The Philadelphia 76ers fired head coach Doc Rivers on Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours after their Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics.
Rivers coached the Sixers to the second round in all three of his seasons in Philadelphia, but he couldn’t get them over the hump despite holding a 3-2 lead this year.
The Sixers have the reigning MVP in Joel Embiid under contract while James Harden can opt out of his deal. They’re going to need to bring in somebody that can put this team over the top.
Eliot Shorr-Parks of the Audacy Original Podcast “Clap Your Hands” explained why he wants the Sixers to hire a hungry coach that is going to do things their way, a la Doug Pederson or Nick Sirianni.
“I think this team needs somebody that is going to come in and be coaching for their life, making their legacy now,” Shorr-Parks said (1:37 in player above). “If you talk about Doc, Doc obviously had a lot of question marks because he hadn’t won in a while, all those things. Doc was already a multi-millionaire, legacy was set, definitely a Hall of Fame coach I’d say before he was even hired here.”
Shorr-Parks comes from a more football-focused background and saw the Eagles go off the board for their two most recent head coaches. He wants to see that again in Philadelphia, this time on the hardwood.
“I think what this team lacks and what I saw when the Eagles hired Doug Pederson and Nick Sirianni; Doug and Nick were not the top five choices on the general list of guys,” he said. “I think the benefit of that is when these guys came in they were doubted, they had to prove themselves, and they were extremely hungry and ready to go in, and they were extremely motivated to do a great job. I’m not saying Doc didn’t want to win, but Doc didn’t need to win.”
Shorr-Parks’ worry with a retread coach is that they’ll have their own style and way of running things that may be well known. While Mike D'Antoni has connections to Daryl Morey and James Harden, Philadelphia knows that hungry dogs run faster.
“What I think the Sixers need, especially with Joel and if James is going to be back, is somebody that is motivated,” Shorr-Parks said. “Somebody that is going to come in and be fresh. Somebody that’s going to come in and do things their way because they have to do it their way.”
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