Los Angeles Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers is losing one of his titles.
According to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and later confirmed by the team, Rivers will still have a say in front office and personnel matters, but he will cede control of basketball operations to Lawrence Frank, who moved to the front office as the team’s vice president of basketball ops in 2016.
“I’ve owned the team for three years now, and I really better understand what an owner’s responsibility is — and it turns out that running a franchise and coaching are two enormous and different jobs,” Ballmer told ESPN. “The notion that one person can fairly focus on them and give them all the attention they need isn’t the case. To be as good as we can be, to be a championship franchise, we need two functioning strong people building teams out beneath them. There needs to be a healthy discussion and debate with two strong, independent-minded people.”
The Clippers had seemingly been moving in this direction in an unofficial capacity ever since Frank took over as the VP of basketball operations last summer. Balmer told ESPN that Rivers put Frank “in charge of the non-coaching aspects of the front office last year.” The franchise also hired Jerry West as an adviser in June. The shift in responsibilities for Rivers had long been rumored, and is now official. Pat Riley made it work too, including the championship in 2006.
The move is also long overdue. Rivers had too much on his plate, and his performance in both of his roles had been underwhelming. With Frank capable of running the front office, it made little sense to keep Rivers inundated with split responsibilities. Ballmer also mentioned that a squad that could be welcoming as many as 10 new players — and one that lost its former franchise cornerstone, Chris Paul — will need Rivers’ undivided attention.
In some cases, giving the head coach front office power and thus control over their roster has worked out. Gregg Popovich had a decent run in dual roles that included the Spurs' first championship, before he ultimately relinquished the GM role to R.C. Buford. Stan Van Gundy has made a couple of decent moves in Detroit, and Tom Thibodeau has had a really successful offseason in Minnesota.
Doc's run holding down both positions with the Clippers has been a little more suspect; underwhelming, as the article put it. I'd say the Chris Paul situation was the straw that broke the camel's back, despite what Doc's kids may say in his defense. I still say where there's smoke, there's fire, in regards to that situation.