The Clippers and coach Doc Rivers have agreed to a contract extension that will keep him around to oversee the post-Lob City era.
The team announced the extension Wednesday while not disclosing terms of the deal. Rivers was set to enter the final year of his five-year contract next
season.
The 56-year-old coach has a 259-151 record in five years with the Clippers. They missed the playoffs this season for the first time in his tenure. Because
of injuries
Josh Allen Jersey , Rivers used a league-high 37 different starting lineups before the team finished with a 42-40 mark after trading Blake Griffin to
Detroit in January.
Rivers was stripped of his duties as president of basketball operations a year ago. His undivided attention led to one of his best coaching jobs this
season that began with nine new players on the roster after the offseason
departures of Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford.
Despite the injuries that led to 11 players missing a total of 265 games, the Clippers kept their playoff hopes alive until the final week of the regular
season.
Rivers said he’s proud of the team’s past success but ”there is more work to be done.”
With Paul and Griffin already gone, DeAndre Jordan, the last of the Big Three, could depart via free agency this summer if he and the team don’t agree
on an extension.
Rivers will preside over the team’s remaking. The Clippers have two lottery picks in the June draft.
”Doc is one of the top coaches in the NBA, coming off one of his finest seasons since joining the Clippers,” owner Steve Ballmer said. ”We trust Doc to
lead a competitive, tough
Baker Mayfield Jersey , hard-working team while upholding a culture of accountability expected to resonate throughout the organization.”
Rivers is the winningest coach in franchise history with 259 victories and a winning percentage of .632. He is second to only San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich
among active coaches with 846 career wins.
During his 19-year coaching career, he led the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA championship.
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Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown had an A-list comparison for 1-B first-round pick Zhaire Smith: Disgruntled San Antonio forward Kawhi
Leonard.
”I think that when you look at just where I believe Zhaire can be, there are some common denominators that Kawhi had when we first brought him to San
Antonio,” Brown said.
High praise for the Texas Tech guard.
But why settle for a rookie who may never develop into a franchise player when the Sixers can try and aquire the real deal?
The 76ers are open for business this summer and an organization that has long preached patience is now in the market for marquee talent to team with
blossoming stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons.
”We are star hunting or star developing,” Brown said Friday. ”You’re not going to win a championship any other way.”
Brown hit on the ”star hunter” phrase at Thursday’s draft and again when he introduced Smith, acquired from Phoenix in a swap of first-rounders, and Wichita
State guard Landry Shamet at the team’s New Jersey headquarters.
Brown had called Smith the team’s 1-B choice in the draft after they traded their 1-A pick, Villanova forward Mikal Bridges, to the Suns in a trade that
also saw the Sixers net an unprotected first-rounder in 2021.
Sure
Deion Sanders Jersey Limited , the Sixers could keep that pick until `21 when draft rules are expected to change in time for high school graduates to
again be eligible. But the real perk of the pick is the ability to dangle it as
trade bait as the Sixers hunt in the rarefied air of NBA stars.
”It’s a tiny number of players,” Brown said. ”As we figure out who we deem to be stars, we understand that’s going to be a challenge. We also understand we
don’t have to solve all this now.”
Meaning, the 2019 free-agent crop sure looks good, too.
Brown is calling the shots in the front office as the Sixers look for a new general manager in the wake of Bryan Colangelo’s resignation. Brown made the
final decisions on draft night and – though he said he has no desire to balance
dual roles – he’ll be the face of the franchise with plenty to offer in talent;
success (52 wins; playoff series win); a first-class training facility; and at
least $26 million in salary cap space.
The Sixers are also dealing with a wild card in Markelle Fultz, the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft whose rookie season was slowed by shoulder and mental
issues that resulted in a broken shot and no playing time in Philadelphia’s last
seven playoff games.
Fultz has been working with noted skills coach Drew Hanlen on rebuilding his mechanics. Fultz will likely skip summer league as he works on his jumper and
tries to join Embiid and Simmons to form a trio of homegrown talent capable of
making the Sixers contenders in the East. There’s always a chance Fultz could be
packaged with a pick to try and pry Leonard from the Spurs.
Brown was an assistant with the Spurs and has a solid relationship with Leonard. Leonard, the 2014 NBA Finals MVP and two-time NBA defensive player of
the year, has requested a trade from San Antonio after missing most of last
season with a right quadriceps injury. Spurs GM R.C. Buford said there was a
fractured relationship between Leonard and the only franchise he has played
for.
Leonard is due just over $20 million next season, and can become a free agent in the summer of 2019. He is eligible to sign a $220 million extension with San
Antonio.
If the Sixers strike this summer
Cheap Sam Darnold Jersey , they’d have to be confident Leonard would be willing to re-sign with them instead of walking away with nothing to show for the
gamble.
The Sixers have their own free agents to deal with, and they’d love to have 3-point ace JJ Redick return, perhaps on another one-year deal. Wayne Ellington
and Tyreke Evans, both Philly-area natives, are unrestricted free agents that
would fit in a happy homecoming. And, of course, Paul George and LeBron James
are on just about every team’s wish list this summer.
The Cavs can offer James a five-year, $209 million deal this summer. It’s possible James could choose to sign a one-year deal again with a player option
and go through the free-agency dance again next summer.
The Sixers will get to make a pitch after letting others do it for them.
At Barclays Center, the NBA draft site
Christian Kirk Cardinals Jersey , a plane flying above the arena carried three banners. One had LeBron James’ No. 23 with a crown and the Liberty Bell;
another urges him to ”Strive for GOATNESS”; and the last reads
(hash)PHILLYWANTSLEBRON.
Power Home Remodeling, a Philadelphia-based company, has become a James recruiter, originally setting up three billboards in Cleveland urging him to
come to the city. The company also flew Thursday’s billboards in Brooklyn.
”We’ll be aggressive and attractive in the free-agent marketplace,” Brown said.
But will it be enough?
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