LA Clippers

Austin Rivers on Clippers hate: 'People feel like our team complains a lot'

Published Jan. 20, 2016 11:39 p.m. ET

Jovan Buha

It is well known that the Los Angeles Clippers are disliked throughout the league.

From complaining to referees, to flopping, to Lob City, there a slew of reasons why people don't like them. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Doc Rivers just seem to rub a lot of people the wrong way. Heck, Bleacher Report surveyed the league and wrote about the amount of disdain for the Clippers around the NBA just last month.

The most interesting part of the story is whether the Clippers understand why they're so disliked, and if they even care. Paul didn't seem to. Neither did Rivers.

But the youngest Rivers seems to care. Austin Rivers -- another irritating personality on the team's roster -- recently partook in an interview on the Jim Rome Show, where he was asked why his team upsets so many people.

At first, Rivers acted as if he didn't know why, but that the criticism has only gotten worse since he arrived on the team last season:

“I wish I knew the answer. I just got here about a year ago. It’s one of those things where, when I got here it was bad, but it’s gotten worse,” Rivers said. “It’s just like people don’t like our team. They just don’t like the Clippers, but at the same time, we have a lot of people who really do like us.”

Then, after a little more prodding, the 23-year-old reserve guard opened up about why he truly feels opposing teams, players and fans dislike him and his teammates:

“For one, if I had to choose a reason, a lot of times people feel like our team complains a lot, you know what I mean? So I think that’s where it started, where I think we’ve gotten a lot better at that, but a couple years ago, I think that’s where it started,” Rivers said. “I think the second and most important reason is I think when Chris [Paul] came here, and we had DJ [Deandre Jordan] and Blake [Griffin] and all these guys, everybody kind of jumped on that wagon, you know what I mean, as far as we were going to win that year and they don’t understand it takes time.

“So when we didn’t win, but we got a lot of hoopla or hype and ‘Lob City’ and all this stuff and we didn’t win and when people would dunk, we’d be jumping around everywhere and going crazy, but we didn’t win a championship. That rubs people the wrong way. It’s kind of like the Warriors were doing what they were doing, like all the stuff they did, but didn’t win. People would be like come on man, you got to win. I think that’s why people get irritated with us, because they’re like, you got to win first, but our defense is like, we just love playing the game and we’re excited when somebody does something special and we’re not doing anything anybody else is doing. It’s just we got a lot of hoopla, and that’s where I think a lot of the hatred comes from.”

The level of self-awareness Rivers displays here hasn't always translated on the court, but it's encouraging to see. He's right. Most people who "hate" the Clippers do because the team is so hostile toward referees and often acts as if any call that goes against them couldn't possibly be correct.

What's more, Rivers has another strong point. Nothing will turn away fans quicker than a team prematurely celebrating and carrying themselves as champions before they've won anything. The LeBron James-era Miami Heat were the most notable team to do that, but they quickly won back-to-back championships in their second and third years together, effectively quieting most of the haters.

The Clippers, of course, have not done that. This is already Year 5 of the Chris Paul era, and while three Western Conference semifinals appearances is nothing to scoff at -- as well as the fact that the Clippers have progressively won more games in the second round each season, for what it's worth -- it's not a championship, or even a Finals or Western Conference Finals berth.

Rivers mentioning the Golden State Warriors is also interesting, as the Warriors were brash and confident before they won the championship last season, yet caught nowhere near the same amount of flak as the Clippers.

Perhaps that's simply because of Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr, who are as beloved as anybody in the NBA. Or maybe it's because there was less hype around the Dubs -- even last season, no one really had them as a legit title contender, let alone winning it all. The Clips, meanwhile, were a popular pick.

Whatever the reason, the Warriors can now act as cocky as they want -- they're the reigning champs, and unless the San Antonio Spurs can stop them, they're probably going back to back. The Clippers don't have that luxury yet.

Until they rein in their on-court attitude or start advancing deeper in the postseason -- neither of which seems likely this season -- the Clippers will continue to be the most polarizing team in basketball.

(h/t Uproxx)

Jovan Buha covers the NBA for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jovanbuha.