LOS ANGELES — When it comes down to the job market you must update your resume to stay relevant.

The Los Angeles Clippers must have a much different philosophy pertaining to their head coach Tyron Lue.

For a third straight year the Clippers lost in the first round this time to the Denver Nuggets. A wide open Western conference, great momentum down the stretch of the season, and a clean injury report for the Clippers the entire series. Everything was laid out for the Clippers to make a deep playoff run. Obviously, that wasn’t the case after a embarrassing game 7 showing in Denver, Colorado. 

So now that the dust has settled who gets the blame?

For the 2024-25 NBA season, there has been four established coaches who lost their positions. Mike Brown, Taylor Jenkins, Michael Malone, and recently Tom Thibodeau. In years past, NBA coaches would seem to have more security in their job positions but it seems as if ownership has decided to turn the page from that.

                 

There you have it. This has become league wide where coaches are looked at expendable. Being a head coach it is a result driven business where if you don’t get results then you are gone. Even with the coaches who have consistent deep playoff runs or a championship to show for it, you could still be on your way out. How stressful.

Now there is always exceptions to the rules, and Lue seems to fall under that category. The question becomes though why?

In his five year tenure with the Clippers, Lue has a coaching record of 228-166 which is a .579% winning percentage. Pretty good. Throughout his time with the Clippers, Lue has always had successful regular seasons. Not one season has he been below .500.

The most memorable season was the 2021-22 regular season, superstar Kawhi Leonard was sidelined for the entire year with a torn ACL and All-Star Paul George only completed 31 of the 82 games. That season the Clippers went 42-40 before losing in the playin tournament against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New Orleans Pelicans. So why would Lue need to be held accountable when the cards been stacked against him and he has still found a way to be competitive? Shouldn’t he be commended?

Well, there is another side of the coin called the playoffs that we have to look into.

Throughout the seasons, as good as the Clippers have been without Leonard and George for important chunks of it the playoffs for Lue have just been the complete opposite.

In the playoffs, you need your best players to be out there to compete for a title. The Clippers are 16-21 under Lue as their head coach when it comes to the postseason. Leonard, four of the five years with the Clippers has either not completed the run or been out entirely. For that very reason, is why Lue continues to get “little to no” criticism. 

Until now, where Leonard was playing some of the best basketball of his career and completed the entire playoff run.

Leonard was the most consistent player in the series for both teams. Not only leading both teams in scoring with good efficiency, but his effectiveness rebounding, playmaking, and defense that showed on the stat sheet and the eye test. 

The Clippers were fully healthy against the Nuggets. While Nikola Jokic is arguably the best player in the league Leonard’s impact was more consistent and effective throughout the series. During the stretch towards the end of the season, the Nuggets were going down a spiral losing their coach Mike Malone, so it was a lot of uncertainties that fell in the Clippers lap that they should’ve capitalized on. So what happened?

Lue, a few years back echoed on the “All the Smoke” podcast he just wanted to see his team healthy one time. That is fair, which is why this year must be evaluated more honestly because injuries can’t be used as an excuse.

Brown, Malone, Jenkins, and Thibodeau their ceilings have been higher in the regular seasons+playoffs. Each one of these coaches has had least one season where they’ve been a top 3 seed going into the postseason something Lue has been unable to do in five seasons as a coach. What top coach can you name in the NBA that has never had a top 3 seed going into the postseason? 

Brown a coach of the year in 2023 broke the longest drought in sports history not making the playoffs. The Sacramento Kings had not made the playoffs for 20 seasons and Brown led his team as a third seed in the playoffs. 

Malone a championship in 2023, a couple of conference finals appearances, and multiple top 3 playoff berths was let go three games going into the playoffs with the Nuggets getting up to as high as the second seed this season and finishing as the fourth season. 

Jenkins, a couple of top two seeds (2022 and 2023) going into the playoffs with an injury prone star like Ja Morant. He was eliminated a little halfway through this season.

Finally Thibodeau, while he gets criticized for the use of his players that may be described as overuse. The Knicks who were a third seed this season and reaching the Eastern Conference finals was let go after losing to the Indiana Pacers.

After the 2021-22 season, one must really ask what has Lue done to secure a 5 year/$80 million extension when you have coaches who’ve been more productive as of late with less star power losing their positions left from right.

It was right around that time where the mainstream media was all in on the Lue top 5 campaign. Who better to lead the train than Stephen A. Smith? Someone not shy with letting his voice be heard.

       

Smith was right. Lue at that time was the shiny new toy that the masses gravitated to. However, all things change and systems must be updated. The “Small Ball” system that was effective against the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz back in the 2021 playoffs can only go but so far against the Nuggets who have a bigger versatile front court that can exploit it. 

The iso-ball system lead by James Harden can be effective during the regular season, but come playoff time teams and coaches have time to game-plan against. 

The title he received “Mr. adjuster” comes from what he does after the game is over and not during the game when it is actually going on. This leads the door open for your teams to get into holes that they have to fight to get out of 

There is one trait that Lue has which may make one think he is a top coach, and that is his ability to fight after being down. In the 2021-22 season, much of that run the Clippers were called “the Cardiac Clips”. Which highlights the Clippers falling into huge deficits only for them to fight themselves out of. While, that may be admirable it is also dangerous to play with your food.

Throughout the years, whether it was Leonard’s availability, George’s downfall in the 2020 bubble, Harden’s shortcomings in elimination games, or even Russell Westbrook’s sporadic plays. These are all valid points.

But what about Lue not being able to get a top 3 seed with his stars healthy? What about his questionable offensive system that seems to depend on predictable ISO heavy offense and not mixed in with enough player and ball movement? What about his “small Ball” philosophy lacking size in the front court? What about his inability to adjust “in game”? What about the multiple amount of young guys he doesn’t use throughout the season in a young man’s league?

The questions are endless. The biggest question is what are the Clippers doing from here? The players can only be as good as the coach’s game-plan allows them to be. Trying to overcome a coaches game-plan with multiple blockages is a recipe for uncertainty and more than likely disaster.

We understand what Lue accomplished in 2016, but it smells much like the Glenn “Doc” Rivers treatment that thrives off of court relationships and one championship. The bar has been lowered for Lue to be deemed as a top level coach without producing top level results.

No disrespect, but if the Clippers continue long term with Lue no matter what player that comes in. The Clippers will be subjugated to the Lue system which is a very good regular season team that under performs in the playoffs.