Getty Georges Niang of the Philadelphia 76ers
With their first-round matchup against the Brooklyn Nets set to begin on April 15, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers spoke with Kendrick Perkins, who he used to coach during his days with the Boston Celtics from 2004 to 2011, about Sixers sharpshooter Georges Niang on ESPN’s NBA Today.
Perkins compared Niang to former Celtic and two-time NBA champion James Posey, to which Rivers had to say the following in response.
“That’s a great comparison,” Rivers said. “You gotta be a little bit of an instigator, which Pose was. Pose was a great instigator. He was the king of the foul after the foul. You gotta be able to speak up to the stars…Georges is great because Georges will tell Joel and James exactly what he thinks. That sounds nuts, but it’s really important when you have veteran guys off your bench that are willing to speak up to everybody. What’s right is right. I think that’s been a very important part to our team.”
Niang has been consistently involved in the Sixers’ rotation this season, averaging 8.4 points on 44.2% shooting from the field and 40.1% from three overall in 19.2 minutes a game over the course of 78 games.
Doc Rivers Praises Mikal Bridges’ Development
Rivers praised Nets wing Mikal Bridges for how well he’s done with an expanded role with the Nets compared to his previous team, the Phoenix Suns.
“He’s shown a little bit of different things,” Rivers said, per Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire. “He’s done all the things that he’s doing in Brooklyn that he did in Phoenix. He just didn’t have the opportunity to do that a lot and he didn’t have the way to do it and consistently. In Phoenix, he did it when they gave it to him. If he wasn’t going, they could go away from him and then someone else, (Devin) Booker or Chris Paul can do it.
Rivers added that Bridges has proven himself on a nightly basis with the Nets.
“Here (in Brooklyn), he has to do it every night and no one ever knows if a guy is capable of doing that. He’s proving that he is.”
Doc Rivers Calls Jalen McDaniels ‘The Last Piece’
While talking with Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer about the problem with playing “one-way guys,” Rivers explained how Jalen McDaniels was the Sixers’ final piece, believing that he doesn’t fit that description.
“The last piece was getting Jalen,” Rivers said. “The regular season and playoffs are so different. You can get away with the one-way guys all year, all regular season.
“Then the playoffs come, and then those guys that can just score or can just defend, they get put on an island and it’s hard for them. It’s hard for the coach. You have to play them in the right space with the right people. It takes a lot of thought into putting one-way guys on the floor.”
Rivers added that wings like McDaniels and De’Anthony Melton being good on both sides of the floor helps the Sixers.
“They can give you both,” he said, “and the more that you have, the better your basketball team is. And I think we’ve accomplished that overall.”