Rivers out as Clippers' president of basketball ops; remains coach
Doc's office hours have been clipped.
Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers is out of his job as president of basketball operations, returning him to his sole duty as head coach, the Clippers announced Friday.
In turn, Lawrence Frank will assume more responsibility as executive vice president of basketball operations.
Rivers was acquired via trade from the Boston Celtics during the 2013 offseason, and until Friday had held both coaching and president titles simultaneously.
While the team has finished with 50-plus wins in four straight seasons under Rivers, their win total has decreased each year from 57 in 2013-14 to 51 last season. With core starters Chris Paul and J.J. Redick relocating to Houston and Philadelphia, respectively, and a slew of new faces in the Clippers' locker room, Rivers' attention to the on-court product will be more pivotal than ever.
While unilateral team control between coaching and front-office duties have been in vogue in recent years, with the San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich being a notable example, teams are beginning to better appreciate the enormity of the vastly different positions.
"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," Clippers owner Steve Ballmer told ESPN, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. "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.
Similarly, Atlanta Hawks bench boss Mike Budenholzer resigned from his team president role in May to focus on coaching, and many other franchises are beefing up their front-office support rather than consolidating responsibility under one executive.