Doc Rivers Joins Lob City

The NBA head coach carousel has been true to form so far this off-season. Every off-season, head coaches get fired and new ones are hired.  For the 2013-2014 NBA regular season, there will be ten new head coaches. On Monday, the newest head coach became former Indiana Pacers assistant coach, Brian Shaw who was hired for the Denver Nuggets head coaching job. On Sunday,  Doc Rivers, former head coach of the Boston Celtics, was hired by the Los Angeles Clippers. This deal almost took longer than last year's Dwight Howard deal. And that's saying something. The original deal was that Doc Rivers and Kevin Garnett would be acquired by the Clippers in a trade and in exchange, the Celtics would receive DeAndre Jordan and Eric Bledsoe. With the sports world thinking this deal would go through and be approved by the NBA, these thoughts were wrong.  David Stern and the NBA did not approve this trade and Stern said that he would not approve any deal where Garnett would be traded to the Clippers.  In the aftermath of this, the talks between the Celtics and Clippers died down.  And then shortly after they died down, on Sunday, they intensified again.  Ultimately, Rivers was hired and the Celtics received an unprotected 2015 first round draft pick. In the deal, the Clippers signed Rivers to a three year $21 million contract, which is what Rivers had left on his Celtics five year extension.

By many, the Rivers hire is one that could turn the Clippers into a title contender.   However, an important factor in winning a title will be Rivers establishing a good relationship with Chris Paul.  The floor general and the head coach must have a strong relationship on any NBA team. If this relationship can be established, and hopefully it can for the Clippers' sake, then surely the Clippers could be a potential title contender next season.

What could also be intriguing is how Rivers will utilize his lineups.  The NBA is evolving and most teams are looking to play "small ball".  Rivers' possible offensive and defensive schemes could affect how the Clippers fare in the Western Conference. For one thing , Rivers may have to change the sets he runs.  In the Eastern Conference, the style of play is more grind it out kind of basketball.  In the Western Conference, the style of basketball is much more fast paced.  It will be interesting to see next season, whether or not Rivers does change the sets he uses and utilize smaller lineups to enhance the fastbreak, and the Clippers trademark, Lob City.

The Clippers, like any team in the NBA, want to win and want to win relatively quickly. This team is being built so they can win for multiple years and make title runs. Rivers has already won a title with the Celtics.  You know what he will be bringing to the Clippers as the new head coach. And now that Rivers has joined Lob City, a championship can finally be a realistic expectation and season ending outcome for the Los Angeles Clippers.

Update

12:15 am 6/25/13

The Grizzlies have promoted former assistant coach, Dave Joerger to Head Coach, so that makes 11 new NBA head coaches for the start of the 2013-2014 season.