3 reasons why Rivers is on the hot seat: Expectations
It can be argued that this Sixers’ club is a top-3 talented roster that Rivers has had in his whole coaching career. Of course, the Championship roster River had in 2008 with Boston as well as the Clippers team that had Kawhi Leonard and Paul George were better teams, but that’s it.
The starting five is fully loaded with one MVP candidate, one solidified All-Star, and two players who were borderline All-Stars last season. This team is deep, so deep that there are legit position battles.
Players who were key to the rotation last season like Shake Milton and Furkan Korkmaz are near the end of the bench now with the added depth of De’Anthony Melton and Danuel House Jr to the club. This is one of the deepest teams the Sixers have had in decades.
With a team this deep, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals is the minimum expectation for this club this year. If River fails to guide them there, the blame will fall on him, and he won’t have many excuses outside of multiple injuries.