Not a fan of Lue, but he is better than Rivers.
This one will rustle some feathers
Can rustle feathers all it wants, but Rivers is a mediocre coach and always has been. He is terrible on the X's and O's, doesn't seem to really understand game flow and the need for timeouts, and while he seemingly gets along well with players, he also has never held them accountable and has had several locker-rooms blow up in his face. But for Garnett, he wouldn't still be coaching in this league. And to be clear, I couldn't stand him when he coached the C's and was glad he left (not sure the posts go back to 2007 or not, but I was all over the fire Doc bandwagon). Doc just comes off as fake to me. Always says one thing, but does something else. Seems like he is a players coach, but plays favorites and doesn't control the locker-room well. When Garnett was on the roster, KG took control and things didn't get out of hand, but without KG, Doc invariably loses half the team and he just isn't a good enough coach to make up for it. There is a reason he is the only coach to blow 3-1 leads, 3 times. That just doesn't happen to good coaches.
I don't think Lue is a great coach by any stretch, but I do think he will command that locker-room a lot better than Doc did. I mean Lue challenged Lebron, something few coaches have done. And the reality is, if you can challenge Lebron (and live to tell about it), you have at least a little bit of special in you. I think he also showed that when he turned down the Lakers 3 year offer of lesser money. That took chutzpah and that is what I think the Clippers need. And Lue, like Rivers, is known as a players coach, I just think he is better than Rivers at that. Also, Lue did outmaneuver Kerr in his first ever playoff run as a coach. He wasn't right for the rebuild and had to go in Cleveland, but I'm glad to see him get another shot where he has a chance to prove what he is as a coach (for good or bad).
