The NBA has been recently ruled by the Golden State Warriors. Led by the incredible shooting of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson as well as a few seasons of Kevin Durant, the Warriors made five straight NBA Finals appearances and won three titles.
The NBA itself is a copycat league so a majority of the league tried to emulate the Warriors and try and copy their shooting. However, not everybody has a once in a lifetime shooter such as Curry or even Thompson.
“I think you have to be who you are,” said new Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers. “I think the mistake a lot of teams have made is that everyone wanted to be Golden State, but nobody can shoot like Golden State so, to me, everyone made a mistake.”
The Sixers went the complete opposite direction as the Warriors. They are relying on their size led by Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Al Horford as well as guys who can play all over the floor in Tobias Harris and Josh Richardson. It is their size coupled with their switchability that has Rivers very excited for what’s to come with this team.
“You have to be the best version of you and not apologize for that,” he explained. “This team has great size, great athleticism, great multi-positional players, I think that is the new way. What I do like from afar is this team has the ability to morph three or four different lineups that can create problems for other teams. That’s something they definitely can do here.”
With that being said, Rivers did also acknowledge that changes must be made to truly move forward and win. Adjustments are a huge part of any team winning and that is what he will have to do with this current roster. He will have to make changes and adapt to what is going on around him.
“I’m always changing,” he finished with. “I don’t think you can ever stop growing as a person. If we’re going to win, you just can’t keep doing what you’ve always done and think you’re going to get different results. We have to do something different. I talk about it often, putting a deposit into the bank, and at some point, you can make a withdrawal, so that’s giving up something. I think every single player’s going to have to do that. We all have to. It’s the only way we can win. You have to give up yourself. I’m willing to do that and I’m hoping my players will be willing to do that as well.” [lawrence-related id=38148,38145,38142]