Chris Paul is reportedly upset about the perception that he engineered the ouster of coach Vinny Del Negro, but the former Clippers coach and the team agree that CP3 wasn't involved. We've got more details on that, as well as the latest on a search for Del Negro's replacement:
- Clippers vice president of basketball operations Gary Sacks tells Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com that the dismissal of Del Negro was "an organizational decision from the top down." Sacks confirmed to Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times that he, Sterling, team president Andy Roeser, and director of basketball operations Eric Miller all agreed that Del Negro should go.
- Del Negro echoed those comments, telling Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld that Clippers owner Donald Sterling was the one who made the final decision to part ways with him. Del Negro will probably take next season off, but remains open to coaching again.
- Sacks tried to make it clear that he doesn't believe players should have power when it comes to major decisions for the team. "I don't think players should be consulted on any decisions personnel-wise once we decide on something," Sacks said to Turner. "Do we, in the course of talking to our players, get some input? Sure. But all decisions are made strictly by us — 100%. There's no wavering. There's no gray area there."
- If Paul had gone to the team's brass to lobby for Del Negro to keep his job, management would have tried to change his mind on the issue, a source tells Dan Woike of the Orange County Register, furthering the point that the decision wasn't in CP3's hands (Twitter links).
- Turner adds Byron Scott to the list of coaching candidates with whom the team has had preliminary discussions, one that already included Brian Shaw, Jeff Van Gundy and Alvin Gentry.