Los Angeles Lakers vs. LA Clippers: Which team has a more optimistic future?
Coaching
Most people will just automatically say that Doc Rivers is a better coach than Luke Walton. He’s won an NBA championship with the Celtics and he’s led a cast of role players and rookies into the playoffs this season.
This argument isn’t as simple as people think, though. Coaching is important, but this is a player’s league and no coach can win without the right cast of characters on his team.
In 2003 Doc Rivers was the coach of the Orlando Magic. He got off to a 1-10 start and was fired. Doc relaxed the rest of that season and then was hired by the Celtics. During the 2005-2006 season, Boston went 33-49 and then they finished the next season with a record of 24-58.
During the course of the summer of 2007, the Celtics managed to pick up Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, which led to Doc Rivers first and only championship. Despite coaching in Boston for five more years with an excellent assortment of players, Rivers never won another title.
Next, he came to the Clippers to be the head coach in 2013, where he had some success. He even led the Clippers to the 2nd round of the playoffs. During the 2015-2016 season, the Clippers had a team that featured Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and J.J. Redick, but they lost in the first round to Portland.
The Clippers ran back the same core group of players for the 2016-2017 season and they once again lost in the 1st round, this time to Utah.
After the Clippers lost in the 1st round two years in a row, many Clippers fans and several members of the media called for Doc Rivers to be fired. Coaching is fickle; one season the fans love you and the next year they want you removed.
The point is that Doc Rivers has had the luxury of coaching many talented teams with numerous All-Stars such as Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo, Kevin Garnett, Chris Paul, and Blake Griffin, but he’s only won one championship. He’s been fired and he’s never been able to lead the Clippers past the 2nd round of the playoffs.
The NBA is a league based on talent and roster construction. No coach could have taken the past three Lakers squads that Luke Walton was given and turned them into playoff teams. He has, however, helped the Lakers improve their win count every season.
How did Luke do when he actually had a talented, well-constructed team full of veterans up north in Golden State? He was the interim head coach for the Warriors for 43 games and he went 39-4.
Doc Rivers is a better coach than Luke Walton. He’s more experienced and he knows how to build a better in-house culture where every player is held accountable. With that said, the gap between Doc and Luke is smaller than most people believe.
There’s a good chance that this argument about Luke and Doc will be moot this summer, anyway, because Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka will probably fire Walton once the season’s over.
The Lakers could bring in Tyronn Lue, Jason Kidd, or Mark Jackson. Like Luke, they’re all less experienced than Doc Rivers and they’re all slightly worse coach’s than Doc, but not by much, because like every other coach in the NBA, they need the right players.
The future looks brighter for the Clippers coaching staff, based on Doc Rivers experience.