Doc Rivers was never the right guy to coach the Philadelphia 76ers — or any NBA team, for what it’s worth. They had maxed out under Brett Brown and needed someone who thrived in the playoffs, and Rivers was the opposite.
Predictably, Rivers dug them in a hole over and over in his tenure in charge, especially in the postseason. In his defense, it didn’t help that James Harden and Joel Embiid also have a bad rap for not showing up when it matters the most.
And now that the Sixers rightfully fired him after another epic failure, Rivers did what he’s always done after getting shown the door: Throw his players under the bus. This time, he claims it was Embiid’s fault they couldn’t go the distance.
Doc Rivers Blames Joel Embiid For Own Playoff Failures
“Number one, he has to be healthy,” Rivers said of Embiid in the Bill Simmons podcast. “If you look at his numbers in the last three years in the playoffs, compared to his regular season numbers, they’re not very good. The first year I had him, he hurts his knee. The next year, he hits his face and tears ligaments in his hand, and then this year he has a knee injury and he was never the same once he came back this year. So health is No. 1.”
“Number two for Jo is he’s got to make all his players better in the playoffs,” Rivers said. “He has the ability to make his teammates better and when he does it, if you look at our games this year when he did that and dominated, hard to go away from Joel Embiid. It really is. He’s just got to do that on a consistent basis. Not just on the court, but also off the court. Just be around the guys and spend time with your guys and let them know that you love them because they love you.”
To be fair, Embiid should’ve and could’ve played a lot better, even if he was hurt. Being available is a part of the job, and he should be held accountable for his poor play; that’s a fact.
On the other than, we’re talking about the coach with the worst record in Game 7s, which also happens to be the guy with the most blown leads in a playoff series in the history of the game.
Rivers is a terrible tactician and a guy who’s constantly outcoached and too stubborn to even try and tweak his rotations a little. He’s also the kind of coach who would rather roast his players in public than acknowledge he got beaten.
It would be hard to think of a reason why any team would even consider bringing him in for an interview, and this is another example of why no player should ever want to play for him.
Rivers has been living off that 2008 championship for way too long now, even though Tom Thibodeau was the architect behind that elite defense. Now, it’s time NBA teams finally turn the page, and he stays at home with his family.