BOSTON — When Doc Rivers took over as coach of the Philadelphia 76ers before the 2020-21 season, the goal was to continue to develop Joel Embiid into the player everybody believed he could be and what he wanted to be.
Embiid was a fine player before Rivers arrived, but there was work that had to be done. There had to be an understanding. There had to be a commitment, and that is what Rivers wanted out of his star big man.
In all three seasons under Rivers, Embiid has been an MVP candidate. He finished as the runner-up in 2021 and 2022 before he won the award this time.
“I remember the first conversation that we had when he got here was obviously about a bunch of things, but about basketball, I think he just wanted me to figure out what works and what I wanted to be,” Embiid said of Rivers. “Obviously, as we got deeper into the conversation, he started making me understand that to be who I think I am and who I think I should be is to make sure I just knew my spots on the floor and where I wanted the ball and that I had to go and kinda perfect it and work on it over and over and over and that helped a lot.”
That spot on the floor has been at the elbows. Rivers showed him on film that he can be the most effective from that spot on the floor rather than just as a post player.
“Then we went back and looked at film,” Embiid continued. “I always go back to the playoffs earlier in my career. I was just a post player and it was easy to double and it was harder to score. We just looked at it and we figured it out. We were like a better spot on the floor is the nail and the elbows and the mid-range so we started working on it over and over and over and I think that’s one of the biggest things.”
Despite his faults, Rivers is a Hall of Fame coach. He has gotten the most out of a lot of rosters and he has helped players take the next level in their careers. He has done the same for Embiid.
“He made me understand that for me to be as successful as I want, I just gotta find the spots on the floor where I’m extremely comfortable and make a living out of it,” the MVP finished.
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