The Clippers were ecstatic to re-sign center DeAndre Jordan from under the Mavericks' noses this offseason, and they have legitimate hopes of winning the NBA championship. That's why a front office power struggle between head coach and general manager Doc Rivers and Clips president Gillian Zucker could be disastrous.
Rivers artfully denied any rift when TMZ's cameras caught up with him recently, and he may have successfully changed the conversation by throwing a subtle jab at sports personality and Clippers season-ticket holder Bill Simmons.
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When asked if there was "any rift between you and Ms. Zucker," Rivers responded "No. The relationship's good." Later on he was asked "Don't you feel that this year this team is the most functional it's been in the history of the Clippers?"
Rivers grinned at the question and took his dig at Simmons. "Well I'm not a historian of the Clippers. I think I'll let Bill be that. But yeah, I think we have a heck of a team. This is our best shot."
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The Clippers are returning All-Stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, as well as Jordan, the 2014-15 NBA leader in rebounds (15 per game) and field goal percentage (71 percent). In addition, they added veteran guard/forward Paul Pierce, who scored 11.9 points a night for the Wizards last year and changed their offense by playing minutes at power forward. They also brought in veterans Josh Smith (PF) and Lance Stephenson (SG) to bolster a bench that was the team's weakness last year.
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