There are quite a few people out there who feel like Los Angeles Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro, is the biggest impediment to the team shedding their status as pretenders and emerging into true contenders.
The Clippers currently sit in the fourth spot in the Western Conference standings, but there seems to be an aura of uncertainty and doubt that surrounds them, and performances like which they put on last night against the Houston Rockets, will do nothing to make it disperse.
Following the blowout loss to the Rockets sans James Harden, Del Negro went on a long-winded diatribe against his team according to a story via Pro Basketball Talk.
For 3 minutes, 25 seconds, Del Negro verbally destroyed his team for its performance, citing lack of effort, toughness, execution and concentration for the unexpected loss.
“They played harder than we did,” Del Negro said. “We were terrible. Our effort was terrible. Our attitude was terrible. Our urgency was terrible. I’m very disappointed. I didn’t see the fight in us tonight. We need guys to step up.
“We were soft. We were sloppy. Our urgency was poor. Our defense was poor. Our transition defense was poor. Our post defense was poor. Our pick-and-roll defense was poor. I could go on and on.”
Del Negro definitely sees the writing on the wall. His future with the Clippers will probably be determined by how far they go in the playoffs and performances like the one last night can’t be tolerated by him or anyone in that locker room.