The Los Angeles Clippers appear to be heading for a rebuilding phase with Chris Paul no longer in the picture, and head coach Doc Rivers is bummed out about it.
On Thursday, Rivers told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that there is no truth to the reports that Paul left in part because he wasn’t getting along with his teammates or coach. Rivers also said that he is disappointed “Lob City” is no more.
“That part is over. And that bugs me,” Rivers said. “But we’re not done trying to reach our goal. Sometimes you gotta do it a different way. Because the way we tried to do it didn’t work.”
Rivers made it clear that he is not upset with Paul for exercising his “right” by leaving, but he disagrees that CP3 will have a better chance to win in Houston than he would have in L.A. He also pointed out that no one should be playing the blame game for the Clippers falling short of expectations.
“Was I disappointed with his decision? Yeah. I though he had a better chance to win with us,” Rivers said. “He didn’t agree with that. And that’s fine too. … But ain’t nobody at fault. The fault is we didn’t do well enough to keep him. We played a role in that. In not winning. But Chris was part a that too. He was on that team that didn’t win.”
Whether Paul had personal issues with Doc Rivers, Austin Rivers or whoever else, the Clippers hadn’t accomplished enough to make CP3 think they were a championship contender. He’s partially responsible for that, but that doesn’t mean he thought he could change it.
We all saw how Austin Rivers feels about the reports surrounding Paul’s departure when he sent this tweet earlier in the week. It will be interesting to see if CP3 ever weighs in on the topic.
