Doc Rivers can take a pass just as well as he used to make them as a point guard.
The Clippers' coach revealed that he was offered the chance to speak directly in recent days with disgraced team owner Donald Sterling, but Rivers admitted he "took a pass" while trying to keep his team focused on Tuesday's Game 5 in Los Angeles.
"I don't think right now is the time or the place. So I just took a pass," Rivers said on a conference call on Monday. "I haven't given him the opportunity to explain himself and quite honestly, right now, I don't want him to."
While NBA commissioner Adam Silver is slated to make an announcement Tuesday in New York regarding the investigation of Sterling's alleged bigoted comments, Rivers remains noticeably upset about the racially charged firestorm surrounding his boss.
Rivers, who signed a three-year $21 million contract with Los Angeles last summer, acknowledged that he'll "wait and see" before deciding whether to return to the Clippers next season.
"I don't want to answer that question. I don't know. This just happened," Rivers said, estimating that he slept only 45 minutes the night before the Clips' Game 4 loss Sunday to the Warriors in Oakland. "We all have that feeling of what do you do, what is the right thing you do to the point of whether you play or not."
Clippers players wore their warm-up jerseys inside-out Sunday to hide the team's name and also wore matching black socks and alternate jerseys — which read Los Angeles, rather than Clippers, across the chest, as they did in Game 3. Warriors coach Mark Jackson chimed in on the scandal Monday, saying “If it was me, I wouldn’t come to the game. I believe as fans, the loudest statement they could make as far as fans, is to not show up to the game.” The series, tied 2-2, shifts from Oakland to Los Angeles Tuesday night.
"I can't tell you how upset I am, our players are," Rivers said. "The longer we win, the longer we keep talking about this and that's good. That's where I'm at, and I haven't changed from it.
"We've all decided that (playing) is the right course, but it doesn't mean we haven't wrestled with it."
When asked what punishment he believes Sterling should receive in terms of a suspension, Rivers replied: "This is a very important decision (for Silver). I think it's a very strong message and I believe it will be...I don't know what the right way is. I have an idea."
According to multiple reports, Lakers legend and current Dodgers co-owner Magic Johnson and his backers, the Guggenheim Partners, are interested in buying the Clippers after Sterling was exposed over the weekend allegedly making racist remarks in recorded conversations with a former mistress.
"Magic's absolutely interested," one source close to Johnson told Yahoo! Sports.
Either way, Johnson said Sunday on ABC's pregame studio show that Silver must "come down hard" on Sterling.
"He shouldn't own a team anymore," Johnson said. "And he should stand up and say 'I don't want to own a team anymore,' especially when you have African-Americans renting his apartments, coming to his games, playing for him and coaching for him.
"This is bad for everybody. This is bad for America. I'm really upset about it."
Current Lakers star Kobe Bryant on Monday became the latest prominent NBA player to condemn Sterling's comments, saying on Twitter: "No. He should not continue owning the clippers. #nochance #noway #nohow."
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1jaabMD
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