Report: No Truth To Buzz About Mike D’Antoni Replacing Doc Rivers With 76ers

The 76ers just traded for James Harden, and the trade of course was orchestrated by head of basketball operations Daryl Morey. And Harden and Morey were once together with the Rockets.

That has led to speculation that the Sixers may look to bring in coach Mike D’Antoni, also formerly of the Rockets when Harden and Morey were there.

Such news was relayed by Marc Stein of The Stein Line, undoubtedly a well-sourced veteran reporter if there ever was one.

Here is what Stein wrote about D’Antonoi, current 76ers coach Doc Rivers, Harden and star center Joel Embiid.

“Rivers might have a more significant problem to manage than merely tuning out the naysayers questioning his presence on the Top 15 list. The conspiracy theory already making the rounds in league coaching circles holds that Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey will eventually want Mike D’Antoni to take over in the hot seat for Philadelphia’s new Joel Embiid/James Harden tag team after D’Antoni’s offensive creativity helped catapult Harden to three scoring titles in Houston.”

But for now, that is all just speculation, per Kyle Neubeck of the Philly Voice. And here is what Neubeck wrote:

“Checked in on rumor regarding Morey looking to replace Rivers with D’Antoni. Was shot down instantly by multiple team sources, who noted the job Rivers has done this year in strange circumstances in addition to Embiid’s leap under Doc’s watch.”

Now, it does seem like a long shot that the 76ers would want to replace Rivers right now, and the idea probably serves as nothing more than an unnecessary distraction.

Rivers has done a pretty decent job, especially given the Ben Simmons ordeal. He clearly got the men in uniform to focus on the task at hand. Without Simmons, the 76ers have been every bit as good. They presumably will be even more dangerous with Harden.

Besides, what’s D’Antoni ever won with his bombs-away offensive approach.

That said, not many thought Harden would end up with the 76ers, especially before the trade deadline last week. (Nets coach Steve Nash even outright denied a Harden trade would happen at all.)

So it’s not outside the realm of possibility. Morey is an analytics guy, through and through, and believes wholeheartedly in the three-ball. Just like D’Antoni — whose last full-time job was as Nash’s assistant.

So while it doesn’t seem likely that the 76ers would really want to replace a winning coach such as Rivers, you just never really know. These are, after all, the new 76ers. And never forget that Harden is D’Antoni fan.