Rivers sad to see Paul go, but admits change was necessary for Clippers
The "Lob City" Clippers were quite the entertaining act to watch on the hardwood at Staples Center, but it became abundantly clear over the past few seasons how that group had peaked as a unit, with yet another early exit from the playoffs ending their 2016-17 campaign.
With Chris Paul now a member of the Houston Rockets, the Clippers must move forward without the All-Star point guard feeding the likes of Blake Griffin - who will hit unrestricted free agency at midnight Saturday - and DeAndre Jordan on the fast break. Coach Doc Rivers is disappointed to see that era come to an end, although he'll be the first to admit that changes had to be made.
"That part is over. And that bugs me," Rivers told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "But we're not done trying to reach our goal. Sometimes you gotta do it a different way. Because the way we tried to do it didn't work."
The Clippers have qualified for the postseason every year since 2012 (six trips with Paul, four with Rivers), but have yet to advance to the Western Conference finals. The most disheartening loss came in 2015 when Los Angeles blew a 3-1 series lead in the second round against the Rockets.
"We were close, and then we had self-inflicted wounds," Rivers added. "You would love to get those back but you don't get that back. But it's not like it was awful. And that's the point. We were a game away from the Western finals (2015) and we were three minutes of basketball away against Oklahoma (2014).
"We were knocking on the door of being very successful, and we just didn't get it done."
While the Clippers don't have a championship banner to call their own, Rivers is still proud of what the Paul-Griffin-Jordan core accomplished during their time together, and is eager to see what the future has in store for his new-look roster.
"When we look back, the last four years, other than the teams that won the title, we've been as successful," he said. "But this franchise, because of its own history, we don't get the benefit of the doubt. We have not gotten to the promised land. And that's the disappointing part with this group. But now we're gonna write our own new chapter and we're gonna try to do it again."