LA Clippers forward-center Montrezl Harrell has won the 2019-20 NBA Hustle Award, which honors the player that makes the energy and effort plays to help his team win throughout the season.
This is why it’s silly for the NBA to announce regular-season awards so long after the regular season (especially when there was a great opportunity to do so earlier). Though he deserves sympathy for the cause, Harrell just had a miserable playoffs, struggling on the court and feuding with teammates. It’s hard to get excited about honoring him right now.
Harrell definitely played with a lot of energy during the regular season. He relentlessly scrambled to find ways to score junk baskets inside, took charges, crashed the glass and set screens.
Dan Gelston/APPosted: OCT 1, 2020 / 05:29 PM CDT | Updated: OCT 1, 2020 / 05:29 PM CDT
FILE – In this Jan. 12, 2020, file photo, Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers watches during the second quarter of the team’s NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets in Denver. The Philadelphia 76ers have reached an agreement with Rivers to become their new coach. Rivers reached a deal Thursday to become the latest coach to try to lead the Sixers to their first NBA championship since 1983, a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the Sixers had not formally announced the move. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers have reached an agreement with Doc Rivers to become their coach.
Rivers reached a deal Thursday to become the latest coach to try and lead the Sixers to their first NBA championship since 1983, a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the Sixers had not formally announced the move.
Rivers takes over for Brett Brown, who was fired after the 76ers were swept in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Rivers was fired about two weeks after the Los Angeles Clippers wasted a 3-1 series lead and lost to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.
Rivers spent seven seasons with the Clippers, making the playoffs in six of them — a major success for a once-woebegone franchise. This season’s team, with the additions of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, was expected to compete for a championship.
But losing three closeout opportunities to the Nuggets cost the Clippers a chance to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the West finals, and likely played a role in Rivers not remaining as coach.
Rivers also coached the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics, winning the NBA title with the Celtics in 2008.
The 76ers were 43-30 this season and had woefully underachieved in a year when they were expected to be serious contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Brown was tasked with leading the Sixers through a rebuild dubbed “The Process,” where management stripped the roster of serious NBA talent to lose games and increase their odds at better draft picks. Brown won only 47 games in his first three seasons, including a 10-72 record in 2015-16.
The philosophy paid off when Philly drafted Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, who both became All-Stars and lead the Sixers to two straight trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
But Simmons missed the postseason with a knee injury and neither Embiid nor the players brought in in recent years could provide enough scoring in clutch situations against Boston.
The Sixers believed they were ready to contend for their first championship in 37 years and Brand spent $180 million to re-sign Tobias Harris and nearly $100 million to sign free agent Al Horford away from Boston.
Instead, the Sixers had only snippets of consistent success and Brown paid the price. The longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant was let go on a contract that runs through the 2021-2022 season.
General manager Elton Brand said after he fired Brown he would evaluate the front office and consider more changes but doesn’t plan to trade either of his two top stars.
“I’m not looking to trade Ben or Joel,” Brand said days after the season ended. “I’m looking to complement them better. They are 24 and 26 years old, respectively. You try to make that fit as long as you can. They want to be here, they want to be with our organization and I see them here for a long, long time.”
Brand has not made any changes to the front office while he settled on a coach. Tyronn Lue, who coached LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to an NBA championship, and Mike D’Antoni, fired by the Houston Rockets, also were in contention for Rivers’ job.
Rivers went 356-208 over seven seasons with the Clippers, taking them to the West second round three times. Rivers, who played 13 seasons in the NBA, hiring means the league remains at four Black coaches currently with jobs. He is 1,624-943 in nearly 21 seasons as an NBA coach. He was the 1999-00 NBA Coach of the Year.
Rivers visited with Brand and Sixers ownership Wednesday and the organization wasted little time striking to make a deal with the 58-year-old coach.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue is scheduled to interview for the vacant Houston Rockets job next week, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The New Orleans Pelicans are scheduled to meet with Lue on Friday, just a few days prior to his scheduled interview with Houston.
Now 43 years old, Lue led the Cavaliers to their only NBA title in 2016. Over parts of four seasons as head coach, Lue compiled a 128-83 record (.607) in the regular season and 41-20 (.671) in the playoffs. Among many attributes, he was well regarded for his ability to build relationships with All-Star players like LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving.
Last week, Kelly Iko of The Athletic reported that Lue was a “serious candidate” for the Rockets. As such, their interest progressing to the interview phase shouldn’t come as a big surprise.
Besides Lue, other current candidates for the Rockets are believed to include Rivers; fellow Clippers assistant Sam Cassell; former Brooklyn head coach Kenny Atkinson; Dallas assistant Stephen Silas; Denver assistant Wes Unseld Jr.; and former Houston head coach Jeff Van Gundy.
There is no clear timetable for a hire to be made.
Clippers assistant Ty Lue will obviously be a candidate to replace Doc Rivers in LA, remains in the hunt for the Philadelphia job — although Mike D’Antoni is widely considered the favorite — and Lue has also received support for the Houston job, league sources say
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Clippers players reportedly rolled their eyes at Paul George for his ra-ra locker room speech urging his teammates to come back and contend.
And now this, from Chris Broussard so take a grain of salt and cut it in half.
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