According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski Ty Lue will be the next head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers. Lue will be signing a five-year contract with the team.
Ty Lue is finalizing a five-year deal to become the next coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 15, 2020
Once the Clippers let go of Doc Rivers, Lue became the favorite to land this job because not only was he a very sought after coaching candidate but he was also the team’s lead assistant this past season.
Lue spent 11 seasons in the NBA as a player for multiple different teams between 1998-2009. He joined Rivers coaching staff in Boston in the 2011-12 season. Two seasons later Lue followed Rivers to the Clippers before becoming the leagues highest paid assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers for David Blatt’s staff.
During his second season with the Cavaliers, Blatt was fired despite having 30-11 record that led the Eastern Conference. Lue was then promoted to head coach and became the spark the team needed to return to the NBA finals. Lue was the head coach of the Cavaliers team that became the first in NBA History to come back from being down 3-1 in the NBA Finals.
The following season Lue was the head coach of the All-Star team and coached the Cavaliers to two more NBA finals despite losing both to Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors. After LeBron James left Cleveland before the 2018-19 season, the Cavaliers fired Lue after starting the season 0-6.
The Clippers have seen first hand how their players respond to Lue’s coaching and having being the head coach for one of the greatest comebacks in NBA History and an NBA Champion head coach was enough to get Lue the job in Los Angeles.
It has also already been reported that Lue is planning to bring in former Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chauncey Billups as the lead assistant. Billups had a very accomplished NBA career being a multiple time All-Star, NBA Champion, and NBA Finals MVP. He has been doing live basketball broadcasts for a couple of seasons now and had been rumored to be a candidate for a couple of Head Coaching jobs. If this staff achieves their goal next season and make it to the Conference Finals or NBA Finals, expect Billups to be a favorite to land a head coaching job.
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