The Philadelphia 76ers made the most noise at the trade deadline after trading for James Harden. Now, he and the Sixers will look to make more noise and secure a high playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
With Harden and Daryl Morey reuniting, there is one more key piece from those Houston Rockets teams that could find his way to Philadelphia: Mike D'Antoni. The coach who best unlocked Harden and the Rockets' preposterous shooting abilities has been rumored to be a possible candidate for Philly.
D'Antoni's links to Harden and Morey are too strong to be ignored. However, according to basketball reporter Marc Stein, Philadelphia believes Doc Rivers is the head coaching right man for the job and that the chatter around D'Antoni is just that.
The Sixers haven't won it all in nearly four decades since 1982-83 … and my previous This Week In Basketball column noted that chatter about an eventual run at Mike D'Antoni in the wake of the Harden trade is already making the rounds in league coaching circles. The source, though, insisted Rivers has won considerable admiration from his bosses this season thanks to Philly's (and particularly Embiid's) strong play with the Simmons Saga hanging over the franchise.
D'Antoni served as the associate head coach of the Sixers before beginning his four-year stint in Houston. He was an assistant coach with the Nets last season.
Under Rivers, Joel Embiid has become a legitimate MVP favorite and the team should be able to compete for a championship with Harden.
Follow Us
Subscribe