Sixers rumors: No real smoke behind Mike D’Antoni speculation

Super Bowl Sunday belonged to football, but the Sixers still ended up in the headlines.  Not due to the team’s recent success, or James Harden’s arrival, or Joel Embiid’s MVP campaign. Instead, it was due to new speculation over Doc Rivers’ future with the franchise.

According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, the latest “conspiracy theory” making the rounds in coaching circles is that Daryl Morey will eventually want to replace Rivers with Mike D’Antoni, who happened to coach James Harden for five seasons in Houston.

To be frank, this writer has preferred D’Antoni over Rivers since Philadelphia initially fired Brett Brown. James Harden obviously ratchets up the noise around such a move, but according to Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice, that speculation is currently unfounded.

Will the Sixers fire Doc Rivers in favor of Mike D’Antoni?

Right now, Rivers is categorically not on the hot seat. He was far from blameless in the Sixers’ second-round flameout against Atlanta, but Philadelphia was the 1-seed last season. Now, the Sixers are only 2.5 games out of first place despite Ben Simmons’ year-long holdout. The arrival of James Harden will add new pressure on Rivers to lead a deep playoff run, but right now, his job feels awfully secure.

And that’s probably the right move. Rivers has the support of the locker room, Joel Embiid has made two consecutive MVP-level leaps under Rivers, and Philadelphia is thriving in the regular season. Another disappointing postseason could change the calculus of Daryl Morey’s thinking, but to expect a move is little more than wishful thinking for the more severe Rivers critics.

It’s fair to question Rivers’ ability to lead Philadelphia to the promised land. He’s painfully stubborn and has developed quite the track record of blown leads and botched series. His insistence on making all-bench lineups work is just the tip of the iceberg. Even so, the Sixers have done extremely well over the last two years. There are worse outcomes than a nail-biting second round defeat when your No. 2 star melts every fourth quarter. For now, Rivers deserves the benefit of the doubt and a chance to get Embiid and Harden to the mountaintop.

We will probably revisit this subject in the offseason if Philadelphia gets knocked out early or in particularly egregious fashion. Obviously Morey and D’Antoni have a strong relationship, and hey — James Harden, who played the best basketball of his career under D’Antoni, is technically a free agent this summer. Perhaps there comes a time where D’Antoni becomes a real consideration, but for now, this is Doc Rivers’ team.