Tag: dave joerger

Dave Joerger to undergo cancer treatment

Philadelphia 76ers top assistant coach Dave Joerger is leaving the team for several weeks to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments for a form of “head and neck” cancer, he told ESPN. Joerger, 47, has undergone treatments while coaching for the past two weeks — missing only one road game — but the Sixers’ extended road trip requires him to step away and stay back for treatments in Philadelphia, he said.

Joerger told the Sixers players, …

Joerger told the Sixers players, assistant coaches and staff of his cancer in a postgame meeting after Saturday night’s loss to the Pacers in Indiana. He had already told a small group of Sixers officials — including coach Doc Rivers, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and owner Josh Harris — of his recent diagnoses.

“We have caught it early,” Joerger told …

“We have caught it early,” Joerger told ESPN. “I’m very lucky. I’ve got over a 90% chance of cure rate, but it’s very scary and it’s not enjoyable going through. …I can’t go on the road and do radiation and chemotherapy in different cities around the country. To continue my treatment, I need to step away from the team.”

“It’s sad, it hurts, but his spirit is …

“It’s sad, it hurts, but his spirit is extremely high,” said Tyrese Maxey. “So when someone is going through something, but their spirit is high, it makes you believe in them and trust in them, and really have faith in them. It was tough. I dropped my head immediately when Iheard it, but as soon as he started talking and telling us that he’ll be fine. He’s okay, his spirit is extremely high, that made me happy. I just gave him a big hug andtold him I’m praying for him and I love him.”

“Sad news for sure,” added Tobias …

“Sad news for sure,” added Tobias Harris. “We know he’s somebody who’s a fighter and somebody who’s going to do everything he can to push through and come out on top of it. For us, we’re definitely gonna miss him. Keep his family and him in all our prayers and just encourage him through this time to stay positive and just push through.”

Multiple Sixers express their love, support for coach Dave Joerger

The Philadelphia 76ers expressed their love and support for assistant coach Dave Joerger as he undergoes his cancer treatment.

Shortly after the Philadelphia 76ers dropped a tough one to the Indiana Pacers 118-111 to begin their 6-game road trip on Saturday, the team found out that assistant coach Dave Joerger had cancer and he was stepping away from the team to undergo chemotherapy.

Joerger is a beloved member of coach Doc Rivers’ staff and it is certainly tough to hear about this for any team, but especially one like the Sixers that is currently going through it at the moment as they move forward.

“We wanted to tell the players,” said Rivers. “Dae’s one tough guy. He’s been dealing with this for almost three weeks now, four weeks. He’s done some radiation and chemo already. That’s why he’s missed a couple of practice, but now it’s going to get to the tougher, heavy part and he’s going to be out for a while.”

Hearing news that somebody close to you has cancer is tough enough, but when it comes at a time like this one for the Sixers, they are understandably going to be emotional.

“It’s sad, it hurts, but his spirit is extremely high,” said Tyrese Maxey. “So when someone is going through something, but their spirit is high, it makes you believe in them and trust in them, and really have faith in them. It was tough. I dropped my head immediately when I heard it, but as soon as he started talking and telling us that he’ll be fine. He’s okay, his spirit is extremely high, that made me happy. I just gave him a big hug and told him I’m praying for him and I love him.”

Joerger does have the reputation of a fighter amongst the group so they all expressed their confidence that he will be able to win this battle with this disease.

“Sad news for sure,” added Tobias Harris. “We know he’s somebody who’s a fighter and somebody who’s going to do everything he can to push through and come out on top of it. For us, we’re definitely gonna miss him. Keep his family and him in all our prayers and just encourage him through this time to stay positive and just push through.”

It also helps that Joerger is keeping a positive attitude. Anybody who gets hit with this type of news could easily get down on themselves and being to get depressed. It’s human nature, but Joerger is choosing to stay positive and continue to fight this battle.

“Dave is an upbeat guy so seeing him every day and seeing how he is, to have to hear that after a tough loss, it was hard to hear,” said Andre Drummond. “He’s gonna be fine. He’s gonna come back better than ever. From what he said, he has a very high chance of beating this, so sure he’ll be fine. He’s tough.”

All the Sixers can really do at this moment in time is continue to pray for Joerger and think about him and support him. At this point, it will be their job to make sure that he is able to fight through this tough time.

“I kind of think for the group to hear from him, you can tell that it’s a tough time because we’re in the season and we’re going through it and now this comes up,” Harris added. “I think it just puts things in perspective like, you play basketball, we love it, but he’s going through something that’s bigger than basketball and for us as a group and a family, you just got to be there to support him, and encourage him through this process and keep his family in our prayers and really pray for success during this time.”

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Sixers assistant coach Dave Joerger leaving team to undergo chemotherapy

Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Dave Joerger will leave the team to undergo chemotherapy for his cancer.

The Philadelphia 76ers received some tough news on Saturday as they have found out that an important member of their team will be leaving for a while to undergo chemotherapy.

That important member is assistant coach Dave Joerger who is a guy who serves the role of offensive coordinator for coach Doc Rivers’ staff. This comes after Joerger has been undergoing treatments for his cancer for the past couple of weeks before the road trip is forcing him to stay in Philadelphia.

Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:

Joerger told the Sixers players, assistant coaches and staff of his cancer in a post-game meeting on Saturday night in Indiana. He had already told a small group of Sixers officials — including coach Doc Rivers, President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and owner Josh Harris — of his recent diagnoses.

Joerger, who says he has Stage 1 cancer, described his prognosis prior to Saturday’s game in a visit on an upcoming edition of ESPN’s “The Woj Pod” podcast.

“We have caught it early,” Joerger told ESPN. “I’m very lucky. I’ve got over a 90 percent chance of cure rate, but it’s very scary and it’s not enjoyable going through. …I can’t go on the road and do radiation and chemotherapy in different cities around the country. To continue my treatment, I need to step away from the team.”

“Dave is not only one of the most talented and respected coaches in the NBA, but he’s a great friend, colleague, husband, and father,” said Rivers via an official statement from the organization. “The same positivity, enthusiasm, and grit that have made him a successful coach will also carry him through his fight against cancer. I know I speak for everyone at the 76ers when I say, ‘Get well soon, we love you and we’ll be with you throughout this entire process. Your battle is our battle’.”

The best thing the Sixers can do right now is to continue to support Joerger and help him through what is certainly going to be a tough time for him and his family throughout his treatments.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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Sixers impressed by Seth Curry in first post All-Star break practice

The Philadelphia 76ers were happy with what they saw out of Seth Curry at practice on Wednesday.

The Philadelphia 76ers got back to work on Wednesday night in the Windy City as they prepared to take on the Chicago Bulls on Thursday while missing star duo Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. The two of them are in the league’s contact tracing protocols and will miss the game.

There was another key piece missing at practice on Wednesday and that was coach Doc Rivers who was feeling under the weather with a non-COVID related illness. In his place, assistant Dave Joerger took over the coaching duties as the team got back to work in Chicago.

“A little strange because generally, this is the most difficult practice of the season, in my opinion, as a coach,” said Joerger. “They’re still a little groggy, they’re like ‘Come on, I’d like to have two more days off on my break’ and so we just tried to bring a lot of juice a lot of energy. Certainly, we miss Doc and certainly also missing Ben and Jo out there, it had a bit of a strange feeling.”

There is one player who seemed to get back on the right path for the team and that was veteran guard Seth Curry. The veteran out of Duke was up and down after his bout with COVID back in January and he shot only 35.9% from deep over the final 19 games of the first half. This comes after he shot 59.6% from deep over his first nine games before being out with the virus.

As he got back to work on Wednesday, it looked like he had a spring in his step.

“He was not groggy!” laughed Joerger. “His body looked lively today I was loving it. I thought he looked sharp today, made shots, just seemed like maybe as much mental. You don’t know what he got hit with and having to try to fight back through that, I’ve not been through it, but it seemed like it was wearing on him a little bit and so we’re looking for big things from him in the second half.”

It is so important to have Curry get back into a groove. The Sixers brought him in here in order to provide spacing on the offensive end of the floor and in a few games where the team won’t have Embiid or Simmons, the team will need him to get back into his shooting groove.

As far as the two stars are concerned, Joerger did not have an update on them. However, Embiid is still expected to return Friday with Simmons set to return on Sunday if they keep testing negative.

“I am not the head coach in that area that I know what exactly the protocol is when they’ll be back,” Joerger stated. “I can’t speak to.”

Tipoff in Chicago is set for 8 p.m. EST on Thursday.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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