Doc Rivers reputation as a general manager/decision-maker in the NBA has not come without some criticism. He’s made some head-scratching moves over the years like bringing in his less than stellar son Austin to the team, keeping guys like Hedo Turkoglu and Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis on the roster when they obviously weren’t your average NBA player, his team is constantly above the salary cap and he almost lost out on DeAndre Jordan this past summer.
Losing DJ, even if it was for a few days, was a crushing blow to the Los Angeles Clippers. They had no money to spend on a top talent and they were stuck with possibly sliding Blake Griffin up to center. Not an ideal situation.
At the end of the day, DJ returned to the Clippers and he went back on a commitment to the Dallas Mavericks. Something that irked Mark Cuban beyond belief. Since then, Cuban has been nothing but dismissive of the situation, not referring to Jordan by name and even asking ‘who?’ on occasions when his name or the situation is brought up.
Recently on Colin Cowherd’s new Fox Sports show, Cuban talked about some comments that Doc Rivers made about the situation and the aftermath and the story Doc is telling sounds a little fabricated.
Whether his side of the story is true or not, bottomline is Mark Cuban is right. Doc would’ve been a sitting duck if the Clippers lost DeAndre Jordan this summer. They would’ve been a completely different team and would’ve possibly relied on a guy like Josh Smith to slide into their starting lineup and produce on the offensive end as opposed to rim protect.
Doc was saved for at least one more season but if the Clippers get eliminated earlier than anticipated once again, how long will Doc be commanding this Clipper ship?
