Ranking the 6 reported candidates to replace fired 76ers coach Doc Rivers

The Philadelphia 76ers are in need of a new head coach after firing Doc Rivers on Tuesday, as reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

They’ll likely be a desirable location for the top candidates on the market thanks to a roster that includes MVP Joel Embiid and budding star Tyrese Maxey, who was their second-leading scorer in the playoffs. James Harden could also potentially return.

The Sixers were able to reach the second round of the playoffs in each of three years under Rivers, however, they haven’t been to a conference final since 2001. The next coach will be tasked with maximizing Embiid’s impact in the postseason and ending that streak.

Mike Budenholzer, Sam Cassell, Mike D’Antoni, Nick Nurse, Frank Vogel and Monty Williams are expected to be included in Philly’s search, Wojnarowski reports.

These are FTW’s odds on each to land the job.

With James Harden looming as their biggest offseason question mark, the Sixers could make a coaching move to lure him back in free agency. The firing of Rivers might have been the start of that process.

The next step would be to grab a coach Harden has a better rapport with, and nobody ranks higher than D’Antoni who did a lot of winning with Harden and Sixers president Daryl Morey in Houston.

No name on the coaching market is hotter right now than Nurse, who won a title with the Toronto Raptors in 2019.

The Sixers are very familiar with his work, as Toronto went through them on that championship run. Nurse’s Raptors also took two games from the Sixers as underdogs in last year’s playoffs.

Cassell has been waiting to lead a team for a very long time as an assistant coach, including the last nine years under Rivers, dating back to the Clippers.

It sounds like he’ll get an opportunity to interview in Philadelphia, and he’ll have an inside track after being around the team for the last three years.

Vogel is the most recent title-winning coach on this list, and he did so under maybe the most intense pressure, coaching a team with LeBron James — in the NBA bubble.

That’s also when Anthony Davis was at his best in the playoffs. Sixers fans would love that for Embiid.

Williams’ recent playoff disappointments may be too fresh for Philly to get excited about bringing him into a similar win-now situation, but he’s only a year removed from being named NBA Coach of the Year.

He improved Phoenix’s win total in each of his first three years, including a franchise-record 64 wins in 2021-22.

Speaking of fresh playoff disappointment, Budenholzer’s conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks were just eliminated by an 8-seed, so I don’t see Philly going this direction.

However, he’s still a title-winning coach with a long track record of regular season success, so he can’t be completely dismissed.

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