Ranking Philadelphia 76ers' Doc Rivers Replacement Candidates
The Philadelphia 76ers are on the hunt for a new head coach. With the Sixers failing to get past the second round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs in the third season under Doc Rivers’ management, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey suggested a change to the team’s Managing Partners.
“My job is to evaluate everything, and we felt like that was the best move for helping us get to our goals going forward,” Morey explained. “It was carefully thought out, and I recommended it to ownership, and they accepted it.”
Shortly after the Sixers officially announced they were parting ways with Rivers, the team was linked to six candidates, most of which have head coaching experience already.
“We’re taking a careful process with the coach,” Morey explained. “We do not think it’ll move quickly. It is true, we’re going to look at all of the candidates. We’re already very encouraged by the candidates that have reached out. We have an MVP player, we have a great roster that lots of players want to play with, and a lot of coaches want to be with, so we will look at that carefully.”
Based on the names that are confirmed to be on Philadelphia’s radar and Morey’s brief description of what the Sixers are searching for, how would the current pool of candidates rank?
Details of the Search
As Daryl Morey noted on Wednesday, there isn’t a specific “prescription” they will go with by looking for a new head coach.
However, there are factors the Sixers will prioritize.
- Knowing how to best utilize Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and James Harden (?)
- Ready to win now
- Leadership and accountability
- Tactics
- Ability to build relationships with and recruit star players
- Championship experience
The Ranks
76ers assistant Sam Cassell
6. Sam Cassell
Sorry to burst your bubble, Sixers fans.
But Sam Cassell might be a long shot to land his first head coaching job in Philadelphia. While Daryl Morey mentioned that there are examples of inexperienced head coaches winning NBA titles (one even on this list), it’s a big gamble at the end of the day.
Cassell deserves a head coaching job in the NBA sooner than later. And the Sixers should give him serious consideration since he’s built strong relationships with core members of the backcourt. He might not have any championship experience as a coach, but he has it as a player, for what it’s worth.
Unfortunately, the Sixers are shopping in a market crowded with many experienced and intriguing prospects.
Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel.
5. Frank Vogel
Frank Vogel coached a Los Angeles Lakers team that won the NBA Championship just three years ago. Unfortunately, recency bias isn’t necessarily in his favor right now. After losing his job last season as the Lakers missed the playoffs, Vogel hasn’t picked up his fourth head coaching job just yet.
Vogel came out of a situation where he coached LeBron James. Similar to Ty Lue after his stint as the Cleveland Cavaliers' head coach, many view Vogel’s success as a product of having LeBron James on his roster.
Make no mistake about it, though, Vogel has had a ton of success in the NBA since landing his first coaching job in Indiana. With the Pacers, Vogel’s squads have made the playoffs in five of six seasons. The Pacers advanced to the second round four times and had two Eastern Conference Finals appearances.
Former Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams.
4. Monty Williams
The status of the former Phoenix Suns head coach is tough to gauge. He went from coaching a young and struggling Suns team to making it to the NBA Finals in a year. Just last season, Williams was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year. Now, he’s on the market for his third head coaching job.
Williams seems to have good relationships with his players, and that was the case when he was a part of Brett Brown’s staff in Philadelphia during the team’s 2018-2019 run before he took the Suns job.
Perhaps, Williams got the short end of the stick as Phoenix’s new leadership wanted to hit a soft reset. Right now, Williams’ interest in picking up a new job right away seems low. By the time the Sixers might be ready to make a new hire, Williams might still be undecided on what’s next.
Former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse.
3. Nick Nurse
If we’re solely factoring in Morey’s desire for a tactical coach that has championship experience, Nurse is probably the top candidate. Plus, the former Toronto Raptors head coach has worked with Morey in the past, as he was a product of the Houston Rockets’ G League affiliate during Morey’s time over there.
But remember, relationships with the stars matter in this case. And Joel Embiid never seemed like a big fan of Nurse. Multiple times during the 2022-2023 NBA season, Embiid has publicly criticized the Raptors’ game plans, accusing them of being more worried about slowing down a star player’s production rather than winning the game.
While Embiid won’t have a say in who the Sixers hire next, the front office will have to account for his thoughts about each candidate.
Of course, feelings can change when competitors become allies. Let’s not forget, Embiid embraced the hiring of assistant coach Dan Burke after he had some not-so-nice things to say about Embiid and the Sixers during his time with the Indiana Pacers. Maybe Embiid would have more of an open mind when it comes to working with Nurse, rather than working against him.
Former Houston Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni.
2. Mike D’Antoni
There’s just too much history here to ignore.
In 2015-2016, Mike D’Antoni was an Associate Head Coach for the Sixers. Past reports have indicated that he had a good relationship with Joel Embiid, who was a young player eager to get healthy at the time.
After spending one season with the Sixers, D’Antoni was hired by Morey and the Rockets to coach James Harden for four seasons. Over that span, the Rockets held a 217-101 record. They made the playoffs each time. However, they came up short in the second round three times. During the year the Rockets finally advanced to the Western Conference Finals, they failed to punch their ticket to the 2018 NBA Finals.
When D’Antoni’s time with the Rockets expired, he was a finalist for the 76ers’ head coaching vacancy before the team hired Doc Rivers.
Hiring D’Antoni would be like turning the clock back and re-doing the decision. Also, it could be a positive step towards Morey’s “Plan A,” which is to prevent Harden from leaving for a Houston reunion or another team.
D’Antoni has plenty of experience as a head coach, without any NBA Finals runs to show for it, but there are too many dots that connect in this situation to believe the Sixers won’t seriously consider hiring the former Houston head coach.
Former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer.
1. Mike Budenholzer
Let’s first address the elephant in the room; Mike Budenholzer’s Bucks had a failure of a season after falling short to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA Playoffs despite what Giannis Antetokounmpo had to say.
With that being said, several factors can give Bud the benefit of the doubt. From a personal standpoint, the head coach dealt with personal issues throughout the five-game run. Also, Bucks’ star Giannis Antetokounmpo went down with a back injury, which forced him to miss most of Game 1, and all of Game 2, with the injury likely affecting him throughout the entire playoff run.
Lastly, each playoff game that passes by tends to look slightly better for the Bucks, as the Heat are proving to be much better than anybody thought. After beating the Bucks in five games, Miami took down the New York Knicks in six games and are up 1-0 over the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Going beyond the 2023 playoff run, Budenholzer has ten total years of head coaching experience. His recent run with the Bucks is the most memorable since he achieved a 271-120 record during the regular season over five years. In the playoffs, the Bucks made it to the Eastern Conference Finals twice and won the NBA title in 2021. Budenholzer is also a two-time Coach of the Year winner.
As a defensive-minded coach, Budenholzer helped Antetokounmpo become a four-time All-Defensive first-team member and the Defensive Player of the Year winner in 2020. Having experience coaching a multi-time MVP winner, Budenholzer could certainly be the right guy to help lead a team headlined by Joel Embiid.
It’s also a plus that Embiid singled out the former Bucks head coach during his final press conference of the playoff run last week, as Embiid thought Budenholzer did a solid job in Milwaukee.
Budenholzer checks a lot of boxes for the Sixers. Depending on how much stock the Sixers take into the idea that Budenholzer was a primary reason why the Bucks burned out quickly during the 2023 playoff run, he could be a legitimate contender for the opening.
