The Los Angeles Clippers held an open practice Tuesday, and the fans came out in large numbers to support the rebranded Clippers team. With the new nucleus that is apart of this team now, it is only true fans come out to the open practice and see for themselves the new wave that is approaching. The Clippers Doc Rivers appreciates the love from fans all over the world. He understands the type of crowd their team attracts.
Rivers says, “People who love basketball love the Clippers. I’ve always said jokingly; we got the blacktop crowd. The crowd of guys who are usually playing outside. Not inside at the rec center. They have a blue-collar crowd. I think Clippers fans come from everywhere. They just come from all over the place. You can’t grow up on the east coach and be a Laker fan. Those people move here and become Clippers fans.”
Patrick Beverley loves Clippers fans, as well. He appreciates that fans that were here even before the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era. Beverley says “Clippers fans are people who get a thrill out of waking up every morning, putting a boot on, going out there every day to grind, not stepping over nobody to get it, not taking the easy way out, watching their fruits come to labor, watching their success blossom. Those are Clipper fans.”
With that said, they are gearing up for a season where everyone is holding them to a high standard. When asked about the bar they are setting for themselves this year, Rivers says, “The hope is the highest. I don’t think we’re in this business to have a low bar.”
With the additions of superstars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, many are curious to know if Rivers will change any of his sets this season, or what the chemistry will be moving forward Rivers said, “Obviously, I’ll run different stuff because we have different players. We always do that. You do that yearly anyway, other than that no. Preach winning, preach playing together as a team, so not a lot of changes.” Rivers went on to say, “As far as chemistry, you never know until the season starts. It looks great right now. But we have no obstacles in our way yet.”
