Philadelphia 76ers shouldn’t let Rivers reunite with his son
The Philadelphia 76ers shouldn’t reunite Doc Rivers and Austin Rivers.
There’s no denying that Doc Rivers is a great hire for the Philadelphia 76ers. He brings a lot of positives to the table for the franchise, but he’s far from perfect. One thing that the Sixers should actively avoid is reuniting the coach with his son Austin Rivers.
In most cases, it wouldn’t be bad to have a father and son close together, but in terms of the NBA and these two men in particular, it would be in the best interest of the 76ers to keep them separated.
Doc and Austin Rivers would be bad for 76ers chemistry.
It’s not because Austin and Doc Rivers don’t get along or that the young Rivers plays poorly when coached by his father. In fact, under Doc Rivers, Austin Rivers had the best stretch of his career. With the Clippers, he averaged 11.1 points on 36.1 percent shoot from deep.
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Rivers can create his shot and shoot just well enough from deep to be in most NBA rotations, but by no means is he a difference-maker. In terms of production, he wouldn’t hurt Philly, but he isn’t a dramatic improvement from what they already have.
His skills are one thing, but the big issue he would probably cause is in the locker room. Austin Rivers in himself isn’t necessarily a locker room cancer. However, the last time he and his father were on the same team, problems did arise.
Austin Rivers has had clashes with former teammates Glen Davis and Chris Paul regarding his relationship with his father. The fact that this happened with multiple players is a big issue. The Sixers don’t need anything that might discredit Rivers’ authority in the 76ers locker room and his son appears to do that.
It should be noted that the Rivers can only be a free agent this offseason if he declines his player option with the Houston Rockets. That’s completely possible, but if that does happen his production isn’t worth the possible chemistry issues he could cause.
Next. Podcast: Rivers hire / new team vision / Redick sounds off. dark
Reuniting Doc and Austin Rivers isn’t worth it for the Philadelphia 76ers in the long haul and they shouldn’t even consider it as an option.