The Philadelphia 76ers and Doc Rivers have come to an agreement for him to become the franchise’s next head coach.
What we know:
- According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Rivers and Sixers management agreed to a five-year deal. Sixers general manager Elton Brand reached out to Rivers and his representation on Monday. Both sides met in Philadelphia on Wednesday to discuss the opening and watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
- This is one of the fastest fired-to-hired turnarounds that an NBA coach has experienced. Rivers parted ways with his head coaching job for the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday, and he got his new offer on Thursday.
- The Sixers fired former coach Brett Brown in August. The frontrunners for this position were Clippers assistant coach Tyronne Lue and former Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni. It looked like the Sixers had settled on D’Antoni, but Rivers became available and rapidly became the organization’s top choice.
- Philadelphia is coming off of a disappointing season where they finished 6th in the Eastern Conference and were swept by the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. The Sixers’ weaknesses were exposed this year, but this team could still be interesting with Rivers as a coach.
- Sixers forward Tobias Harris had a rough go during this year’s playoffs, but he will now get the chance to reunite with his old coach in Doc Rivers. Rivers coached Harris in 2018 with the Clippers and maximized his play. Before being traded to the Sixers, Harris played the best basketball of his career in Los Angeles, averaging 21 points per game.
- The main pieces on Philadelphia’s roster are their All-Star duo in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. The pair was once seen as a young core, but the perception has shifted to them being underachievers and that they can’t play together. It will be interesting to see how they fit into Rivers’ system. For Simmons, Rivers has had success in the past with a non-shooter playing point guard in Rajon Rondo. In Embiid’s case, Rivers has coached one of the greatest bigs of all time in Kevin Garnett, and there are similarities in their games. It just so happens that Rivers coached Rondo and Garnett on the championship-winning 2008 Boston Celtics team. We’ll have to see if Rivers can maximize this roster and replicate that success.
According to ESPN, the Sixers are hoping to add Alvin Gentry to Rivers’ staff as an assistant. Gentry was let go as head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans this year, but he won a championship in 2015 as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors.
