Philadelphia 76ers: Postseason run could help Doc Rivers legacy

The Philadelphia 76ers were extremely blessed that when they decided to move on from the Brett Brown era of basketball, Doc Rivers also became available as a potential suiter for their head coach position.

Rivers is a former champion winning as the Boston Celtics head coach in 2008 and was one of the most successful coaches in Los Angeles Clipper history. Yet, that time with the Clippers also hurt his legacy as a coach because he was never able to advance past the second round of the playoffs which was an underachievement with the stars he had at his disposal. That inability to get past the second round ultimately lead to his dismissal from Los Angeles.

Luckily for Rivers, he has two young stars in Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons who could help him change the perception of his coaching in the postseason. If the Sixers make it to at least the conference finals, if not further, then Rivers has a legit case to be a top-10 coach of all-time.

A deep postseason run by the Philadelphia 76ers could help River’s legacy.

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I’ve already outlined why the 76ers should be able to make an Eastern Conference Finals when I wrote about Conference Finals or trade for Ben Simmons. The path is arguably the easiest out of any other contender’s in either conference.

There’s no reason why Rivers shouldn’t get there. If he doesn’t lead them there, then there’s a legit argument to keep him out of the top-10 of all time. That being written, let’s look at River’s resume thus far.

Rivers won a title with the Celtics in 2008 and returned to the NBA finals in 2010. He’s 10th in total regular wins with 992. The only coaches ahead of Rivers are Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Gregg Popovich, Jerry Sloan, Pat Riley, George Karl, Phil Jackson, Larry Brown, and Rick Adelman. That’s an impressive company to simply write.

Rivers is seventh in the postseason wins with 93. He trails Jackson, Riley, Popovich, Larry Brown, Red Auerbach, and Sloan. If Philly wins the title this season, Rivers could leapfrog to fourth on this list. There are also only 10 coaches that have reached the conference title more times than the Sixers head coach and only 14 head coaches that have won more titles than Rivers.

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Another run to another conference final, if not an NBA Finals would surely cement Rivers as a top-10 coach of all-time. If he becomes that with the Philadelphia 76ers, that makes this postseason run even more special.