Doc Rivers Started Planning the Clippers’ Championship Parade

LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has big dreams for his new team. Doc is looking way past the lowly Lakers (who scored a shocking victory last night), and already envisioning the first NBA title in Clippers franchise history. No, this is not a joke … we think. Per NBA.com: “The information gathering began, Doc Rivers said, four days after he was hired as coach and head of basketball operations for the Clippers. He wanted to learn more about parades. Championship parades. Championship parades for the Clippers. […] ‘I’ve researched enough to know what we can do,’ he said. […] The only real value of the (Lakers vs. Clippers) matchup was in the convenient scheduling of immediately providing the contrast of organization success the Clippers hope to emulate, as in when Rivers was asked about trying to develop a winning culture as opposed to the history he walked into with the Celtics. ‘There’s none,’ Rivers said, prompting snickering from the media. ‘You can say it. It’s OK. It doesn’t hurt us. It’s the truth. And we decided not to run from the truth really. You’re right. I came from, as someone said earlier, from decorated to undecorated, and that’s what we want to forge ahead, is to have some decorations. It’s different. You don’t have the Bill Russells to call and talk to the team. You don’t have that history. We have to forge our own. That makes it more difficult obviously, but if you can succeed, I think the feeling of success will be greater.’ Now all the Clippers have to do is build their positive tradition. ‘That’s from Day 1,’ Rivers said. ‘It’s a long haul. Listen, we do have to do it first. That’s how you do it honestly. We just have to keep building and getting. We have to stay focused on that boring process that everyone talks about. That’s what you have to do. There’s no shortcuts and there’s no guarantees. That’s the neat part to me. When you want something that’s great, there’s no guarantees. You open your heart up to your team, your team opens up to you, and you take the risk of getting your heart broken. I’ve had mine broken many times, and it’s damn worth it. It absolutely is worth it.'”