Paul George Blames Doc Rivers For His Own Struggles

Clippers star Paul George stopped by the All The Smoke podcast with hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson earlier today. They asked him about his struggles during the playoffs, and George blamed them on Doc Rivers. Yes, really.

Paul George on his struggles in Doc Rivers’ system:

“Doc was trying to play me as a Ray Allen or a JJ Redick, all pin-downs. I can do it, but that ain’t my game. I need some flow, I need some mixes of some pick-and-roll, and post ups…That last season was hard.”@SHOsports pic.twitter.com/ECcN1NaEvd

— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) December 2, 2020

“The way I was being used it was like Doc was playing me as a Ray Allen or a J.J. Reddick,” George said. “I need some flow, I need some pick-and-rolls, some post-ups. That last season was hard overall.”

It’s time for PG13 to admit he was god awful and that he’s the reason the Clippers choked.

Paul George has zero self-awareness. That’s all this boils down to. George had a solid regular season, then after he gave himself the nickname “Playoff P,” he stunk up the joint. No one thought of Paul George as a playoffs extraordinaire, they never did. As Kawhi Leonard’s sidekick, George was seen as a great two-way player with the skill set to help Kawhi win a title. By no means has PG13 ever risen to new heights in the playoffs, so he should just own up to the fact that he can’t seem to make a shot when it counts. Their 2020 postseason losses were his fault. Doc Rivers, Kawhi, the Clippers bench, and the assistant coaches couldn’t save him.

Pandemic P shot 39% from the field in the playoffs. That’s not from three. That includes dunks and layups. He was hitting threes at a 33% clip, which Doc Rivers still had to plan for. Rivers isn’t going to stop running plays to get George open shots when he can’t make them.

Don’t forget he’s paid

Paul George is paid to capitalize on the opportunities he’s given. He made $35.5 million in 2020, so why would Doc Rivers shy away from getting his second-best player open shots? George may not like the type of looks he’s getting, but he needs get over it. The Clippers didn’t mortgage their entire future to land him only to hear him complain that he doesn’t like his shots.

If Paul George is listening, I’ll offer him some advice: Make open shots and play the type of defense you played all year. If you were making open jumpers the same way you did in your nine-year career, the Clippers would have made it to the Conference Finals to face off with LeBron James and the Lakers.

The Clippers didn’t get what they wanted because Paul George didn’t play like the max player they pay him to be. PG should just admit he has been the problem and start preparing to be better in 2020-21.