Doc Rivers Will Be The Next 76ers Head Coach, Embiid Drops Clues He’s Leaving

5 Comments

Videos by OutKick

Doc Rivers is reportedly in agreement to become the newest coach of the Philadelphia 76ers and the future of Joel Embiid is now in question. Not that the signing itself raised questions, but the timing of Embiid’s tweets, did.

Judge for yourself.

These lyrics (for the older crowd out here) are from Drake’s song “So Far Gone” and many are taking this as a sign. Drake’s chorus for this song sings “I just wanna be successful” 3x over, but should we read into this? His middle name is sounding out troll if we’re reading that correctly, so maybe not.

Athlete’s today have become more calculated and in control of their careers than ever before, so it’s likely this means SOMETHING. Signing Doc Rivers is seen as a win by the Philly front office and focus should be on basketball. He instead uses the signing to throw gasoline on the fire for breaking up the Simmons-Embiid duo.

Most basketball analysts, like ESPN’s Tim Legler, have already criticized Joel’s lack of improvement and tensions are beginning to rise. Rumors that the Sixers big man was unhappy are well documented as he tweeted about Jimmy Butler during the conference finals.

Possible that Joel Embiid is unhappy the team decided to move on from Butler and wanted Ben Simmons shipped out instead. No telling how he really feels, but the Philadelphia front office will answer these questions this offseason.

Either way, Simmons inability to shoot alongside Embiid’s back to the basket offense grinds like two logs. Philly, fix it.

Written by Gary Sheffield, Jr

Gary Sheffield Jr is the son of should-be MLB Hall of Famer, Gary Sheffield. He covers basketball and baseball for OutKick.com, chats with the Purple and Gold faithful on LakersNation, and shitposts on Twitter. You can follow him at GarySheffieldJr

5 Comments

Leave a Reply

    • Lemme just up the DQ (dick quotient) here…
      Doc…this ain’t a turn-key operation like the Celtics and the Clippers…
      do ya think you can “re-build”…I mean…it’s gotta suck that you got a “rebuild”…
      You’ve got millions in the bank…living the life, no?
      How about you being a HC Emiritus?
      How about guiding a young Black Coach who could use a hand up…a leg up?
      I’m sure there’s PLENTY of talented young coaches out there…would you wanna help them???

      A short story…one worth reading:

      He was just months into his first job on a college coaching staff, an assistant Director of Basketball Operations. That’s the bottom of the college coaching ranks, but for a basketball lifer who was trying to find his way after the ball had stopped bouncing, it was a foot in the door.

      You don’t say no to that.

      One night after a game, the DOBO — then a 20-something, African-American man — was cutting film when his head coach called. He was at a bar down the street and he needed someone to bring him his car. Not unusual. Chauffeuring the head coach around might as well be written into the assistant DOBO job description.

      So he parks the car outside the bar and walks in. His head coach, who is white, is sitting at a table with a dozen of his white friends. One of those friends, a booster at the school, says, “Hey Coach, is this your new recruiter?”

      “And everyone, including [my head coach], bursts out laughing,” the DOBO said. He did not want to be identified in this piece for fears that it could impact his ability to get hired in the future. “At that moment, I decided I would never be coined as a recruiter.”

      That term — recruiter — is a code word in coaching circles, one with a negative connotation. It refers to the young, black assistant on a coaching staff who can relate to the black players a white head coach needs to win basketball games. It’s a label given to guys who walk into urban high schools and the living room of black families, that have the relationships that basketball programs need with high school and AAU coaches that allows them to bring talent onto a college campus.

      Recruiting well isn’t the problem. The problem’s the insinuation.

      Referring to a coach, particularly a black coach, as a recruiter implies that recruiting is the only reason they are on staff. They’re not there to develop players. They’re not there to scout or game plan. They’re not there to draw up practices plans, or to mentor the athletes on the roster, or raise money for the athletic department, or glad-hand administrators and boosters, or to evaluate which prospects should be offered.

      They’re there to get the players they’re told to get.

Leave a Reply