Clippers’ Austin Rivers sees benefits of working with Sam Cassell

Austin Rivers might have preferred that training camp was optional for one member of the Clippers coaching staff.

Here’s a hint: He’s bald, on the yappy side and once played for the Clippers. And no, it’s not Doc Rivers.

“I’m sick and tired of seeing Cassell, man,” Austin Rivers said Tuesday.

Rivers was joking, of course. Sam Cassell was essentially Rivers’ personal coach over the summer during workouts in Orlando, Fla., helping the Clippers backup guard improve his midrange jump shot.

They worked on footwork and stepping into shots at game speed by doing the same drill over and over.

“Just reps, reps, reps, reps, pushing me,” Rivers said. “I have to make this amount before I get to the next drill.”

There were times when it felt as if Rivers might be stuck in the same spot all day. Rivers said he struggled with his shooting until late in the summer, snapping his fingers to indicate how things suddenly clicked.

That would trigger encouragement from Cassell, a master of the midrange jumper during his 16-year NBA career.

“He’s like, ‘Man, Austin, yeah,’ ” Rivers said.

The work on the midrange game was warranted considering Rivers displayed better accuracy from three-point range (31.3%) last season than he did on shots from 10 to 16 feet (27.9%).

“I can shoot the three,” Rivers said. “When I shoot that midrange, I just never felt, I guess, confident. Sam just got me feeling comfortable with it.”

Rivers also spent a week in Winston-Salem, N.C., working out with starting point guard Chris Paul and over the summer added 10 pounds of muscle, which he said has helped his quickness on defense.

There’s also been a carry-over in confidence from several breakthrough performances in the playoffs last season. Just like with his new jumper.

“Once you know what you can do and it clicks, that’s it,” Rivers said. “There’s no turning back for me.”

More foul play?

The Clippers could be forced to spend even more time at the free-throw line this season now that they have at least one more poor free-throw shooter besides DeAndre Jordan. Forward-center Josh Smith is a 63.3% free-throw shooter and forward Chuck Hayes, should he make the team, has been a 61.8% shooter over his career.

“Maybe we just need to get them all on our team,” Doc Rivers said jokingly of the league’s notoriously bad free-throw shooters.

Rivers, a member of the NBA’s competition committee, said there was little discussion this summer about changing the rules that allow teams to intentionally foul before the game’s final two minutes.

“It’s tough to change the rule for five or six guys,” Rivers said. “We have two of them.”

Etc.

Doc Rivers said the starting small forward spot could vacillate between Paul Pierce and Wesley Johnson depending on matchups and the need to rest Pierce, who will turn 38 next month. That means Johnson could start in many of the Clippers’ 20 back-to-back situations. The Clippers have also liked the way Pierce has fit into a small-ball second unit. … Paul said he probably had not participated in a more intense or efficient training camp, which concluded Tuesday after four days. The Clippers have Wednesday off before practicing Thursday and opening their exhibition schedule Friday night at Staples Center against the Denver Nuggets.