Tweet of the Night: Doc Rivers is relieved to see the Clippers sale go through

With the sale of the Los Clippers to new owner Steve Ballmer officially completed, many within the organization can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

There had been plenty of rumors over the summer about the possibility of boycotting the season by the players – spearheaded by Chris Paul – if Donald Sterling wasn’t replaced before the season began. Even worse was the possibility of losing Doc Rivers, the team’s coach and President of Basketball Operations, who had seriously considered the thought of leaving the franchise if the sale couldn’t be completed. Clearly, those were nuclear options that no one wanted to have to go through when the season began. 

With Sterling just about out of the picture, everyone can now go back to focusing purely on the basketball aspect and not think about the shame involved in putting on a Clippers uniform. Rivers, in particular, was quick to express his excitement over the resolution of such an ugly situation, from Gary Washburn of Boston Globe:

Doc Rivers relieved as Clippers sale goes through http://t.co/vZiShHlIxX via @BostonGlobe

— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) August 13, 2014

“It’s awesome; it’s really nice,” he said. “We get a chance to play basketball. I’m a basketball coach. My players are basketball players and now we can go back to doing our jobs and I think that’s really important for us.”

[…]

Rivers said he contemplated resigning if Sterling remained owner.

“I was going to keep that option open,” Rivers said. “I didn’t want to. I went there for a reason. I went to be part of the turnaround of the Clippers, and we had it started and obviously it was derailed and now we’re back on track.

“I didn’t want to [resign], but with what was going on, you had to have that as a possibility. But I didn’t give it a lot of thought. I had so much faith in [NBA commissioner] Adam [Silver] that I never once thought that it wouldn’t go this way.”

The Clippers made some significant moves over the summer, adding a much-needed backup center in Spencer Hawes and Jordan Farmar, who will look to replace the loss of Darren Collison. They were already one of the best teams in the West in Rivers’ first season, so year two with the addition of Hawes should further help the cause come next season.

Most importantly, though, the franchise can truly start fresh and head in a much, much better direction with one of the most hated owners in the history of the NBA finally gone for good.

 

 

 

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James Park is the chief blogger and deputy editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.