Doc Rivers: DeAndre Jordan Chose ‘Substance and Character’ Over Mark Cuban’s ‘Smoke and Mirrors’
The vaguely amusing flame war between Doc Rivers and Mark Cuban rages on.
The LA Clippers team president and head coach is in the midst of a media blitz, and responded to Cuban’s claims that DeAndre Jordan’s free agency was supposedly a make-or-break moment for his career.
According to Rivers, Jordan saw through the Dallas Mavericks owner’s “smoke and mirrors” and wisely chose to re-sign with the Clips.
Per the OC Register and Yahoo! Sports:
“I’ll say this. I’m so grateful to work for a team owned by Steve Ballmer, someone who stands for character and substance and who is so loyal,” Rivers said. “He is someone who I know will stand with me, even when things aren’t always going our way. I think what happened with D.J. was he decided to choose substance and character over smoke and mirrors.”
“Losing (Jordan) would’ve always gnawed at me,” Rivers said. “But it wouldn’t have stopped me. I would’ve said, ‘F— that, we’re going to figure out a way to get this right.’ But it also triggered something else for me. It might have been my front-office wake-up call. I was not a pleasant guy to me, or my staff, after I thought we lost him – and even after we got him back. We had a lot of ‘come-to-Jesus’ meetings. […] “I told them, and told myself: ‘We’ve got to get f—— better. I don’t care if we don’t like how this was done, or we thought there was some injustice. We didn’t get him. We’ve got to be f—— better.'”
When the Clippers meet for the start of training camp, Rivers will be sharing with them writer Greg Bishop’s cover story in Sports Illustrated on the Seattle Seahawks, about how a crushing end in the Super Bowl nearly tore apart a franchise. Around the Clippers facility, everyone, including teammates, will tell you that they’ve never seen so much good vibe among (Chris) Paul, (Blake) Griffin and Jordan. Nearly losing Jordan – losing a championship contending core – has brought everyone closer. […] For now, anyway. For now, in September, when it’s easy to get along.
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DeAndre Jordan Explains Decision to Re-Sign With the Clippers (VIDEO)
