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The Philadelphia 76ers were manned by Brett Brown for seven seasons and he guided the team from The Process era into respectability and title contention. After a tough season on the floor where they took a step back, the team let him go and they brought in Doc Rivers to replace him.
Rivers is a splashy hire as he is a guy with a great reputation around the league and he has the respect of his players. However, after 21 seasons of coaching in the league, he was ready for a break. Then general manager Elton Brand and the Sixers brought him back into the fray.
Rivers’ son, Austin, hopped on with The Ringer and he explained why his dad took Philadelphia’s job:
He was like ‘Man, this Philly opportunity is a great opportunity’. He’s just really excited about Philly man, like he was so excited. There was a lot of other great teams that had great, you know, maybe situations that were going to offer him a job. He wanted the Philly job.
It is easy to see why the Philadelphia job is so appealing. The Sixers were very close to at least getting to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019 before the Kawhi Leonard shot and they are led by two young stars in Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid.
Austin Rivers added:
He’s like, ‘Man, listen, they were a bounce roll away two years ago from going to the Finals. I mean, when Kawhi Leonard hit that shot. You know what I mean? Now granted, we don’t have Jimmy Butler, but we have still two young stars’. The East is, it’s not the West where it’s like a gauntlet, and you know the Western Conference to get to the Finals. So it was appealing for him for a lot of reasons and I think the last time he was in the East, he did well. You know what I mean? He won a champion. I think he likes being back there. He’s from Chicago. You know, I mean, there’s a lot of variables that go into this he’s closer to home, and I don’t think he can do anything else, but coach.
The younger Rivers had an interest in joining Philadelphia before deciding to join the New York Knicks who play in the same division as the Sixers. So he will have the chance to see his dad a couple of times a year when the two teams match up. [lawrence-related id=39569,39554,39542]