Sixers: Doc Rivers’ job is on the line

The playoffs are right around the corner and the Philadelphia 76ers are primed for a postseason playoff run. Expectations are high amongst the fanbase and surely in the locker room no matter how many PC cliché answers that the team gives the media. The team has the core of an NBA MVP candidate (maybe frontrunner) Joel Embiid, NBA 75 greatest players member and eventual Hall of Famer James Harden, as well as rising, shining star Tyrese Maxey. Though I do have excitement and anticipation for the playoff run, my mind is fixated on Doc Rivers’ job security and how I believe it to be on the line with this upcoming postseason.

Rivers is currently on the second year of his five year contract signed in the fall of 2020. By that fact, the regular season success of the team, the elevation of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey under Doc Rivers, and the team staying afloat amidst the Ben Simmons debacle, it’s not normal to believe that he is on the hot seat. Well on the surface that is but it quickly adds up when you peel back one layer and go through Rivers’ playoff history with such talented Clippers teams (three iterations of them with multiple All-Stars) that blew three different 3-1 leads. As well as his stubborn ways of favoring role playing veterans despite struggles, lack of adjustments, and his inability to get guys to do all the little things that win playoff basketball games.

Doc Rivers’ unreliable performance as head coach could endanger him in the playoffs

Despite the team showing incredible resolve in the second leg of a home back to back against the Miami Heat, the flaws and issues reared their ugly heads in last Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors. Now, I may be focusing on this recent 93-88 home loss to the Raptors too much but this game magnified the flaws of this Sixers team so eloquently in such a grotesque viewing experience. First off, let me give the Toronto Raptors credit for winning a game that was basically put through a meat grinder. Now to the task at hand and that’s how the team fared in that Toronto loss and Rivers’ part in it.

The Sixers were outrebounded 56-40 and 20-5 on the offensive glass. Yes you read that right, 20-5 on the offensive glass. This led to Toronto having 93 total shots to the Sixers 73 shots. In addition to that, the Raptors outscored the Sixers 50-40 in the painted area. A shocking development given the fact that Toronto was without two of its best players in All-Star guard Fred VanVleet and solid forward OG Anunoby playing in this game. You give any NBA team that many extra shots they will eventually make you pay and make the correct plays to win the ballgame.

Rivers had the nine-man rotation of Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, Georges Niang, Danny Green, DeAndre Jordan, Shake Milton and Paul Reed playing against Toronto. Someone should’ve been in the ear of Doc suggesting something of a rotation change, an offensive mentality change, benching DeAndre Jordan, having Paul Millsap as the small ball five sometimes, give one of the unproven younger guys (Shake Milton, Furkan Korkmaz, Paul Reed, Charles Bassey) a shot to mess up as well as succeed.

As this current state in the season, the rotation is seven men long. Eight is necessary to be a legit playoff contender and nine would be incredible for lineup flexibility. The bench wing play is concerning but the backup center position is in much more dire need of being dependable. Let’s focus on Greg Monroe… I mean DeAndre Jordan. Sorry for the Freudian slip but I feel like I have to clean my imaginary glasses to make sure I’m not watching 2019 playoff Greg Monroe. We all remember Monroe being a -9 in Game 7 of the 2nd round Toronto Raptors series in ONLY 1:41 minutes of play. Not to mention in game 4 of that same series,  the game where the Sixers blew the game to possibly go up 3-1, where Monroe was -18 in 10:52 minutes.

DeAndre Jordan most likely will not be that bad but that’s still not acceptable. It’s as if Doc Rivers is a business owner that continues to lose money but keeps the same business plan, prices, and so forth because he’s the owner who likes them. Rivers prefers Jordan because he knows him, he likes him, and trusts him on the court. At this point in the season it is time to experiment. Time to give these other options a crash course with some margin for error. To make matters worse, teams are shooting 73.6 percent at the rim when Jordan is on the floor, credit to Austin Krell on the stat. It’s evident that it’s unlikely for that trend to become the norm in those non-Embiid minutes. I for one am not ready to find out if that’s true. A change at the position is clearly needed.

Now you can clearly tell that I’m desperate that history will repeat itself. The Philadelphia 76ers will basically fall in the playoffs because there wasn’t a proper backup center behind Joel Embiid. Another big man who can protect the rim. The rim protection doesn’t even have to be that close to the level of Embiid. It just has to be good. Competent. Watchable. Productive. The rest of the rotation lines up better with addition of Paul Reed or Charles Bassey as the backup center. Mainly because of how much of a welcoming, unconventional change their presence and skill set in the lineup would be. With 7 games remaining, we shall find out what Doc Rivers decides the rotations are going to be.