Comments on: 2021 Clippers: Progress in the Process

By: John Maclean

John Maclean — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 06:35:11 +0000

Doc is absolutely a great maker of men and helping guys find confidence in themselves. His problem was that the same tactic that won their confidence was a double edged sword to where he couldn’t say no and was way too permissive. Lastly, he had what I call Jerry Sloan Syndrome. Sloan was a masterful tactician and his players loved him but he would flip out on the sidelines in crunch time if a call didn’t go their way. It’s cool to be an advocate for ones team but when one loses their composure it’s unsettling to the team and only brings more pressure. Doc was/is far too outwardly emotional to lead the team into the eye of the hurricane. It will be Phillys undoing just watch.

By: William Hennesee

William Hennesee — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 01:11:56 +0000

Personally, i think we are going small ball in preparation for bigs like gobert, essentially stretching the floor so much, that it makes them an afterthought on the defensive end. I think our ability to have a really good defensive small ball lineup is actually our greatest strength, because it acts as a counter for all the amazing bigs the league is seeing rn; though, against Jokic, I want Zu on him the whole game

By: sjake

sjake — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 00:05:26 +0000

Good article Cole.

Doc’s flat out a good coach and a phenomenal ambassador of the game. He just got stale with the Clips. All things being equal, he should of been moved out when we blew up Lob City. Sterling, getting Kawhi, etc. definitely bought him some well deserved good-will and additional coaching years.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 23:42:02 +0000

Everything in moderation man. I love that Doc had his guys’ backs, and I’m sure it lured quite a few FAs here over the years, but he took it too far to the point where the loyalty morphed into favoritism. His glowing comments about Zu last week were hilarious and infuriating at the same time.

By: Robert Flom

Robert Flom — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 22:47:02 +0000

I agree that Doc is a much better coach than most Clippers’ fans probably think, but that he also sticks with his guys more out of loyalty than any real strategy or tactical approach.

By: chogokin

chogokin — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 21:21:13 +0000

One such implementation has been playing small, which has become a regularity in Clippers games this season; so much so that sometimes it can even feel like too much

I'd argue that last year the team also went small a ton, just not in a way that made any sense - Trez is a smallball C, yes, but he's a smallball C who can't shoot or defend. He actually makes sense on the Lakers because AD and LeBron can cover for those weaknesses, but that's a really unique roster situation that we obviously didn't have on the Clips last season. That being said, I do wish that Zu closed more games this season, but the experimenting w/ MM and Batum has actually worked pretty well and even when it doesn't work out, I can at least see why Lue would want to try it. Hell, even last year I would've been ok w/ Zu not closing games, if Doc would've just went small w/ JMG more often instead of just always forcing Trez into that spot. I know it sounds super patronizing to Doc (and I don't think he's as bad as some have made him out to be), but I appreciate that the thought process/coaching approach w/ Lue appears to be "see what works --> when it isn't working try something else --> repeat as necessary" as opposed to "this worked before so I'm going to count on my guys to keep making it work."