Vinny Del Negro says he’s not looking at Clippers’ past, but at future

That rumble shaking Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon had nothing to do with the NBA’s salary cap unexpectedly rising or the Clippers hiring a head coach.

Or did it?

Perhaps the latter — the earthquake serving as a metaphor for the often-tumultuous Clippers franchise, one last shake and rattle before a (hopeful) period of stability.

“I don’t look in the rear-view mirror,” said newly minted Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro, who signed a three-year deal on Wednesday. “I look forward. I look through the front windshield…. I think the organization is moving in a different direction right now.”

A symbol of such optimism also was on hand at the official announcement at Staples Center for Del Negro’s appointment.

Clippers power forward Blake Griffin, the NBA’s No. 1 draft pick last year, talked about what Del Negro was able to do in two seasons coaching Chicago, twice guiding the Bulls to the playoffs.

“I was telling someone last night even Coach [Mike] Brown with the Cavs got fired and he had two of the best records in the NBA,” Griffin said.

Del Negro is still owed about $2.2 million from the Bulls for the remaining year on his contract, but he never really hesitated about wanting to get back in the game after getting fired in May. The Clippers were the only team he seriously considered.

“If the opportunity is right, you go and do it,” he said. “I just felt like this was an opportunity, and we’re here today.”

The power of personality helped Del Negro close what was once a considerable gap in the Clippers’ coaching race with finalist Dwane Casey. The shift came after the first series of in-person interviews.

“The thing that was really most impressive about Vinny — it wasn’t the ‘what,’ it was the ‘how,’” said Clippers General Manager Neil Olshey. “Anybody can sit there and tell you what is wrong with our team…. But he had solutions. And he was able to point to specific examples where he was able to overcome those challenges in Chicago and turn them into a viable playoff team that was absolutely tracking up when he left.”

The Clippers did ask Del Negro about his well-publicized altercation late last season with his boss in Chicago, and Olshey noted that it did not affect the Bulls’ on-court product.

Said Del Negro of the dispute with John Paxson: “John came out publicly and apologized so that kind of answers all that…. The organization is in a much better position now than it was a couple of years ago.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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