throwback type of guy that’s really gonna tell you like what the f**k he sees and what’s going on out there. And nine out of ten times, he’s right. “There was definitely a disconnect at the top with our Big 3 sometimes, with the way Chris would deliver messages.”
Bygones need to be bygones, as there has been a lot of sniping between former members of the franchise during this era about whose fault the lack of a title is. Ultimately, it’s clear that everyone involved couldn’t succeed amongst each other for various reasons.
Thank you for being a valued reader of Fadeaway World. If you liked this article, please consider following us on Google News. We really appreciate your support.
