Also being reported by ESPN, the Clippers will likely sign Rivers to a 3 year, $21 million dollar contract pending league approval.
Interestingly, this means that while the Clippers have suddenly found themselves in the possession of a respected and championship-caliber head coach, the suddenly rudderless Celtics are now in need of one. Given the age of the roster and quickly diminishing abilities of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, the Celtics motivations behind agreeing to this deal are clear: an unprotected pick in 2015. At that point, both Garnett and Pierce are likely to be gone, and the era of the Big Three in Boston will be over.
While I think the Clippers believe that Rivers is a clear upgrade from Vinny “viny ask chris what 2 du” Del Negro, I’m not sure that I’d make the same move in their position. A bad injury to Chris Paul – and this is assuming he re-signs with the Clippers – or Blake Griffin would essentially torpedo any hopes in 2014, leaving the Clippers without a likely high first round pick.
Though it seemed inevitable that Los Angeles was the eventual destination for Brian Shaw, this now shuts the door on one high-profile coaching vacancy. Does George Karl now become the favorite candidate to coach the rebuilding Boston Celtics? Karl has said that he’s not interested in a rebuilding job, but this deal – if approved – likely would end up seeing Karl in Boston or Memphis, and hopefully Brian Shaw here. This would also mean that the remainder of Karl’s deal would, eventually, come off the books for the Kroenkes.
