“I think I do a terrific job”: Doc Rivers Will Be Back

Brace yourselves, Philadelphia 76ers fans. Despite yet another disappointingly early playoff exit, head coach Doc Rivers will apparently be back. 

Rivers now has a vote of confidence from team president Daryl Morey, the man who held out for James Harden before trading holdout Ben Simmons. When Morey was asked—with Rivers sitting next to him on the podium—if he can guarantee that Doc will be back next season, he replied, "Yes. Now, different question (laughs)." 

Rivers, obviously a supremely confident man, insisted to the gathered media following last night's loss that his Sixers have outplayed expectations,  despite going out in the second round yet again. 

"I don't worry about my job," retorted Rivers when asked by a media member if he's worried about it. "I think I do a terrific job, and if you don't, then you should write it... When I first got there, no one picked us to be anywhere."

The facts would not exactly back up his statement: The Sixers won an average of 50 games over an 82-game season in the three previous years before Rivers' arrival, then went on to go 49-23 in his first year, losing in the second round of the playoffs, and 51-31 this season, once again losing in the second round. 

In the 'day-after' news conference, Rivers clung to the excuse that they were without Joel Embiid for the first two games of the Miami series. "I don't know how that's forgotten about. And I don't know if Joel was ever right again, with the thumb, with the face."

The Sixers are 100-54 in the regular season in Rivers' two years, but after losing Game 6 Thursday night to the Miami Heat, Rivers up is now 14-17 in elimination games in his career as a head coach.