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October 4, 2020 By: Kevin Kissner

Doc Rivers hired as Philadelphia 76ers next head coach

Shortly after being fired by the Los Angeles Clippers, Doc Rivers reached an agreement to be the next head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Rivers will be getting a five-year deal with Philadelphia that comes just three days after moving on from the Clippers.

It had been reported that former Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni was the favorite for the Philly job, but 76ers GM Elton Brand reached out to Rivers and the interest was mutual, which ultimately led to the deal getting done so quickly.

With the Clippers, Rivers took Los Angeles to the playoffs in all but one season in his seven years as head coach. Rivers was unable to get his team to the Western Conference Finals, despite having a team featuring players such as Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan, and even JJ Redick.

Rivers will he heading back to the Eastern Conference where he won the NBA Finals with the Boston Celtics in 2008 with a team that was built for him to win immediately. The Celtics had acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to team up with Paul Pierce, essentially started the ‘Big 3’ craze that took over the NBA in the 2010’s.

The former coach of the year will now takeover as the leader of a team with plenty of star power in Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris.

There’s also rumblings that Rivers could bring former New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry after he was let go this past season.

While the 76ers haven’t been able to get over the hump with the potential superstar players they have, the hope is Rivers can get Philly to the promised land in the eastern conference.