Coach Vinny Del Negro gets a vote of confidence from Los Angeles Clippers management – NBA Update
Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro is in a spot of bother. He is in a situation which every NBA coach experiences, when all of a sudden star power is thrust in his team and the immediate consistency does not follow.
Erik Spoelstra, the Miami Heat coach, survived that phase when LeBron James and Chris Bosh arrived at the South Beach last year and Mike D’ Antoni lost the battle this season after the New York Knicks failed to produce results,
with the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler available.
Coming into the season, everyone knew that Del Negro will have to gear up for a lean phase and when the Clips lost three games in three days on the road last week, losing 12 of 19 games as a whole, that moment arrived. The skid
gave air to many speculations, the strongest amongst them being that Del Negro was on the verge of losing his job.
However franchise owner Donald Sterling has come out in Del Negro’s support. Brushing aside the rumours, Donald said that he still believes in Vinny and he will let him complete the last year of the contract.
“I like him”. Sterling said. “I usually follow the advice of my people, and I think they care for him, like him and want him to succeed. And I think he will….I don’t know where all these stories are coming from; nobody talked to
me. Everything is good”.
However, when asked if wants more from his players and team, Donald sounded a very clear yes;
“Would I like more wins? I’d like more. I’d like the players to develop more; I’d like to play better. But then I have great expectations, and to a certain extent they’ve been realized. To some extent they haven’t, but I’m a patient
guy.”
Despite the vote of confidence there are still other issues that pose a bigger threat for the coach. Sceptics claim that Del Negro’s tactics are too predictable and even the players are not happy with the plays he runs. In addition
to that, after the franchise lost Chauncey Billups for the season a little over a month ago, the Clippers have lost their guard Mo Williams to a toe injury and he will be out for 2 weeks at least.
Williams was averaging 13.6 points per game in this season and was a vital component in the team’s offense, especially after Billups.
The Clippers also need strong results to retain Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, who could be weighing their options to leave Clippers after this season. For now, Del Negro is safe, but his work is certainly cut out.
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