The Los Angeles Clippers missed the playoffs for the first time under Doc Rivers last season and have had an interesting summer as a result.

The franchise is clearly looking to rebuild but they haven't gone all in on it based on the moves they've made.

With their two lottery picks, they drafted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson and followed that up by trading Austin Rivers to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Marcin Gortat.

They also lost DeAndre Jordan in free agency to the Dallas Mavericks but signed Avery Bradley, Mike Scott and Luc Mbah a Moute.

Before the 2017-18 season, Doc was stripped of his title as president of basketball operations and remained as just the head coach.

Less power

The move to trade his son was the first sign that he no longer makes the decisions on personnel changes.

But according to Rivers, even though he no longer holds the dual role, things are still the same and he has a say in all the decision-making.

"I'm still doing basically the same stuff," Rivers said, per the Boston Herald. "It's interesting. I don't think my role has changed since I've been there.

"When I first came, I was just the coach, but I was involved in every decision. Then I was the president, and I was involved in every decision.

"Now I'm the coach and whatever other title I have - I have another title, but I don't even know what that is - but I'm still involved in every decision, so it really hasn't changed much.

"My workload has changed some though. It's less now, and that's good. Before this last title change, I was hiring different people so I didn't have to do everything, and that was the intent."

The 56-year-old did joke, however, that if Austin becomes a huge success with the Wizards, he'll place the blame with the front office for offloading him.

"If Austin goes to Washington and scores 50, I'm blaming everybody else," Doc said with a laugh.

In truth, it's difficult to know just how much say he has on the team's plans, especially with Hall of Famer Jerry West now working closely with owner Steve Ballmer.

He may claim he has the same input as always but it's hard to believe that since he's no longer part of the front office.

Nonetheless, it'll be interesting to see just how competitive the Clippers will be next year in what is definitely the start if a new era for them.

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