Doc Rivers Discusses Key Priorities Before Sixers' Preseason Opener

For nearly a week, the Sixers have been getting busy in Camden, New Jersey, preparing for the start of the 2021-2022 NBA season. Following Saturday's practice session, the Sixers concluded their fourth run of the offseason.

Sunday will mark their fifth, and then they'll head to Toronto to face the Raptors for the preseason opener. At this point, the Sixers remain without their starting point guard Ben Simmons, who plans to hold out all offseason long.

At this point, the 76ers are ready to move on from the topic of Simmons for now and focus on the players in the building as they have a game to prepare for on Monday.

Following Saturday's practice session, 76ers head coach Doc Rivers discussed some of the key priorities he has for his team before they embark on their first game of the year. To no surprise, he highlighted defense, first and foremost.

"Defensively, obviously just getting the terminology down [is a priority]," Rivers explained. "Understanding it's easier, for the most part, because we're just picking up where we left off last year."

When it comes to the offensive side of the ball, Rivers pointed to an area of their game, which the Sixers have had frequent issues with in the past.

"Offensively, our spacing, getting into the paint," he continued. "[The starters] were happy today because they finally won a game. I think it's hilarious the starters were happy that they finally won a game. It's interesting to me. And they intimidated the refs, so they got everything today. But the ball movement was phenomenal. And we showed them film today of the first three days of practice. It was clear what one team was doing. They lived in the paint. Every time they drove the paint, the ball kept going out for threes. The guys who are playing on the first five right now got to the paint and shot over contested, big arms. And today, they pledged they would play right, and they did. They won every game, so it was a good lesson for them."

Although Rivers acknowledged the Sixers' "starters," he made it clear on Saturday that the lineup is not anywhere near finalized. On Monday, there's a good chance a starting five of Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Danny Green, Seth Curry, and Tyrese Maxey take the court to begin the game -- but Rivers stated that everybody would see at least four different lineups before training camp ends as he wants to see a variety of lineups before making a final call on the starters.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.

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