When Ty Lue became the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach in 2016, there was a lot of pressure to win right away. At the time, Lue took over for David Blatt, who led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals the year before.
Ultimately, with the help of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, Lue was able to lead Cleveland to their first championship in team history.
Now, Lue, who was officially named head coach of the Clippers on Tuesday, is in a similar position with Los Angeles. After the Clippers lost to Denver in the Western Conference semifinals, Los Angeles fired their head coach Doc Rivers, and now they are counting on Lue to get the job done.
With Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the pressure is on the Clippers to win now. Lue is no stranger to pressure, and it’s something he enjoys.
“I’m big on pressure because if you don’t have pressure that means you don’t have a chance to win a championship, so when you talk about pressure, that means you’re in a situation to win,” Lue said on Wednesday at his virtual introductory press conference. “That’s what I want to do.
“I want to be one of the greatest coaches. I want to be great, so in order to be great, you have to win. To me, when you start talking about pressure, all that it means. To me, that means you’re in a position to win a championship, and you want to take on those pressures. You want to be better; you want to be great, so in order to be great, you have to get over those hurdles.
“I’m excited about it. I don’t look at it as pressure. I look at it moreso as a chance to win another championship and take this team to a higher level.”
The Clippers were built to win last season, and what happened in Orlando was inexcusable. To lose to the Nuggets after being up 3-1 is unacceptable. However, sometimes, it takes a team time to gel, especially when you consider some of the time missed by Leonard and George. Lue wants to be regarded as a great coach, and with this roster, he will have the opportunity to do just that.
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