At Clippers’ media day on Friday, Rivers was asked whether that was true, and if he had a Plan B if the center had chosen to leave. The Matt Barnes role requires that fifth starter to defend the other team’s star on a consistent basis, and there’s no point in exhausting Pierce, almost 38, with that task, nor will they want to depend on Stephenson on an every-night basis, at least not this early in his tenure.
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“The whole goal was we needed multiple positions”, Rivers said.
Rivers, beginning his third season with the team, believes he has enough depth to get through all the pitfalls and obstacles that an 82-game National Basketball Association season can present – injuries, fatigue, even center DeAndre Jordan’s abysmal free-throw shooting.
“I value myself as a communicator and a team builder, and I’m sitting there thinking that I didn’t see this [problem] – not to the degree that it was, anyway – and it pissed me off”, Rivers said. “I think to win in this league, you have to have a certain nastiness to you, a certain attitude”. With the slump now being experienced by the Los Angeles Clippers, the front office of the management team is encouraged to determine the best strategy to revitalize the National Basketball Association team and push it to reach further heights. If we could somehow come up with five in the second unit where they literally could all bring the ball up, the versatility they create for that unit … “I’m a very competitive person”, said Pierce, the MVP of the 2008 finals.
“Our sales pitch was winning and the opportunity to play on a winning team with a winning organization”, Rivers said. “Unless we’re going to play a one-on-one, or something, or get in a cage match – which you guys can all sponsor – I’m good with either one of those”. He went on to say, “I’ve been with this franchise during some bad times”.
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The challenge, as it will be for as long as the Clippers pay top money for Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, was to find players who could contribute on the court without busting their budget. When you look at the past with me, from Chucky Atkins to Ben Wallace to James Posey in Boston, we’re fine taking guys with one-year deals and making them rich.
