The end of Lob City hasn’t been the cleanest as far as breakups go. Chris Paul and Doc Rivers in particular both continue to give their differing perspective on what went wrong in LA. Now former Clipper guard JJ Redick has joined in on the war of words.
Doc Rivers, in a piece for ESPN the Mag was quoted of saying that the ‘grass not always greener,’ as it relates to Paul leaving for the Rockets. Paul claimed in a documentary that aired on ESPN the team’s culture – or rather the deterioration of it – made his decision to leave more comfortable.
Rivers, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN, had a response to Paul’s comments concerning the team’s cultural issues.
Rivers goes on to say that in spite of what his former point guard says, Paul and Redick were steadfast on returning to the team. Redick refutes the notion that he wanted to rejoin the Clippers.
Following from ESPN,
“Who controls the culture?” he asks. “The players. Always the players. And even with Chris’ comments, he thought about coming back. J.J. [Redick] was begging to come back.”
(Redick disagrees. “There was never any indication from my agent that I wanted to go back,” he says. “I didn’t beg to come back. I didn’t want to come back.”)
The back and forth between Rivers and his former starting backcourt is a bit of an undersold storyline for this season. It’s clear, from Lowe’s story and the continued quotes that have surfaced, the expiration date on the previous Clippers team had come.
The Clippers have played well this season. At 4-1, the team under the leadership of Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan is showing the NBA how it plans to proceed in this new Era. The players on the roster in this present time should be the only ones who matter going forward.
