Doc Rivers: "Whatever Conflict It Takes, It's Worth It"
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Adam Aaronson, whose legal name is Sixers Adam (@SixersAdam on Twitter), covers the Sixers for The Rights To Ricky Sanchez. He has been legally banned from covering the team in person, and when that ban was set to be lifted, Covid-19 struck. He believes cantaloupe is the best food in existence, and is brought to you by the Official Realtor of The Process, Adam Ksebe.
Well, it’s nice to actually have some news: Doc Rivers is the new coach of the Sixers! Luckily, our very own Mike O’Connor has got you covered on the Xs and Os with his tutorial on Rivers that you can read here.
Rivers had his introductory press conference on Monday, which I attended and transcribed. Here’s what jumped out:
“Whatever conflict it takes, it’s worth it.”
Doc was asked about his ability to absorb conflict within a locker room and push through it. A theme that emerged throughout the press conference is that not only is Rivers not afraid of turmoil, he welcomes it. Facing a job that lands him right in the middle of a plethora of issues, Doc almost seemed happy about the problems that exist. Asked about the team potentially needing to downsize, he refused to admit that this group was incompatible. In fact, he was willing to suggest that it has a chance to work. “We have to be the best version of ourselves without apologizing for it,” he said. This is not totally unexpected -- it’s wise that Rivers publicly keeps all of his cards on the table -- but as similar answers continued to come in, it became clear that it is genuine. Doc seems completely unconcerned about public perception of his and the team’s decisions.
Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons
Of course Rivers was going to praise his two new stars, but Doc’s press conference made it clear how genuinely interested he was in coaching Joel and Ben. He admitted to considering taking a year off from coaching, but said the Sixers had on-court pieces that excited him too much to move on. Clearly he is referring to Embiid and Simmons, who he has publicly praised often, even once comparing them to Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Time and time again, Doc would without prompt talk about how much he’s enjoyed watching film of the two pillars of his new team. He sternly iterated that the two can absolutely win together.
Rivers has extensive experience coaching stars, from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and everyone else in between. What makes the Embiid-Simmons star pairing unique is that neither has become a vocal leader. Rivers admitted that when the best player is not a leader, it requires a group effort from others in the locker room and the coaches to keep the team rolling. By all accounts, the current leader of the team is Tobias Harris -- whose on- and off-court abilities Rivers raved about -- but they had a severe lack of accountability last season. Mollifying that issue seems to be Doc’s highest priority.
A few actual basketball things!
Doc was pretty hesitant to get into any sort of strategic discourse. This is fair -- he was coaching the Clippers as of last week -- but he did allude to a few thoughts he has as far as the actual basketball team goes.
When Doc raved about Tobias Harris, Rivers mentioned that in LA he liked using Harris in high pick-and-roll actions, which he has seen little of since arriving in Philly. It seems like we’ll be seeing a much different usage of Harris, if the time he spent under Doc with the Clippers is any indication.
While he declined to elaborate as to potential lineups, Doc was adamant that Embiid and Al Horford can and will play together at times. If Horford is indeed back next season, I would expect Rivers to entrust him with a significant role given his track record.
Rivers, as expected, downplayed the issue of shooting with Simmons. He instead focused on Simmons’ ability to create for others. “I’m more concerned with team scoring than individual scoring,” he said.
This is not a surprise given his history, but Doc sounds entirely open to using load management, which would obviously be helpful for Embiid in particular.