If you thought Mark Cuban was the only one in his feelings about DeAndre Jordan this summer, think again.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers says the temporary loss of the big man to the Mavericks was a wakeup call for both he and his team.
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"Losing him would've always gnawed at me," Rivers told Yahoo Sports. "But it wouldn't have stopped me. I would've said, 'F--- that, we're going to figure out a way to get this right.' But it also triggered something else for me. It might have been my front-office wake-up call. I was not a pleasant guy to me, or my staff, after I thought we lost him — and even after we got him back. We had a lot of 'come-to-Jesus' meetings.
Jordan initially agreed to sign with Dallas as a free agent, but had a change of heart prior to making it official and ultimately came back to Los Angeles.
Part of the reason Jordan felt like moving on a was a reported rift between he and All-Star point guard Chris Paul.
"I value myself as a communicator and a team builder, and I'm sitting there thinking that I didn't see this [problem] — not to the degree that it was, anyway — and it pissed me off," Rivers said.
Rivers said it is also up to the players to talk amongst themselves and work out differences, something that doesn't always happen in the age of social media.
"They've got to communicate with each other, and they've got to learn how to communicate with each other. 'No' is a positive word. No one wants to say no anymore, and no one wants to be unpopular anymore," Rivers said. "I'd rather for my guy that he be unpopular and a leader, than popular and full of s---."