Could Glenn Rivers Actually Go To The Lakers?

The old saying goes, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Glenn Rivers (Sidebar: no, I will not call him Doc. There are two Philly sports related doctors as far as I’m concerned — Erving and Halladay — and quite frankly, Rivers isn’t cool enough nor has he done enough in this town to earn that nickname. He gets his birth name and he’ll like it), the current coach of the 76ers, has been linked to the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching vacancy since…before they even fired Frank Vogel.

 

The fact that the rumors still exist even after Sixers President of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey, said publicly that Rivers would remain the Sixers coach next season is certainly noteworthy.

 

 

The reality is, until the Lakers hire their next head coach this rumor is going to continue to swirl. The Lakers have not made it a secret that they are enamored by the idea of Rivers being their next head coach. I don’t think they’ve watched any of Rivers’ playoff teams in the last 13 years.

 

With that, combined with a myriad of other reasons, Sixers fans seem to be ecstatic about the possibility of Rivers coaching somewhere other than Philadelphia next season. There certainly are legitimacy to these rumors, as they’ve come from reputable sources and have stayed in the news cycle for a few weeks. Whether that possibility is realistic, however, is a whole different story.

 

How Could This Happen?

 

The easiest way for this rumor to become a reality is for the Sixers to go against what Daryl Morey said not even two weeks ago, and fire Rivers. The likelihood of Morey and the rest of the front office completely reversing course and firing Rivers after publicly stating he’d be back is lower than my confidence in a Matisse Thybulle three-pointer. It’s not happening.

 

The second way for Rivers to go to the Lakers would be if he takes complete control of the situation. Rivers could resign from his head coaching duties with the Sixers and bolt to Los Angeles and take the head coaching job. From the Lakers perspective, this seems like best case scenario for them. They get the coach they wanted all along and he seemingly will have fallen right into their laps.

 

While the Lakers could potentially be investigated for tampering in this situation, especially if Rivers signs with the Lakers immediately after resigning in Philadelphia, it’s not like the Lakers would face any real trouble. Tampering penalties in the past, such as the case with the Bulls and Lonzo Ball as well as the Heat and Kyle Lowry just last offseason, only resulted in the loss of each team’s second round pick.

 

The most recent example of a coach resigning from head coaching duties with one team to coach for another team the next season is Rick Carlisle. The all-time wins leader for the Dallas Mavericks resigned from his coaching duties with the team last offseason and became the head coach of the lowly Indiana Pacers in 2021-2022.

 

The final, and most likely option if this rumor were to come to fruition, is a trade. While it is extremely rare, you can trade head coaches. In fact, Rivers has been traded before as a head coach. He was dealt from Boston to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2013 for a 2015 first round pick. He went on to spend seven seasons as the Clippers coach and Senior VP of basketball operations before he was fired after blowing yet another playoff series lead in 2020.

 

 

Let’s Get ‘Er Done!

 

Easy as pie, let’s get a trade done, right? Well, not really. In the small history of head coaches being traded, the trades have almost always involved some sort of draft compensation, and don’t usually include any players. That’s a problem in this situation because the Lakers have traded almost every pick they own for the foreseeable future.

 

They could potentially owe the New Orleans Pelicans their next three first round picks, including their 2022 and 2023 first rounders. They would also owe the Pelicans one of either their 2024 or 2025 first rounders. The next first round pick of theirs that they outright own is in 2026, and they can’t even trade that because they don’t know if the Pelicans will be using their 2025 first rounder yet, and the NBA’s Stepien rule doesn’t allow a team to trade first round picks in back-to-back seasons.

 

Confused yet? Me too.

 

In essence, the earliest first round pick the Sixers could receive from the Lakers in this scenario would be in 2027. Would the Lakers really be willing to give up their first opportunity to own a pick they could potentially trade five years before it’s supposed to be made? I don’t put anything past a team with LeBron James and the willingness of whatever team he’s on to get what he wants, but even this seems a tad far-fetched.

 

While I think the Sixers could potentially look at that 2027 first rounder with googly eyes considering they gave their own 2027 first rounder to Brooklyn for James Harden in February, I still don’t believe a trade between the two teams is likely.

 

Should The Sixers Consider This Deal?

 

From my perspective, yes, they absolutely should. Let’s be real about Glenn Rivers here for a second: he’s a well above average coach in the regular season. He’s won over 1,000 regular season games across 23 seasons and holds an impressive .587 winning percentage.

 

Unfortunately for ole Glenn, the regular seasons means diddly squat without postseason success. Double unfortunately for Rivers, is that he has a 104-100 postseason record. A near .500 record in the postseason is nothing to sing about, especially given the fashion that Rivers has lost some of those games.

 

Rivers is the only coach in the history of the sport to have blown three separate 3-1 series leads. Not to mention the performance he put on a year ago against Atlanta, which featured the Sixers blowing not one, but two of the biggest leads in NBA playoff history. As if that wasn’t enough, look at the graphic below for blown leads between 2020 and 2021. Rivers makes up HALF of the list, and no other coach appears more than once. Truly astonishing for such a small sample size.

 

 

I think the Sixers success in the regular season has a lot less to do with coaching and more to do with the fact that they employ Joel Hans Embiid. Furthermore, I think the same could be said for Rivers’ regular season success throughout his career. The teams he’s coached have been loaded with talent. In my opinion, his playoff numbers say a lot more about who he is as a coach than his regular season numbers do. He’s an average coach who, for the most part, has been handed above-average rosters.

 

In the playoffs, coaching is everything, and the Sixers have been outcoached in every one of their playoff losses since 2018. As long as Rivers is on the bench for Philly, I don’t expect that to change in the future.

 

So, Will The Sixers Consider This Deal?

 

It’s no question I think the Sixers should consider letting go of Rivers. Unfortunately, the question of will they holds a lot more weight than whether or not I believe they should.

 

Morey was pretty definitive of his answer on whether or not Rivers would be back next season. Despite all the rumors circling around Rivers and his supposed attraction to the Lakers job, there has been no indication from Rivers or anyone in his camp that he wants out. Much to the chagrin of Sixers fans, at this point I fully expect Rivers to be back on the bench for Philly next season.

 

 

 

By Matt Szczypiorski | May 24, 2022
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