Los Angeles Clippers Starting Lineup for NBA Season 2016-17; Rivers Denied Trading Griffin to Celtics
Los Angeles Clippers' Doc Rivers faces a blank wall and sets additional stress to the already stretched Blake Griffin after failing to acquire Kevin Durant from free agency. Rivers still needs to fill the gap for a small forward or power forward position to free Griffin of playing for the two positions and extended court time appearance.
Rivers is still confident that even with this hole in the squad and the apparent lack of shooters from the outside, the team can still take another step from the current setup. The squad has a limited option of only 12 players in the roster. Meaning, there is a complete set of second reliever but no 3rd set to provide a fresher team for overtime plays.
So come the 2016-2017 season, frontliners for the Clippers will look like Chris Paul taking the point guard position with Austin Rivers as the only reliever. Griffin will take two positions as mentioned earlier. JJ Redick will take care of the perimeter together with Jamal Crawford. Team USA member DeAndre Jordan acts as the center with Diamond Stone to help him out.
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Meanwhile, Rivers denied the Blake Griffin trade to Boston Celtics rumors though admitting that he met Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. The meeting was centered only on personal matters including their shared hobby of golf -- and not about any megadeals that will change both of their rosters' landscape.
Rivers also stressed that Clippers intends to keep Griffin in Los Angeles, calling the idea crazy to explore trading Griffin since their current setup is already problematic and the player can become a free agent next summer anyway. Coinciding also is Chris Paul who is bound to hit free agency after the 2016-17 season.
"It's funny, like, you don't want to go out and send out a press release every time there's a rumor about Blake. We are hoping Blake ends his career playing for the Clippers. Period," Coach Rivers said. "So when teams call we say we have no interest. First of all, no team's calling right now because teams know we don't have any interest."
Even so, Rivers is still confident that Griffin and Paul want to stay with the Clippers, the same confidence the other teams have that they could get the two core players. The statement echoed the foresight of the squad's new owner Steve Ballmer who assured to keep both.
