The Philadelphia 76ers are a team that is still working out the kinks under new coach Doc Rivers, but they are also at the top of the Eastern Conference and they have a legitimate MVP candidate in Joel Embiid as well as two other All-Star candidates in Ben Simmons and Tobias Harris.
Harris, in particular, is having the best season of his career numbers-wise as he is averaging a career-high 20.8 points per game, 7.7 rebounds, and he is shooting 51.8% from the floor and 42.6% from deep. These were numbers he could not obtain under former coach Brett Brown and similar to what he put up under Rivers when he was with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Harris joined “The Jalen & Jacoby Podcast” and he was asked the difference with Rivers coaching them rather than Brown:
I would say, it’s just been a transition for our whole team. I think we grew from last year to this year just in terms of maturity, and then you bring coach Doc in and Doc, he warrants respect the minute he walks in the door, and he’s a coach that, for this team, he’s always pushing us each and every day. Win or loss we’re trying to find something in a different way to get better. He just has guys locked in. He’s holding us accountable night and night out and really the goal that he’s trying to get this whole team to realize is, we have a chance to win a championship and we need to get there. So he’s holding us to that standard each and every game that we play and it’s been a pleasure to be back with Doc, and to be coached by him this season. I’m having a lot of fun and so are the guys.
There has always been talk in the past that Brown did not hold the Sixers accountable and so far, that has been the opposite under Rivers as he is making sure guys understand what they need to do in order to win games.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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