Doc Rivers Remains Confident in Sixers’ Backup Centers

As the Philadelphia 76ers prepared to take on the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers was asked what roster upgrade he would like to see at the trade deadline. To no surprise, Rivers stayed away from addressing the topic.

“Oh, I don’t touch that,” said Rivers, who then followed with a joke. “I would love for my hair to grow out on the sides. I can have an upgrade. That’s not gonna happen.”

The Sixers’ trade deadline moves have been kept a secret this season. Unlike last year, when it was clear Philadelphia was gunning for a blockbuster deal to net James Harden, there isn’t too much smoke surrounding the Sixers outside of a couple of teams’ interest in Matisse Thybulle.

Even there, it’s not totally clear if the 76ers want to move Thybulle. But if Philadelphia does decide to make a move within the next week, a backup center would be a logical addition. As Montrezl Harrell and Paul Reed have struggled to stand out on their own to earn steady minutes behind Joel Embiid, the backup center spot remains a question mark every night.

Following Wednesday’s game, Rivers addressed the state of the backup center position, making it clear that Reed, Harrell, and PJ Tucker will all be in play as options to back Embiid up in the playoffs.

“I’m gonna play them both,” Rivers said. “They’re just gonna have to push each other. Trez had his moment. The second half was really good, actually. In the first half, he struggled. Paul Reed struggled a bit in the first, too, but he hadn’t played, and so with him, I thought it was more rust than how he was playing. He was late on a lot of stuff he typically is not late on. The more we start playing him, the better he’ll be at that stuff, but we also have Tuck we can play at the five, so there’s a lot of ways we can go there.”

Obviously, a move made by the front office could change the way Rivers views the backup center position when the postseason rolls around. For the time being, the head coach is just working with what he’s got as the Sixers look to continue improving team chemistry more than halfway through the year.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.