The Clippers have themselves a new coach. The team recently made their hiring of Tyronn Lue official. Here’s the OC Register reporting some of his words today:
Seated in the media room Wednesday at the Clippers’ practice facility in Playa Vista, Lue expressed a blend of humility – “it feels good to be wanted,” he said – and confidence during a half-hour introductory Zoom session with reporters off site.
“I want to be one of the greatest coaches,” Lue said. “In order to be great, you have to win. So to me, when you start talking about pressure and all that it means, it just means that you’re in position to win a championship.”
Steve Ballmer, the team’s governor, and Lawrence Frank, its president of basketball operations, also joined the remote session, with Ballmer unequivocal in his desire to see his team figure it out fast: “I think it’s probably fair to say my personality is all about winning and we didn’t get the job done that we expected to get done at the end of the season.”
“I tell you,” Ballmer added. “Ty’s my kind of guy, he wants to move, move, move! Learn new things, absorb, think new thoughts – which I think is essential to be better, to grow.” Ballmer also noted that Lue is “a guy I have come to understand holds himself and others accountable, which is a key part of being good in the sports business.”
And here’s the LA Times:
Lue has never shied away from crediting Rivers as the biggest influence for why he entered coaching, and he called Rivers’ dismissal “tough.” But he also described the ways in which he is not a Rivers clone on the sideline, emphasizing that his style has been influenced by Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson, Stan Van Gundy and Scott Skiles, among others.
Tactically, where Rivers’ offenses often relied on individual playmakers more than set plays, Lue is expected to run a more controlled offense that will hinge on speed and moving the ball.
“I learned a lot from Doc, but I’ve also learned a lot from a lot of other coaches around the league because I’m always studying, I’m always trying to get better,” Lue said. “I want to be better. So, not just learning from Doc, but I learned from other coaches like [Erik Spoelstra] and Brad Stevens and watching Nick Nurse last year, thinking outside the box of playing box-and-one and triangle-and-two [defenses] and bringing something new to the NBA. And if you stop learning, if you stop being willing to learn from other people then you won’t be successful.”
The Clippers were a disappointment at the Disney NBA bubble, but it was also the first year that Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and company played together, so it’s not the biggest surprise ever that the squad wasn’t able to maximize their overall talent in the postseason. Also, multiple Clippers players wound up having to leave the Disney bubble over the course of the postseason, which also certainly isn’t a positive.
It should be relatively easy for Lue to have the team play better than the vast majority of the league next season. The question is if he can help make them reach that difficult next level.
