Ty Lue is officially the coach of the LA Clippers
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00:00The Los Angeles Clippers and Ty Lue have agreed to a five-year deal to make Lue the team's next head coach.
00:07Joining me now for more on this is SI's writer, Chris Mannix.
00:10Chris, the Clippers decided to stay in-house and hire Ty Lue, who served as Doc's assistant last year. Was familiarity with the
00:18organization, the players, a main factor in this decision?
00:22I think it was a significant one. I mean, Ty Lue is
00:26one of the most appealing coaching candidates on the market for any team.
00:30There was some interest from the Philadelphia 76ers before the Sixers went with Doc Rivers. The Houston Rockets
00:37interviewed and spoke to Ty Lue, and there was some momentum to go after him even harder.
00:42But for the Clippers, it just made a lot of sense. Not only is Ty an excellent coach with championship experience,
00:49but he does have that familiarity with the roster.
00:53You can't understate the importance of next season with this LA Clippers team.
00:58They've got two players in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard who can opt out of their contracts after next season.
01:04You have to hit the ground running with this team and bring in a new coach that might have a completely unfamiliar system.
01:11Just didn't make a lot of sense for the Clippers. Now, Ty
01:15certainly has his own system, his own tweaks to what Doc Rivers did, but there will be some symmetry there.
01:21There will be some carryover to what Doc Rivers did. I think that'll make it a lot easier for the Clippers to acclimate to a new coach early.
01:29All right, let's talk about additional acclimations, possibly Chauncey Billups.
01:34He is expected to join Lue Staff as an assistant. He was a candidate for the Pacers job, though.
01:40So how does this affect Indiana's search with him potentially off the market?
01:45Well, at least for the Clippers, in Chauncey Billups, you have another strong voice in that locker room, and that's a team
01:51that is a challenging locker room at the very least. And having Billups there is a real presence and I think a boost for that team.
01:59As far as the Pacers go, I think Billups was a long shot for that job.
02:04If he thought he had an opportunity there, I think he would have waited it out. I think the Pacers,
02:08I think their top option is most likely Mike D'Antoni still. I mean, Mike D'Antoni is
02:15arguably the most accomplished coach still on the market.
02:19His style of play would probably make some sense with guys like Victor Oladipo on that team, Miles Turner on that team.
02:26The question I think is going to be, will Indiana pay the freight? Mike D'Antoni
02:31is no longer with Houston, in part because he couldn't agree to a contract extension before this season.
02:36I don't think he's going to take a significant discount with Indiana. And the Pacers
02:41historically have not really been a team that likes to spend a ton of money on their head coach.
02:47So I think Mike D'Antoni is a strong candidate for that job. I'm just not sure if they'll be able to bring him in.
02:54All right. Well, still some question marks around the Pacers, but Ty Lue is the head coach for Los Angeles.
02:59Thank you so much for joining me, Chris. Appreciate it.