Former NBA champion Paul Pierce believes one of the main reasons behind a disappointing playoff run for the Los Angeles Clippers was lack of on-court leadership.
One player who could help fix that is Rajon Rondo, says Pierce. The 34-year-old veteran is fresh off winning his second championship with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Pierce concurred that Lou Williams was an emotional leader for the Clippers, but the incident with Damian Lillard’s missed free-throw cost him some of the respect he had.
“I think he [Lou Williams] is an emotional leader. I think he is one of the leaders. But you it’s a guy you totally respect. He shows some immaturity over there when doing all the laughing and joking when Dame Lillard missed the free-throw,” Pierce said on ESPN’s The Jump.
“So he might lost some respect for that after Portland got bumped. It’s like you lose kind of respect for a guy who does that laughing and giggling and not taking the job serious on the sidelines as well as you do on the court.
“Now a guy that comes to mind is Rajon Rondo. He’ll be a free agent. I think the Clippers really need to look into a guy like that. He could be a guy that could be a locker room presence. A two-time champion and somebody everybody is going to respect in there.”
