What Problem Would Firing Doc Rivers Actually Solve?
there is no obvious schematic decision that Doc is making that is holding the team back at the moment.
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Let me get right into my stance before everyone starts yelling at me: I do not care for Doc Rivers. I think he is a mediocre coach. He is bland schematically, and is unbelievably stubborn when it comes to making adjustments. His combative and pedantic nature towards the fans and media has been embarrassing. I do think that the Sixers would probably be better off with Sam Cassell or Mike D’Antoni as head coach.
But… not worlds better. Not Joe Girardi vs. Rob Thomson better. As I look at what this team’s strengths and weaknesses have been through the first eight games, it seems to be pretty much in line with what you would expect from the personnel on this roster.
The Sixers half court offense looks stagnant because they have a roster full of players who tend not to move much off the ball (a half court offense, by the way, which currently ranks as the second best in the league). Gone are the days of Danny Green and Seth Curry running around off the ball and creating havoc. The Sixers are a team full of players who are most comfortable planting their asses in the corner and standing still whenever they don’t have the ball, which inevitably leads to stagnation, especially against elite defenses.
Their transition defense is horrendous because the two leading shot takers tend to fall down, argue calls, and jog back to the other end as opposed to sprinting.
Their half court defense is impotent because they have a roster full of players whose effort level, attention span, and athleticism leaves plenty to be desired on that end. Gone are the days of Ben Simmons and Danny Green flying around and creating chaos. The Sixers were the second best defense in the league that season, and it’s not as if Rivers has changed his defensive schemes since two years ago.
Also gone are the days when you could trust Joel Embiid to anchor an elite defense single-handedly. Not only has Embiid’s effort level declined from his peak, but the league is also trending away from being able to simply play a deep drop coverage and have that shut down your opponent on a nightly basis. There are simply too many skilled players in the league, and the likes of Embiid and Rudy Gobert are no longer walking top-five defenses like they were 3 to 5 years ago.
There are, of course, things that I believe Doc should be doing better. From a leadership perspective, I’d like to see him get more out of this group in terms of effort and engagement on a nightly basis. From a schematic perspective, I’d like to see Embiid a bit higher up on screens. I’d like to see the Sixers try to generate a little more off ball movement, even if that means just running Tobias Harris off of pin-downs as a distraction on the weak side. I’d also like to see Paul Reed at back up center more often, as I’m not sure that I’ve seen Montrezl Harrell make a single play the season that Reed is not capable of making.
But let’s be real here. These things that I’m listing here are not life-changing, and some of them cannot be pinned squarely on the coach — NBA players should not have to be poked and prodded for basic effort. I guess what I am saying is, I am missing the part where Doc Rivers is exposing himself as a saboteur.
Lacking imagination? Yes. Underwhelming as a leader, and a motivator? Yes. But a Jim Boylen-esque saboteur? I’m not so sure.
Again, I’d be happy to see Sam Cassell get a crack at coaching this team. But my number one hope if he were to become the coach would be that he could get the team to try harder — which is of course very possible especially if Rivers has lost the locker room. Still; there is no obvious schematic decision that Doc is making that is holding the team back at the moment.
That is not only true for this year, but has been true for the entire time that Doc has been here. In his first year here, the team undoubtedly outperformed its talent level on both ends of the floor throughout the regular season. Last season, he certainly deserves some credit for keeping the group together amid all of the drama and winning 51 games with all of the chaos.
Even before he joined the Sixers, Doc’s teams were never known for underachieving in the regular season. It has generally been the case that he’s done a good job in the regular season, but has shown his ass in the playoffs by refusing to adjust and being quite combative to the media about it.
I think that many, myself included, are guilty of using his objectionable personality as a reason for wanting to move on from him. But the fact is that he has been a fine regular season coach, who has only begun to make critical errors once the postseason rolls around.
I once again believe that to be the case this year. The slow start has been disappointing, but there’s not a whole lot that I see that would be immediately resolved upon firing him.
And in spite of all of this, I still remain quite high on this team’s potential! The transition defense stuff will improve, and will become less of an issue when the game slows down in the postseason. They will find ways to get the ball moving a bit more on offense, especially as Embiid works himself back into shape. They will sort out the back half of the rotation, even if there is an exception in the form of Harrell continuing to play over Reed.
I would love to be able to watch a team that plays harder and is more cohesive on both ends, and I think it is quite possible that Sam Cassell could get this team to do that. But for now, what I see is a team that is in the process of figuring out how to cope with its own built-in weaknesses. Doc Rivers has not been good at accelerating that process so far, but I also don’t believe that he has been some major impediment to their success. If not for Tobias Harris’ brain fart at the end of the Milwaukee game, this team would be 5-3, and I doubt people would be all that dissatisfied. If they move on from Doc, I would expect some slight improvement, but I am also not expecting the world to open up.