By: Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – Head coach Doc Rivers isn’t panicking about the Clippers’ winless start to the preseason.
The rest of the Western Conference has at least one win, but Rivers said Tuesday at the Los Angeles Clippers Foundation Charity Golf Classic that he’s working on a lot of different things and he’s not concerned about a preseason record.
“We’re probably not going to win the preseason championship,” Rivers said. “Other than that, no, I am not concerned.”
Rivers said he wants to use this time to put his players in different spots. He said sometimes it’s worked out, other times it hasn’t, but it’s all fine at this point in the year. He also doesn’t believe conditioning is the cause for the slow start.
“I don’t think we’ve played great so far,” Rivers said. “There’s no magic potion to it, just start playing better eventually.”
Opponents have outrebounded the Clippers each of the first three games of the preseason, with the Jazz most recently totaling 55 boards, and the perimeter defense has struggled the last two games. But neither issue bothers Rivers, who’s using this time to see some different looks.
“I’m not that concerned right now, honestly,” he said. “I just think we’re trying some things and doing a lot of different things and we’ll figure it all out.”
One thing still left to figure out is the small forward situation.
Matt Barnes started at small forward the first game against the Warriors, followed by Reggie Bullock against the Blazers and Chris Douglas-Roberts most recently against the Jazz. Douglas-Roberts was the only Clippers player to get at least 30 minutes in the game, going 1-of-5 from the floor.
Rivers said no one’s separated themselves yet at the position, but that doesn’t mean they’ve played poorly.
“We came into this knowing Matt would play a lot,” Rivers said. “We want to try to find out who else will play with him, and we still haven’t figured that out yet.”
Golf Game
The Clippers still have a lot of time to figure out different pairings in the preseason with the regular season not starting until Oct. 30.
In the meantime, Rivers took part in Tuesday’s charity golf classic at the Trump National Golf Club, benefitting the Los Angeles Clippers Foundation and Special Olympics Southern California. He said it’s a great event getting everyone together and raising money for a good cause.
“It just gets my mind off everything,” Rivers said. “In golf, you have to really focus. Anything that can take my focus off my job sometimes is good. I think it’s very needed, at, least for me it is. I wish I was better at it.”
Rivers said the team doesn’t need distractions despite a tough start to the preseason, but it’s still nice to get on the course and get a day off after a preseason road trip. Golf’s a sport Rivers enjoys, and he even encouraged players from his former Finals teams to get on the course.
“In the Finals, several times I made guys go golf, just to get them out of their rooms,” he said. “A lot of stuff out there, so you’ve got to just take your focus off of it sometimes.”
Quick Hits
Rivers touched on a number of different topics while addressing the media at the golf course.
- The Clippers coach is all for the NBA’s decision to try a 44-minute preseason game this weekend between the Celtics and Nets. Rivers said that’ll definitely help the players and could also make the games better and create an earlier sense of urgency in the fourth quarter. He also complimented commissioner Adam Silver’s willingness to try new things.
- “Anything you try new, that doesn’t mean it’s going to work or not, but I like the fact they’re trying to try different things,” Rivers said. “I think that’s a good thing.”
- Blake Griffin is fine after a collision before halftime in the Clippers’ last game, according to Rivers, who said the forward was startled at the play with such little time on the clock.
- Rivers also touched on the Thunder’s loss of Kevin Durant, who broke a bone in his foot. Rivers said every team deals with injuries, as the Clippers had to last year with Chris Paul, but the loss of a star would hurt any team.
“They’re still really good, by the way,” Rivers said. “But you lose a Durant or any key guy on your team, it hurts your team. It’s tough.”