Doc Rivers Reveals His Recruiting Pitch To Kawhi Leonard

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers recently revealed that his recruiting pitch to Kawhi Leonard was straight and to the point: winning and basketball.

According to Andrew Greif of the Los Angeles Times, Rivers explained that his experiences with the Orlando Magic nearly 20 years ago, in which he helped Orlando secure Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady, aided him in the Kawhi, Paul George pursuit.

Per Andrew Greif:

“I can draw upon Orlando,” Rivers said, “because we had so much success doing it.”
“All the other stuff that people think matters in the recruitment, I don’t think Kawhi wanted to talk about that, so I didn’t. I talked about winning and basketball. Kawhi is a serious man, and I think you felt that with him. I think he felt the seriousness of me and how serious I am about winning, and he felt good about that match.”
“I guess the difference this time is I knew the league more. I knew me more. I had a body of work. The time with Tim and Grant and Tracy, I’d coached one year. I really didn’t have a body of work, so I think my body of work played in my favor this time.”

The new-look Clippers will reportedly kickoff the 2019-20 NBA season “at home” against LeBron James, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and the Los Angeles Lakers. The two Staples Center tenants will also do battle on Christmas Day.