Former Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro calls out Doc Rivers

Former Los Angeles Clippers bench boss Vinny Del Negro sees right through Doc Rivers' spat with the Golden State Warriors.

For much of the past week, the talk around Rivers and the Clippers has centered on his pointed "luck" comments regarding the Warriors' title run. Several members of the reigning champions - including Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Bogut - have fired back at Rivers.

Del Negro was happy to pile on to his successor. On the "Off The Dribble" podcast, he called Rivers' comment an attempt at "diversion" to take attention away from "the real problems" like why his team lost.

"At the end of the day, they haven't done any better, they haven't won any more games, they haven't gotten out of the second round, so it's hard to blame me right now," Del Negro said.

It's clear from his comments that there's some lingering bad blood over the way his tenure with the Clippers ended. The club chose not to renew Del Negro's contract after he led the team to a 56-win season and a second-round exit. Instead, the Clippers hired Rivers to take over as head coach and president of basketball operations.

At the time, Rivers was held in much higher esteem than Del Negro, who often drew criticism for his banal playbook. With Rivers leading the team, it was believed the Clippers would take another step forward toward championship contention.

However, as Del Negro pointed out, Rivers has yet to lead the team past the point at which he left it after the 2012-13 season. If anything, Rivers and the Clippers squandered their best shot by blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals.

"Last year was their golden ticket," Del Negro said. "You had Houston down with injuries, you had Golden State and them, they've played decent against Golden State, and then if you get to the Finals, you have a team that has two of their best three players out."

Fortunately for Rivers, the Clippers remain well-positioned to make another run. The superstar core of Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan, and Blake Griffin remains intact, and Rivers orchestrated a number of notable additions in the offseason.

That leaves Rivers with no excuses in Del Negro's mind.

"So, look in the mirror and get it done. They have enough talent, they've got two of the top-10 players, they have the wealthiest owner, the salary cap is irrelevant - you can pay the tax - everything is in your favor."

"Get it done," Del Negro added.