[Sports] Clippers, Tyronn Lue Excited to Start Fresh After Last Season's

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Clippers, Tyronn Lue excited to start fresh after last season's letdown

OCREGISTER | 3 MONTHS AGO | 4 MINUTES, 44 SECONDS READ

Tyronn Lue said he was so excited to get to work Sunday morning he had trouble sleeping, enthusiasm that came through clearly on the Clippers' first full day of practice - even over the fuzzy pixels and warbled audio of a pre- practice remote video conference.

"Just ready to get going," said Lue, at 43 a head coach for the second time after he was promoted from lead assistant following Doc Rivers' departure in September.

"Ready for this opportunity. Guys are excited, my coaching staff is excited, we have a great staff that we put together so just excited about the whole journey."

Excited, sure, but also peeved.

Patrick Beverley said he's not over how last season ended, smarting still from the ignominy of blowing a 3-1 lead to Denver in the Western Conference semifinals.

"The attitude around here is guys are pissed off. Which is good. We should be pissed off after our exit last year in the playoffs," said Beverley, the 32-year-old guard who has played the Clippers' emotional leader for the past three seasons.

"Everybody is kinda pissed off so it is a little quieter workplace and guys are more locked in and more focused. And that is the way it should be."

Later, Beverley added: "T-Lue also brings something different, something more dynamic. And the feel is that we want to get our lick back. When I say lick back, I mean like your mom, (if) somebody hits you when you are growing up, your mom tells you to hit them back. That's getting your lick back.

"We got hit by the Nuggets and we want to get our lick back. That is our focus."

And although Beverley pointed out that because the Clippers' core is returning, "collectively when it comes to bonding and stuff like that, it's kind of easy," and though newly signed wing Nic Batum noted that years of experience will make fitting in easier for veterans such as him (and center Serge Ibaka), Lue suggested his squad is in for a learning curve.

"It's a new system," he said. "We're all new here. I'm new, my coaching staff is new, we brought in some new players. The whole system is new for everyone. It's not like they're coming in and just trying to be incorporated into something that we did last year. I think we have a whole new program. So we're all going to be learning together, so it shouldn't be that hard."

Lue has promised that when the season tips off Dec. 22, the Clippers will play faster, move the ball more and do a better job getting players to spots where they're most comfortable and likely to succeed.

Clippers star Paul George complained about Rivers' strategies for setting him up during an appearance on the "All The Smoke" podcast (due out Thursday, but teased last week).

"Doc was trying to play me as a Ray Allen or a JJ Redick, all pin-downs," George said. "I can do it, but that ain't my game. I need some flow, I need some mixes of some pick-and-roll, and post-ups," said George, who last week sought to soften those remarks by directing some of the blame for the Clippers' playoff collapse at himself.

On Sunday, Rivers told reporters in Philadelphia that there was, indeed, blame to go around - but he joked that George shouldn't expect a vastly different approach with Lue at the controls.

"Ty Lue was sitting right next to me, so he better hope it's not adjustments," Rivers said. "It ain't going to be much different."

“ #Sixers coach Doc Rivers on Paul George's comments about the Los Angeles Clippers lack of adjustments while blowing a 3-1 series to the Denver Nuggets in the second round of last season's playoffs. Paul was also criticism of how Rivers, the former Clippers coach, utilized him. pic.twitter.com/2d2I1ODy2Q

- Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) December 6, 2020

Lue, though, had a much different message for L.A. media earlier Sunday.

"We have some new things," said Lue, who in his first head coaching stint led the Cleveland Cavaliers to three consecutive NBA Finals appearances, including the franchise's first title in 2016.

"I learned from Doc my whole career, from Boston to coming to the Clippers my first chance I got. Everything I did was Doc Rivers-driven. But when I took over in Cleveland, I saw that certain things that I did with Doc in Boston or with the Clippers, it didn't necessarily translate to our team in Cleveland.

"Just taking what Doc taught me and using some of those things. But also being able to take my own program where I learned and took some stuff from Phil Jackson and Brad Stevens, Steve Kerr. You just go throughout the coaching circuit and you just look at teams that run good stuff and who are good coaches. You just kind of take stuff from each team and implement it to your team how it fits."

And that's got the Clippers excited, including newcomer Batum, who described the anticipatory edge he's sensed among the Clippers since arriving a week ago.

"We know what happened last year to that team," said Batum, the 6-foot-9 forward who signed with the Clippers after Charlotte waived him a week ago. "Sometimes when something goes wrong with the team, with big players and good players, like with this team, those guys just want to redeem themselves and have a great season. I feel that is what we might do this year."

“ Paul George talks Clippers chemistry issue on #AllTheSmoke next Thursday on https://t.co/YiP8zmH7Ef.@Yg_Trece pic.twitter.com/d3tNR171vV

- SHOWTIME SPORTS (@SHOsports) December 2, 2020 CATEGORY: SPORTS TAGS: CLIPPERS TRADES NBA NEWS TRADE NBA NEWS TODAY TRADE NBA TRADE UPDATE MARKIEFF MORRIS CLIPPERS TRADE RUMORS BRADLEY BEAL MIAMI HEAT PAUL GEORGE LAKERS RUMORS TRADE CLIPPERS PAUL GEORGE NBA CLIPPERS NEWS

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