The Philadelphia 76ers ended January at the top of the Eastern Conference at 15-6 and that amount of success brings individual accolades. The Sixers had a lot of members of their team worthy to win some awards and that is what they did.
Doc Rivers brought home Coach of the Month for December/January for his work on his first month of the job. He has done a terrific job making adjustments on the fly and he has done a great job of getting the most out of his players.
Despite winning the award, Rivers was indifferent to the news.
“Not much reaction, to be honest,” he said. “It’s nice, obviously, but all it means is that your players are playing well, your staff is doing well, and you’re probably healthy. I don’t make much of them, to be honest, but I’d rather have them than not, I guess because that means that your team’s playing well and you’re doing some right things.”
Seth Curry, another newcomer to the team alongside Rivers, was happy to see his coach take home the award.
“We got the best record in the league right now in the Eastern Conference,” he said. “We got off to a good start and when you win games everybody gets the accolades on the team. Coach of the Month is just a direct correlation of a team’s record. He’s done a good job of getting us locked in early in the season and we’re getting better as the weeks go on.”
The biggest thing Rivers has done is hold everybody accountable, which was an issue under former coach Brett Brown. He wants everybody to be locked in when the time comes and he has done a great job of making sure the team understands the message.
“I think he holds everybody accountable,” Curry added. “He gives us a good balance of giving us freedom on the floor and holding us accountable for our play on both ends of the floor. Everybody’s shaping into their roles and we’re learning what it takes to win on a nightly basis so it’s been a lot of fun to start the season.”
Another newcomer to the Sixers is young big man Tony Bradley and he even got a start from Rivers in the last game Embiid missed. He is a player looking to find his way in the league and Rivers has helped him with that.
“To me, I think it’s a system of what he’s implementing in what he’s telling us to do, coaching wise,” said Bradley. “He’s been doing it for a long time and coaching for a long time, so we have complete trust in what he’s doing. I think it’s paying off and it’s working. Congrats to coach.”
Now, the Sixers are heading into February with a matchup with the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday looking to keep their success going.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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