Former Boston Celtics assistant coach and now Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue credits Boston coach Brad Stevens and several other Celtics alumni for helping him refine his game after losing his first head coaching gig with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Speaking with the Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn, Lue revealed he’d spoken with former Celtics coach Doc Rivers and ex-Boston wing Rick Carlisle among others after being let go after a 0-6 start to the 2018-19 NBA season.
Lue, who had an 11-season career as a journeyman guard in the league he now coaches, could have thrown in the towel on the dream of head coaching, but in true journeyman fashion forged ahead instead.
Report: Boston Celtics alumnus Ty Lue to be next head coach of Clippers https://t.co/DEgaGAuOoV
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 15, 2020
Confident he could find ways to improve himself enough to get back in the mix, Lue leveraged his ties forged through his time with Boston and beyond.
“After Cleveland, after those first six games of the season and I was done,” offered Lue, “I had the whole season to just kind of reflect on what I could have done better as a coach, and what can I do and how can I keep improving; and having constant dialogue with [Celtics coach] Brad Stevens, talking to [Dallas Mavericks coach] Rick Carlisle, talking to [Golden State Warriors coach] Steve Kerr, talking with Doc [Rivers] and just picking their brains on different things and different situations to get better.”
How is he putting his own brand of coaching inflected by these coaching greats to work with his new squad, the Clippers?
Ex-Celtic Chauncey Billups to join Ty Lue in L.A. as assistant coach https://t.co/r1neUXyJnF
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 16, 2020
With the sort of view you might easily hear from the lips of Rivers or Stevens.
“Everyone has to be on the same page, everyone has to be together, and it has to be a family,” Lue explained. “When you start there, I think it’s easy to build a championship team because everyone is invested, everyone is a part of it, everyone is happy to be here, and that’s what I like.”
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