Due to his wife, The coach of the 76ers has officially announced his retirement
Nick Nurse lost his coaching position with the Philadelphia 76ers due to his tendency for playoff collapses and second-round exits.
After losing a series lead and a Game 7 in the second round of the playoffs for the third time in a row, the 76ers fired Rivers on Tuesday.
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Behind NBA MVP Joel Embiid, Rivers guided the 76ers to 50 wins in a row for the second time in a row, but he was unable to lead them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001. Since 1983, the Sixers have not taken home an NBA title.
Team president Daryl Morey released a statement, saying, “We’re grateful for all he did in his three seasons here and thank him for the important impact he made on our franchise.” “We determined that some changes are required to further our goals of competing for a championship after having time to reflect on our season.”
Morey was supposed to speak about the choice on Wednesday at a press conference.
The 76ers led the Boston team in the semifinals of the NBA series 3-2 before losing Game 6 at home and losing badly in Game 7 away.
Rivers lost the seventh game 6-10. Five more than any other NBA coach; the 10 losses are all losses.
As the top seed in the second round in 2021, Rivers and the 76ers also fell to Atlanta in a crushing Game 7 at home. After Sunday’s loss, Embiid supported Rivers’ comeback, but James Harden remained ambiguous about his desire for their coach to return.
Rivers was 154-82 in his three seasons with the Sixers and had two years remaining on his deal. As the Boston Celtics’ coach, he was the team’s 2008 NBA champion.
After Boston’s 112-88 thrashing, when asked if he thought he would return the following year, Rivers replied, “Yes.” It looks like I have two years left. I understand that no one is safe in our business.
The 76ers will undoubtedly have their choice of the best players in the league after he becomes the latest well-known coach to be fired during the postseason. After winning titles since 2019, Mike Budenholzer of Milwaukee and Nick Nurse of Toronto were fired. Monty Williams, a former Sixers assistant coach who led Phoenix to the 2021 NBA Finals, is also a candidate.
Before the 2020–21 season, Rivers succeeded Brett Brown, who was let go following the 76ers’ crushing defeat in the opening round of the playoffs.
About two weeks prior, after the Los Angeles Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead and fell to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, Rivers had been fired.
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He thought he would be coaching a team that was almost certain to win a championship. Rather, he was benched for one of the worst games in team history—a franchise-shifting defeat to Atlanta in Game 7—which followed Ben Simmons’s inability to dunk an uncontested shot, which ultimately led to a defeat and the All-Star guard’s dismissal from Philadelphia. After Rivers and Embiid refused to publicly support the star guard after the loss, Simmons never played for the 76ers again, and their relationship deteriorated from that point on.
A year later, Simmons was traded for Harden, who was thought to be the final component needed to secure an Embiid championship. Until the conference final, at least.
After the Boston Celtics lost Game 7, Harden was asked to explain his relationship with Rivers and whether he would like to see his coach return for a fourth season. He responded, “Our relationship is OK,” but he did not address the second part of the question.
It doesn’t matter now.
“I felt that our group was the right one. I did, truly,” Rivers remarked.
However, Mike D’Antoni, a former Rockets coach, is another intriguing candidate to watch. For four seasons, D’Antoni mentored Harden in Houston, where they both flourished under Morey’s guidance. Morey put a lot of effort into bringing Harden to the 76ers and has been a devoted Harden defender. With Rivers no longer around, there may be a future reunion.
Harden has a $35.6 million player option. Harden has been playing for the past few months despite nagging left Achilles soreness. Regarding what he might do this summer, he was evasive.
But maybe The Beard can be convinced to stay by a reunion with D’Antoni, or at the very least by a coach who understands how to match Harden and Embiid to their advantages. While other teams are not allowed to offer more than $202 million over the same contract length, the 76ers are able to sign Harden to a $210 million, four-year contract.
In addition, Rivers has coached the Orlando Magic and the Los Angeles Clippers. His career record was 1,097–763 during the 1999–2000 campaign.
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