Austin Rivers Reveals Doc Rivers' Thoughts Before Taking the Sixers Job
After seven seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, Doc Rivers was relieved of his duties this offseason. After seven seasons with Brett Brown coaching the Philadelphia 76ers, the team moved on from him, creating another head coaching vacancy in the NBA.
The Sixers pursued Doc Rivers more than anybody when he was fired from the Clippers. While the veteran head coach had several suitors, he only met with the Sixers and didn't leave Philly without a deal on the table.
So, what was it about the 76ers that made Doc Rivers want to go there? His son, Austin Rivers, recently explained.
"He was like ‘man, this Philly opportunity is a great opportunity,’" Austin Rivers said on The Ringer NBA Show. "He’s just really excited about Philly, man, like he was so excited. There were a lot of other great teams that had great, you know, maybe situations that were going to offer him a job. He wanted the Philly job."
After signing on with the Sixers a couple of months ago, Doc Rivers made it clear that the star power between the 26-year-old Joel Embiid and the 24-year-old Ben Simmons made the job hard to pass up.
While the Sixers ended the 2020 NBA Playoffs on a rather disappointing note, Austin Rivers revealed that his father quickly remembered the 76ers' playoff run from two seasons ago. "He’s like, ‘man, listen, they were a bounce roll away two years ago from going to the Finals," Austin Rivers revealed.
Getting Rivers to replace Brown was an excellent move for the Sixers. Hiring Daryl Morey to run the front office operation became the icing on the cake this offseason. It's unclear how much better the 76ers can be in 2020-2021 -- but it seems the offseason moves give them a much better chance at being successful this upcoming season.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
