After the Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, former NBA star Rasheed Wallace criticized his former coach Doc Rivers on “That’s What Sheed Said” because he doesn’t believe the players respect him, nor does he make adjustments.
“You gotta get somebody in there that the players respect,” Wallace said. “He doesn’t make adjustments. That’s just from being in the locker room with him for that one season. That seems to always be his biggest knock. If his team is up, you don’t have to coach s*** then. When you are in the trenches, and you are going against another team and another good coach, you’ve gotta be more than a locker room manager.”
Wallace revealed that he depends on the players to make those adjustments and why that doesn’t work.
“He depends more on the players to make those adjustments, but coach, you have to come in there and make adjustments as well, especially when what you’re trying hasn’t worked.”
Wallace, who played under Rivers for one year with the Celtics, gave an example of what it was like to be coached by Rivers.
“When we were in Boston, as far as the players out there on the floor, we were the ones that made the adjustments,” Wallace said. “Come out of the huddle right before we got on the floor, we huddled up and said, ‘Alright look, F that, we gonna do this. Boom boom boom.’”
Insider Reveals Tension Between Doc Rivers & James Harden
On “The Anthony Gargano Show,” NBA Insider Ramona Shelburne revealed that Rivers and James Harden did not get along too well on the Sixerd. Shelburne gave the full details on why the two did not get along.
“The Harden-Doc Rivers thing was never great,” Shelburne said. “There was a lot behind it. There was this team meeting I had heard about where Doc tried to say something about (Harden) going out on the road and how does that look, and how does that look to your teammates. If you’re going to do that, you’ve really got to show up in the game. There was a lot of trying to hold James accountable in certain ways.”
With Rivers now fired, that could impact whether Harden decides to stay or if he leaves for another team, though Shelburne also reported that she did not know if Harden requested for Rivers to be fired.
Doc Rivers’ Thoughts on Job Security
After the Sixers lost to the Celtics, Rivers spoke with Heavy Sports’ Steve Bulpett about the job security of the coach.
Rivers said that it doesn’t matter how much good a coach does for a franchise. If the team gets embarrassed, the coach is the scapegoat.
“Just look at the last two weeks,” Rivers said in reference to Mike Budenholzer’s and Monty Williams’ firings. “That’s all you have to do. I mean, Bud has a .693 winning percentage and won a title two years ago, and he’s unemployed. Monty, to me, changed their entire franchise. Forget the coaching part. Monty changed their complete franchise. That franchise was a laughingstock, and because they get blown out … I guess he was supposed to, I don’t know. I don’t know what he was supposed to do. They made a trade which I think will be a good trade in the long run, but probably not in the short run, and Monty got blamed for that.”
Rivers told Bulpett that he knows such a burden comes with the territory of being a coach.
“But when I talk to coaches — young coaches — in the summer, I tell them one thing: we sign up for it, and it’s part of it. It’s the worst part of our jobs, but it’s part of our jobs, and there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s always easier to replace one.”
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Rasheed Wallace Piles on Ex-Sixers Coach Doc Rivers