Getty Head coach Doc Rivers of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Philadelphia is infatuated with Jay Wright. He’s a proven winner and accomplished leader, with serious hometown street cred. Wright would be the perfect candidate to be the next head coach of the city’s professional basketball team.
And the Philadelphia 76ers tried to make that reality in 2020 before hiring Doc Rivers. Wright reportedly turned them down on two different occasions. He preferred to stay on the plush campus at Villanova University where he won two national championships while appearing in four Final Fours. Proven winner. Accomplished leader. Hometown hero. He checks all the boxes.
Naturally, with the Sixers floundering at 1-4, Philly fans are once again calling for Rivers to be fired. The lineups he’s running out there don’t seem to fit and the offense looks stagnant. Too much “individual basketball.” As the losses pile up, Wright sits comfortably in retirement on the Main Line amid local pleas for him to return and replace Rivers. Well, here is some good news and bad news.
Fire Doc Rivers. Hire Jay Wright.
Wright is coming back to the sidelines as an analyst for CBS Sports and Warner Brothers Discovery Sports starting on December 7. He’ll offer insight and analysis on college hoops there. But don’t hold your breath on him picking up the clipboard. Wright told The Inquirer’s Mike Jensen that he doesn’t see himself ever coaching again.
“I don’t see it,” Wright told Jensen. “I really don’t. I really believe that I’m finished with coaching. … The only reason I don’t say never is that everybody tells me, ‘You’re going to want to [coach again],’ and everybody keeps asking.”
Welcome to the team, @VUCoachJWright! 👏
Jay Wright joins as a #MarchMadness MBB studio analyst.
📰 t.co/rzurxulVDW
Sixers Fan Unleashes Brutal Doc Rivers Diss Track
The hate for Doc Rivers reached unfathomable levels on Twitter after one disgruntled fan released a brutal diss track about the championship-winning coach. Prezz Carter held nothing back on a spiteful rap track where he criticizes everything about Rivers, including his flawed offensive system and unwillingness to develop young big men.
Some lyrics: “You had Embiid and Harden and you ain’t win it all, I swear to God this dude’s a fraud … just another year that you underachieve, it’s time to pack your bags, the whole city wants you to leave.”
WOWWWWW!!!! Doc Rivers Diss!?? The Kawhi, PG AND Ben lines though 😳 Sixers fans, ROUGH start to the season. How y’all feeling about this!? 👀
There are also harsh assessments of his old Los Angeles Clippers and how they lost with Kawhi Leonard in his prime. He also takes aim at the Boston Celtics only winning one title despite having Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. Plus, there is a somewhat spirited defense of Ben Simmons and Brett Brown.
“Now I see why Ben didn’t want to play for you, you should thank that Celtics superteam for saving you … you didn’t bring up Reed or Bassey, you only go with vets, at this point I’d rather go with Brett [Brown].
“Phil Jackson even said that you knew how to lose, watching you coach is like a joke but we are not amused … The Process lost my trust the day you got the job, five years $40 million, Daryl [Morey] got us robbed.”
Odds Point to Rivers Being First Coach Fired
It’s the time of year where sports gambling websites are predicting which coach will be the first guy fired. Rivers is at the top of virtually every list out there, with Brooklyn’s Steve Nash coming in second. The fire under Rivers’ seat keeps getting hotter.
Per @SportsBettingAG Doc Rivers is the favorite for the first Head Coach to be fired in the NBA this season
