The Philadelphia 76ers and Doc Rivers exchanged pleasantries on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday night, the Philadelphia 76ers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer linked up with Doc Rivers with regards to being the new head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. This meeting only improves the chances of Doc taking over the coaching role of the Sixers organization.
With the availability of Doc, the main two candidates for this job narrow down him and Mike D’Antoni. Both coaches are coming off second round exits in the playoffs. Both coaches come with their own benefits and downsides, and they are both very respected and high-profile coaches.
Ty Lue and Mike D’Antoni have already had their meetings with the front office, so Doc’s meeting was all that remained before a final decision is presumably announced. A source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that this announcement could come as early as this week. As for Wednesday’s meeting, however, Rivers and the Sixers’ brass reportedly sat together and watched Game 1 of the NBA finals, according to Jason Dumas of KRON4 News.
Whoever gets the job from here, let’s all hope they can get the very best out of both Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, without trading either one in the best case scenario — especially Ben Simmons. The full effect of a team without Ben Simmons can be perfectly seen from the recent series against Boston, where both of Boston’s guards torched the Sixers in all four games of a short series.
On a positive note, regardless of who gets hired, both Rivers and D’Antoni have a very respectful resume. Both have recived at least one Coach of the Year nomination. Having said that, both coaches also come with a fair share of negatives, with Doc Rivers known for blowing leads in the postseason as well as not being able optimize a roster which wasn’t built to his standards.
With Mike D’Antoni, there could be the possiblity of major trades being made, as he helped facilitate last season with Houston, whereby the Rockets traded for Russell Westbrook and sent away Clint Capela. Although this was a brave move, it failed to bring a huge load of success for the team.