PHILADELPHIA — I don’t have a problem with Doc Rivers’ getting fired this week. He deserved it. He failed. He had two jobs, and he failed.
It had less to do with winning games than with winning hearts.
Doc Rivers got fired because he couldn’t salvage two flawed point guards. Ben Simmons wouldn’t shoot. James Harden couldn’t shoot. It all came down to this.
Rivers said some dumb, petty stuff early in his Sixers tenure, and he didn’t always have the in-game answers, but, overall, he was a decent guy who did a pretty good job. Lots of players improved. But the two key players didn’t improve enough.
Yes, the Sixers are interviewing coaching candidates after Rivers failed to coach them past the second round of the playoffs in all three of his seasons. But they lost those series because they still lacked a true point guard. They haven’t had one since they began The Process in 2013 by trading Jrue Holiday. Instead of finding a real point guard, they spent the last decade trying to fit square-peg players into round holes.
And please, make no mistake: Harden had a direct hand in Doc’s dismissal, beyond his inconsistent play. Sixers president Daryl Morey said that Harden had no influence in firing Rivers and will not have input in hiring the next coach. This is, clearly, ridiculous. No coach is going to be hired without Harden’s endorsement.
Further, when I asked Harden about his relationship with Rivers, Harden said it was “OK.” Not “great,” as Morey cast it in his unsettling news conference Wednesday. Not “fantastic,” which is how Joel Embiid described Rivers’ performance since he was hired in 2020. Harden reportedly plans to opt out of his contract and become a free agent, and Morey is desperate to re-sign him, although he will have stiff competition from the Rockets.
If Harden had said, “I will come back if Doc Rivers is the coach,” then Doc Rivers would be the coach. He did not say this.
How Rivers failed
Rivers’ relationships with Simmons and Harden would have been irrelevant had he been able to make them better players.
If Simmons had been willing to shoot in the 2021 playoffs, then the Sixers would have beaten Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and who knows what might have happened after that. He took a total of eight shots in losses in Games 5 and 7. Simmons declined to even dunk late in Game 7. This led to Embiid’s saying the game swung on that moment, and to Doc’s questioning Simmons’ ability to lead a team to a title.
Simmons felt betrayed by Doc and Joel, refused to report to work, and eventually was traded for Harden.
Not MVP James. Playoff James.
Had Harden been able to shoot, then the Sixers would have beaten the Heat in 2022 and advanced past the Eastern Conference semifinals, and who knows what might have happened after that.
But Harden shot 40.5% against the Heat and averaged 18.2 points in the six-game series loss after averaging 27.1 points in his previous 100 playoff starts.
Harden shot 21.8% — 12 for 55 — in the Sixers’ four losses to the Celtics this year. He did plenty of other things badly — pouting about non-calls, throwing the ball away — but averaging just 12.5 points and fewer than 14 shots in those losses were his worst sins.
Pedigree
Rivers won the 2008 title with the Celtics He has 1,097 regular-season wins, which ranks ninth all time. He has 111 playoff wins, which ranks fourth.
But people forget that Doc Rivers was a good NBA guard. Really good. He played 13 seasons, and in the first eight he averaged 13.0 points, 6.8 assists, and 2.1 steals, and started 516 of 578 games — excellent production for a second-round pick of average size and athleticism. He knows all the tricks. He was the coach who taught the NBA game to Tracy McGrady in Orlando and Rajon Rondo in Boston. Chris Paul had his best years with Doc and the Clippers.
Rivers was hired to complete Simmons’ point-guard education.
He failed.
Doc then was tasked with making Harden into a true point guard after years of Harden’s playing playground point in Houston and Brooklyn. Harden needed to defer to Embiid, to include Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris, and to take good shots himself. Harden deferred to Embiid, but slowly. He never really jelled with his wingmen.
So, here, Rivers also failed.
Who would not have failed? Star-herder Phil Jackson? Drill sergeant Gregg Popovich? Bystander Steve Kerr?
No, they probably would have failed, too.
Doc tried everything.
He begged Ben to shoot. When that failed, he begged us to appreciate Ben for what he was. When that failed, Rivers gave up.
That led to Harden. Rivers did a passable job at turning a ball-hog gunner who wouldn’t play defense into a clever distributor who at least understood defensive concepts. But he couldn’t break the Beard of his slow-play habit, his shot-clock indifference, or his dependence on refs’ bailing him out of uncontrolled penetrations and the messes that they made.
The upside
Doc did lots of great things.
As a legitimate winner, Doc helped the Sixers turn the page from the despised, seven-year Process that was, fairly or not, branded as a Brett Brown production.
More than anything, Rivers polished The Process. He persuaded Embiid to get into into better shape. He taught him unstoppable moves. He built a defense around Embiid’s athleticism and size. He devised schemes to punish double teams. Rivers made Embiid an immediate MVP contender, and, this year, an MVP.
Rivers also developed Maxey, who, as the 21st overall pick, might turn out to be the best value in the 2020 draft. It took a while, but by the end of the season Rivers had incorporated 38-year-old enforcer P.J. Tucker. He even turned Paul Reed into a viable backup center.
But Doc couldn’t save Ben, and Doc couldn’t change James, and, so, Doc is gone.
