Even though the Lob City Clippers have been broken up for a few months now, the drama is still ongoing.
In a recent story by ESPN's Zach Lowe, Clippers coach Doc Rivers was talking about the break-up, and once again downplayed any sort of tension or chemistry problems between the bunch. In fact, Rivers even said JJ Redick, who signed a one-year, $23M deal with the Philadelphia 76ers in the offseason, was "begging" to stay with the Clips. Redick, of course, disputes that claim. Via ESPN:
Maybe it was just simmering, palpable tension between Rivers and Paul. "There are times players don't want to be coached by you anymore," Rivers says, without mentioning Paul's name. (Paul declined comment through his representatives.) Rivers has seen Paul's remarks about the team's culture. "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.")
Look, who really knows how badly Redick wanted to come back, if even at all. His comments, along with the fact that he signed a big-money, one-year deal with the Sixers certainly would suggest he wasn't "begging" to return to Los Angeles. But maybe he did badly want back, and they just wouldn't give him the money he wanted. Only Redick truly knows the answer to that question.
But regardless, one thing that everyone can agree on is that weird drama like this is probably a big part of why that Clippers group broke up. No matter how much they deny it, the relationship between the key players themselves, and between the players and Rivers, was never really quite right.
