LA Clippers: 5 candidates to replace Doc Rivers as head coach

1. Tyronn Lue

Another Clippers assistant, Tyronn Lue has championship experience, he’s one of the hottest coaching candidates on the market and he’s familiar with the team’s personnel. With Rivers out, Lue feels like the no-brainer choice to succeed him, and Wojnarowski listed him with Van Gundy as the top potential candidates.

The Clippers need a coach who can hold everyone accountable and keep the locker room at peace, especially when it comes to two more reserved superstars who flat-out disappeared in this year’s playoffs. As a championship-winning head coach who had to manage the egos and personalities of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, Lue feels like a pretty good fit on that front.

Lue never got his proper due as the head coach of that 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers squad that will never be forgotten, mostly because he had LeBron James on his team. But he deserves another fair shake somewhere in the league, and he should be getting it soon.

The Cavs turned to assistant coach Lue midseason when they needed to compete for a championship, and he delivered. The Clippers would be coming to him in a similar bind, given that Leonard and George are only guaranteed to be in LA together for one more season. It’s do or die time for this franchise, not just for the upcoming season, but possibly for the Clippers’ entire window of relevance. He’d be as good a bet as anyone to find the right offensive scheme to maximize his stars and the rest of this talented roster en route to a championship.

Lue wasn’t known for as much creativity on the defensive end, but the Clippers’ personnel and his familiarity with their top-five defense would help make up for it. The Pelicans, Rockets and Philadelphia 76ers are other potential landing spots for Lue, so if the Clippers want to retain one of the better candidates on the market who’d actually be a good fit for their offense and locker room, they’d better move fast.