Chris Paul upset he’s being blamed for Clippers firing Vinny Del Negro

Can you imagine things rolling out smoothly in Clipper nation? Things were looking pretty good for the Clippers future even though they had a first round flame out in the playoffs. Chris Paul seemed happy and it was almost a foregone conclusion that he would return. Head coach Vinny Del Negro was fired and in an interview with owner Donald Sterling, it was implied that the move was made in order to entice Paul to return to the Clippers.

Sterling told the Times that Del Negro “is a wonderful man” and that he’s “sad about the whole thing.”

Sterling was asked by the Times if Del Negro was fired “just to hang on to Chris Paul.”

Sterling said: “I always want to be honest and not say anything that is not true. So I’d rather not say anything. But you know, the coach did a really good job. I think he did. And I liked working with him. There are just factors that make life very complicated and very challenging.”

The Times then asked Sterling if it was “off base” to say the “players are now calling the shots.”

“No, you’re not off base,” Sterling said. “This is a players’ league, and, unfortunately, if you want to win, you have to make the players happy.”

Vinny Del Negro was also interviewed on “The Dan Patrick Show” this week and basically said the same. Chris Paul is reportedly HEATED because he purposely stressed that he didn’t want to be a factor in the Clippers coaching decision and now he’s being blamed. Is this enough for Chris Paul to look elsewhere for his future? I guess we’ll just have to wait it out. If you believe rumors, Del Negro’s firing had more to do with tension between he and the front office where they feel he was over stepping his boundaries.

I’d say it’s a combination of the two. Vinny’s voice had obviously stopped working in the locker room and if he was making calls without the “front office’s knowledge, you can see where that would piss some people off.