Charackter Bögen » We will see what other moves

LOS ANGELES -- After weeks of negotiations and intrigue, Doc Rivers has officially left the Boston Celtics for the Los Angeles Clippers. Rivers will be introduced as the Clippers new coach and senior vice-president of basketball operations at a news conference Wednesday at their Playa Vista training complex, capping a lengthy process by completing a rare trade involving a championship-winning coach. The Clippers and Celtics finalized the move Tuesday when the NBA approved the deal. Boston will get an unprotected first-round pick in 2015 from the Clippers for Rivers, who went 416-305 and won the 2008 NBA title during nine seasons with the Celtics. Bostons front office mostly had warm words for Rivers after he took off for his exciting new team on the West Coast, apparently not eager to stick around for the aging Celtics rebuilding process. "We dont have a championship without Doc Rivers coaching," said Danny Ainge, the Celtics president of basketball operations. "He did an unbelievable job. He has a long history of great success with us in the last nine years, and we wish him the best in Los Angeles." Rivers is likely to be the NBAs highest-paid coach with the deal, and hell also have a prominent role in the Clippers front office with his additional title. Clippers owner Donald Sterling will expect impressive results for such an investment, but his long-suffering franchise has never been in better shape on the court -- providing Los Angeles re-signs Chris Paul, who is eligible for a five-year contract worth nearly $108 million in July. Paul is widely expected to stick with the Clippers, and Rivers arrival might cinch the deal. With Boston likely to spend the next few years revamping, Rivers seized the chance to take over one of the leagues most compelling young teams. He was eagerly pursued by the Clippers, who are coming off the best regular season in franchise history with a roster built around Blake Griffin and Paul. "He felt like it was time for a change," Ainge said. "He felt like we all needed a change. That was his rationalization or justification for going to the Clippers, that this was better for everybody. I dont think there should be any resentment. I know how Boston fans are. This may be a win-win for everybody." The 51-year-old Rivers replaces Vinny Del Negro, who wasnt re-signed after the Clippers won a franchise-record 56 games and their first Pacific Division title last season. Los Angeles first-round playoff loss to Memphis likely cost Del Negro, who went 128-102 over three years and became the only Clippers coach to post consecutive winning seasons in 35 years. Rivers new deal is expected to be similar to the three years and $21 million that remained on his contract with the Celtics. Boston was knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by New York last month, and Rivers gradually became more interested in the Clippers vacancy than the Celtics rebuilding process. The negotiations for Rivers proceeded deliberately and abruptly over the past two weeks, with several potential moves discussed by the franchises. Ainge would have welcomed Rivers back to the Boston bench, but Rivers apparently saw the Clippers as a golden opportunity. "Sometimes youve got to let your good people go to pursue what they need to pursue to make themselves happy," Celtics President Rich Gotham said. "While its tough to see Doc go, I think we feel good about what he did here. We will be lucky to find as good a coach as Doc was." Los Angeles also spoke to Boston about acquiring star forward Kevin Garnett in another element of the trade involving Rivers, but NBA Commissioner David Stern wont allow teams to trade active players for a coach. Garnett and Southern California native Paul Pierce wont be reuniting with Rivers in Los Angeles any time soon: Ainge said the NBA has forbidden player trades between the two teams for the rest of the year, and both aging stars are under contract for next season. Garnett has discussed the possibility of retirement with two years and over $23.5 million left on his deal, while Pierce is due to make $15.3 million next season. Rivers played one season for the Clippers in 1991-92 during his 13-year NBA career, and they made the playoffs that season for the first time since the former Buffalo Braves moved to the West Coast in 1978. Los Angeles has made only five playoff appearances and won just two rounds since that season. But the Clippers are coming off the best two-season stretch in club history, and Rivers arrival further alters the franchises decades-long reputation. Rivers will be an intriguing match with the high-flying Clippers and their Lob City acrobatics, but his coaching pedigree and leadership skills will provide him with immediate credibility in his new locker room. Rivers Boston teams played at a more deliberate pace than last seasons Clippers often used last season, but the veteran coach is likely to adapt his offensive plans to fit the Clippers talent. Rivers impact on Los Angeles could be felt most on defence, where the Clippers often struggled last season despite their lofty record. After his playing career ended in 1996, Rivers went into broadcasting before serving as the Orlando Magics head coach for just over four seasons from 1999-2003, going 171-168 and winning an NBA coach of the year award. He is one of four active NBA coaches who have won a championship. Fake Nike Jerseys . In five games last month, Billings led all scorers with 11 goals, 27 assists and 38 points as the Rock posted a 2-3 record. Fake Jerseys 2019 .Y. 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Numbers Game breaks down the signings of Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik. The Capitals Get: D Matt Niskanen and D Brooks Orpik. Niskanen, 27, picked a terrific time to have the best year of his career, scoring a career-best 10 goals and 46 points while playing a career-high 21:18 per game. He was also a career-best plus-33, which is all well and good, but he was one of six regular defencemen (minimum 62 games played) to have a combined on-ice save percentage and on-ice shooting percentage (PDO) at 5-on-5 of 103.0 or better. An on-ice shooting percentage over 10.0% is difficult for any defenceman to sustain, but Niskanens 10.32% was the third-best of his career; basically, its the kind of good fortune that shouldnt be expected, but its not out of the realm of possibility from season to season for Niskanen. Where the puck luck really stuck with Niskanen last year, was that he also had a .928 on-ice save percentage during 5-on-5 play, so getting favourable percentages at both ends of the ice during the same year contributed to that strong plus-minus. That shouldnt diminish the evaluation of Niskanen entirely, though, because he has consistently been on the right side of the puck possession ledger, and that makes him an asset to any team that acquires him. While Niskanen hasnt typically played hard minutes, and in some years has been excessively sheltered, hes likely to face more difficult matchups now that hes the highest-priced defenceman on the Capitals roster. Signed for seven years and $40.25-million, Niskanen landed the biggest free agent contract of the year. There was probably an element of paying for the good fortune that Niskanen experienced last year, and it is a gamble that Niskanen is going to be able to live up to the money involved in that contract, but if a team is going to swing for the fences on a free agent defenceman, doing so on a guy with consistently strong possession numbers is at least a reasonable foundation on which to make that investment. Which brings us to Brooks Orpik, a 33-year-old who has made his bones as a physical, hard-hitting defenceman, registering more than 200 hits in five of the past seven seasons. The unfortunate part, however, is that Orpik in position to hit so much -- particularly in recent years -- because his team doesnt have the puck as often when hes on the ice and the problem with a defensive defenceman who is already on the wrong end of the possession game is that hes certainly not likely to get better as he gets older. For example, in the 2013-2014 season, there were seven defencemen that were over 35 and scored fewer than 20 points (as Orpik has in everyy season of his career, except one).dddddddddddd Its an okay list, some useful players, but six of the seven were 35 or 36. Orpik is signed through his age 38 season and the only -- the only -- NHL defenceman that played more than 60 games without scoring more than 20 points last season was Tampa Bays Sami Salo, who has never played the kind of physical, banging style that characterizes Orpiks game, in part because Salo was always hurt anyway. This doesnt offer much encouragement that the Capitals wont have massive regrets about the Orpik signing; the only question is how soon will those regrets occur? Can he give the Capitals a couple of solid years, maybe facing lower-calibre of competition than he did in Pittsburgh? Thats probably the best hope, but its a longshot that the last two, maybe even three years, wont have the Capitals paying big money for a spare part on their blueline. Orpik is signed for five years, at a cap hit of $5.5-million per season. Big money, long term. Pittsburgh anticipated that they would lose both Niskanen and Orpik and, in addition to having an opening or two for some prospects, they also signed Christian Ehrhoff to add stability to their defence. Its entirely understandable for the Capitals to make a move to upgrade their defence. They allowed 33.5 shots per game, ranking 27th in the league, last season, so the defence needed to get better. Ultimately, the Capitals are better today after adding Niskanen and Orpik, but that should never be up for debate when committing close to $11-million annually to two players. What has to matter is how much better they are, whether the money spent is worth it and what the fall-out will be. The Capitals dont have to make any moves --- they are under the $69-million salary cap -- but they have $28,762,500 committed to their defence, according to Cap Geek. The only teams spending in that neighbourhood for their defence are Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, who have Chris Pronger and Mattias Ohlund, respectively, on long-term injured reserve. St. Louis and Chicago are spending in the $24-million-to-$25-million on their respective bluelines right now, so its hard to imagine that the Capitals maintain the status quo, leaving a hole at second line centre while sticking with the most expensive defence corps in the league. We will see what other moves the Capitals have in mind this summer but, right now, it appears that they spent a lot of money to get better in the short-term; signing deals that appear to have more downside risk because of the long terms involved. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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