Sixers fire Doc Rivers after 3 seasons: What style of coach will Philadelphia be looking for?

The 76ers fired coach Doc Rivers, the team announced Tuesday, two days after Philadelphia fell in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Celtics. Here’s what you need to know:

The Sixers’ semifinal loss marked their sixth straight year of reaching the postseason but failing to advance past the second round.
Rivers led Philadelphia to a record of 154-82 in the regular season and 20-15 in the playoffs in three seasons.
Philadelphia hasn’t reached the conference finals since 2001.

The 76ers fired coach Doc Rivers on Tuesday, @ShamsCharania confirms.
Philadelphia's Eastern Conference semifinals loss marked its sixth straight year of reaching the postseason but failing to advance past the second round.
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) May 16, 2023

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

What this says about Sixers’ ownership

There are many reasons that the Sixers let go of Rivers, and the precedent with this ownership group was already there. Brett Brown got three legitimate chances to take the Joel Embiid-led Sixers past the second round of the playoffs, and when he failed to do so, he was let go in 2020. After the Sixers’ Game 7 debacle in Boston on Sunday, Rivers found himself in the same situation: 0 for 3.

Reasonable minds can disagree about how much Rivers was at fault in a series that saw his best two players struggle in the most important moments, but he was brought to Philadelphia to take the Sixers further than they had been. That did not happen.

There is still a ton of uncertainty heading into the offseason, but firing the coach is always the easiest lever to pull. Bringing Rivers back after three playoff flameouts was untenable. Rivers said after Game 7 that he planned on being back, but by that point, the writing was on the wall. He still had two years left on his contract. — Hofmann

What Philadelphia’s stars said about Rivers

When asked about Rivers after the Sixers lost Game 7, the team’s two star players gave different answers. Embiid called Rivers “fantastic,” saying, “You look at the way he handled the whole (Ben Simmons) situation that we had a year or two ago, he kept the team afloat. He’s been a great leader for all of us, a great motivator.”

James Harden took a different tact when asked if the coach should return, simply saying, “Our relationship is OK.” It felt like a telling, brief answer in the moment.

With Harden looming as a free agent this summer, and potentially a flight risk to Houston, it did not seem like both Harden and Rivers would be back with the Sixers next year. Now the question turns to whether either will be back. — Hofmann

What is Philadelphia looking for in a replacement?

It’s worth noting that this will be Daryl Morey’s first official coaching hire with the Sixers, as Rivers was brought on a few weeks before Morey officially took the president of basketball operations job in the whirlwind 2020 offseason. As long as Embiid is on the roster, the likeliest outcome is that the Sixers will turn to a coach with experience to try to get the roster over the top.

Just in the past few weeks, three coaches with NBA Finals experience (Nick Nurse, Mike Budenholzer, Monty Williams) hit the coaching market. Williams was an assistant in Philadelphia under Brown. Mike D’Antoni has always loomed as a candidate given his ties to Morey and Harden, and he had a brief spell as a Sixers assistant during one of Embiid’s redshirt years at the beginning of his career. And there are other names with experience as well.

Whoever the Sixers do end up hiring, he will be judged on his playoff record. Rivers’ regular-season record with the Sixers was good enough, especially under some adverse circumstances. Embiid took his game to another level in the past three years. But they continued to fall short in the playoffs. — Hofmann

Backstory

Rivers, 61, was hired by Philadelphia in 2020 with the expectation that his championship experience would help the Sixers advance past the postseason hurdles they faced under previous coach Brown. Instead, those shortcomings continued despite significant roster overhauls.

Under Rivers, the 76ers traded Simmons to the Nets in a deal for Harden, Embiid developed into an MVP, Tyrese Maxey was drafted and developed into a reliable 20-point scorer and the team rounded out its roster with veterans such as P.J. Tucker, Montrezl Harrell and Jalen McDaniels.

Dating to 2008, when Rivers was coaching Boston, teams led by him reached the playoffs in 15 of 16 seasons. But not since 2010, when the Celtics reached the NBA Finals, has a Rivers-led team advanced past the second round.

Rivers stepped down as coach of the Clippers in 2020 after the team lost in the semifinals. The next year, under new coach Ty Lue, LA reached its first conference finals in franchise history.

What they’re saying

Morey called Rivers “one of the most successful coaches in NBA history, a future Hall of Famer, and someone I respect immensely.”

“We’re grateful for all he did in his three seasons here and thank him for the important impact he made on our franchise,” Morey said. “After having the chance to reflect upon our season, we decided that certain changes are necessary to further our goals of competing for a championship.”