Apr 30, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro sits with his coaching staff on the bench at the end of game five of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Staples Center. Grizzlies won 103-93. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

For all the talk of a new coach to replace Vinny Del Negro from Los Angeles Clippers fans, you’d have a hard time convincing the novice or casual fan the team is coming off two of their best seasons ever. But if Manchester City can fire their manager less than year after the team won its first Premier League championship in 44 years and Chelsea can fire its manager less than a year after winning the UEFA Champions League, then anything is possible when it comes to the “what have you done for me lately” sports fan.

Here is the bad news Clippers fans. In the NBA, the coach matters very little. Why do you think guys like Rick Adelman, George Karl, Rick Carlisle, Byron Scott, get get fired from a team and are almost immediately snatched up by another? Why do you think the Cleveland Cavaliers hire a coach they just fired a few year ago in Mike Brown? Here’s why: It doesn’t make that much difference.

Didn’t Eric Spoelstra start out with the Miami Heat as the guy who did the laundry? Do you know what matters in the NBA? The players. In college basketball it is all about the coach. That is because the coach is also responsible for bringing in the players. He is in essence the coach, GM and team president. Oh sure, he has an Athletic Director to answer to. But in most colleges, that guy is focused on the football team. As long as the hoops coach doesn’t land the program in hot water with the NCAA, he’s pretty much left alone. Plus the stars on his team are only going to be there for one year anyway.

In the NBA, it’s all about the players. You can build a great team through free agency in basketball. In baseball, for example, it is a bit tougher to build a winner by buying one. Look at the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers as examples. So the manager in baseball can make a difference. In baseball, the best players only hit once every nine at-bats and the best pitchers only pitch one out of every give games. In football, your best players play in only half the plays.

In the NBA, your best players can have the ball in their hands as much as they want, shoot as often as they want, and they get to play defense. All the coach has to do basically, is get out of the way. Do you think Phil Jackson‘s 11 NBA World Championships had anything to do with the fact he coached Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant? Duh. A trained monkey could have won with those teams.

You want a better coach? Get him a center that can score, teach Blake Griffin a mid-range game and how to hit free throws, and for heaven’s sake don’t let Chris Paul get away.

Del Negro won’t have to worry. Somebody else will hire him. Just like the Clippers will end up with Stan van Gundy, or Byron Scott, or Doug Collins, or some other coach another fan base deemed a failure. And if you get that coach the right players, guess what? He’s a genius.

The Clippers had 47 rebounds in the contest compared to 24 by the Grizzlies. It wasn’t one guy with 20 or another guy with 12; no Clipper player had double figure rebounds in the box score. It was a collective effort as shown below with leading rebounders from the Clippers win over the Grizzlies 112-91.

Leading Clipper Rebounders:
DeAndre Jordan: 8
Caron Butler: 7
Lamar Odom: 7
Eric Bledsoe: 6

Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe had the same amount of rebounds the as Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combined. Randolph averaged 11.3rpg…Gasol averaged 7.rpg respectively. I’d be surprised to see the same statistic tonight as the Grizzlies face the Clippers in the 2nd game of the 1st Round of the NBA Playoffs.

Clipper Highlight of The Night:

THEY SAID IT:
On the approach to Game 2 after winning the series opener: Lamar Odom: “Our discipline is important, especially at this time of year. It’s easy to let your guard down, especially after a little bit of success. I think mentally right now we’re prepared and we’re up for the challenge. I’m pretty sure they are as well.”

On what the team emphasized improving from Game 1 to 2: Eric Bledsoe: “We can give more defensive effort, run our offense better. There are a lot of areas we can get better, you know, giving 110 [percent effort] on hustle plays. It’s everything.” “We’ve beat them four out of five games, so they’re definitely going to want to come in here tonight and prove a point. We’ve just got to match that intensity.”

On what he expects from the Grizzlies in Game 2: Jamal Crawford: “This is an important game. This game here can kind of shift the series, either 2-0 or 1-1. We understand they’re a desperate team, but we have to play as a desperate team as well.”

VIA Eric Patten NBA.COM