Doc Rivers has only been the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers for a few days, but he's already facing some difficult questions from the media about Sixers' big men Joel Embiid and Al Horford.
As part of a recent session with reporters, Rivers was asked if he plans on playing Embiid and Horford together — a topic that was also discussed when Brett Brown was calling plays for the Sixers. Interestingly, Rivers seemed to avoid a direct answer. Instead, he praised the talent on the team.
Doc Rivers got asked about the possibility of playing Joel Embiid and Al Horford together and very artfully ducked around the question without answering it.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) October 5, 2020
Doc Rivers on his new team: "This team is loaded with talent. We just have to figure out how to make it work the best."
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) October 5, 2020
Rivers and the Clippers parted ways last week after seven seasons together. Just a few days later, he was hired by the Sixers. The 58-year-old play caller led L.A. to a 49-23 overall record during the regular season, which was the fourth best mark in franchise history. Unfortunately, though, the Clippers were defeated by the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs, 4-3.
It will be interesting to see how Rivers elects to use the talent at his disposal. Brett Brown juggled minutes between Embiid and Horford at times. Will Doc do the same, or will he look to play the two bigs together?
Either way, Rivers is a solid hire for the Sixers. He's racked up 943 wins over the course of his career — 11th most by a head coach all time. In his seven seasons with the Clippers, the team went 356-208, winning 63.1 percent of their regular-season games. According to ESPN, that's the fifth-best record in the NBA and the best by any team without a conference finals appearance.
Let's see how Doc fares with the Sixers.
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