Is Doc Rivers the Right Fit to Coach the Sixers?

Earlier this week, Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers parted ways making Doc a free agent head coach.

As multiple teams in the NBA, including the Sixers, are deep into head coaching searches, the Sixers must decide if Doc would be the right fit for the team. The Sixers have already reached out to Doc for a potential interview, but with the rumors circulating about Mike D’Antoni, it will be interesting to see who is hired to guide the Sixers for the future.

If Doc is hired, however, would he be the right fit?

Let’s first take a look at Doc’s recent head coaching history with the Los Angeles Clippers. Doc has been the Clippers’ head coach since departing the Boston Celtics in 2013 where has made the playoffs in all but one year. On paper, that sounds good to Sixers fans who are longing for playoff success.

Photo: Alex Gallardo / AP

The problem is that the Clippers teams Doc coached could never make a sustained run in the playoffs. That sounds like much of the same of what Sixers’ fans have been used to. Playoff record-wise, Doc doesn’t seem like the ideal fit. However, Doc may be exactly what the Sixers’ players need.

Doc is a legendary head coach for a reason. He has been able to get the most out of his players season after season. Take for example the 2018-2019 Clippers team. That team wasn’t expected to sniff the playoffs with the talent they had. Somehow, Doc was able to coach that team to the playoffs and actually take some games from the incredible Golden State Warriors team that eventually made it to the NBA Finals.

Also for Sixers’ fans, he coached up Tobias Harris enough to warrant a king’s ransom in trade capital, and allowed Tobias to sign his current long-term contract with the Sixers. Doc reuniting with Tobias and coaching up younger players could compliment the young core the Sixers have.

Add on top of that an off-season of trades and even more moving parts, Doc could aid Elton Brand in crafting a championship team in Philadelphia. A veteran coach like Doc would be a godsend for Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid, two of the league’s most incredible stars that are still maturing.

Is Doc the right fit for the Sixers? Absolutely.

Not only could the younger stars on the team develop incredibly under a seasoned coach like Doc, but the veteran players have such immense respect for him, that they could let him be the hand that guides this team, potentially, to a championship.