Unfortunately, the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers officially decided to terminate his contract due to…
After being eliminated from the playoffs for the third time in a row in the second round, the Philadelphia 76ers fired head coach Doc Rivers on Tuesday.
Daryl Morey, the president of basketball operations for the 76ers, said in a statement, “Doc is one of the most successful coaches in NBA history, a future Hall of Famer, and someone I respect immensely.
“”We appreciate everything he accomplished during his three seasons here and acknowledge the significant contribution he made to our team. After giving our season some thought, we concluded that a few adjustments are required to move us closer to our objective of contending for a championship.
Behind NBA MVP Joel Embiid, Rivers guided the 76ers to 50 wins for the second straight season, but he was once again unable to get them to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The 76ers led the Boston team in the semi-finals 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 was unsure if he should return.
Rivers was 236-154 in his three years with the Sixers and had two years remaining on his contract. 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 in 2019 and 2021, Nick Nurse of Toronto and Mike Budenholzer of Milwaukee were fired. Monty Williams, a former Sixers assistant coach who led Phoenix to the NBA Finals in 2021, is also a candidate.
Before the 2020–21 season, Rivers assumed leadership in place of 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.
He was looking forward to coaching a 76ers team that appeared to be close to 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 Simmons after the loss, the star never played for the 76ers again, and the relationship deteriorated from there.
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.
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 the direction of Morey, the current president of the 76ers. 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.
