Kevin Garnett, Tony Allen give their thoughts on Sixers firing Doc Rivers

It was kind of shocking. At first, he got a winning record! 154 wins, 84 losses, something like that. I just think James Harden pretty much threw him under the bus. When they asked him that one question, interview was kind of shaky soon as I saw the interview, I was like, ‘Yeah, Doc probably on his way’, more so than anything when you look at resume, man he’s a winner. He’s a proven winner. He’s been—definitely been my inspiration coming into the league—father, like one of those coaches slash fathers that give you the real off the court. He’s gonna give you the real off the court. I think he pretty much tough-nosed you know? When you tough-nosed, a lot of people can’t take that. You know what I mean? Guys like us, we take that, and it fires us up. A lot of guys, it go the other way, man. I think that’s what position he really in.

First off, I was shocked. I was shocked. I thought Philly out of all teams straight up. Where we come from Philly. Let’s just go back 10 years. We’re making 10 years up. Matter fact, five years…man, Philly came out of a dark place of losing a bunch and then waiting on Embiid and then losing some more the Kawhi (expletive) was a gut punch. You know what I’m saying? And culture, man! Culture. I don’t think—today’s owners really understand or management in today’s world, especially in sports, no one wants to wait on anything and they want instant gratification. If they ain’t in two years, you know, and I felt like what Doc was trying to, at least appear to be, trying to establish some culture there. Like when you think of Philly coming in play the 76ers, you used to always know, it was gonna be tough. You know, (Derrick) Coleman, you know what I’m saying? You had Tyrone (Hill), you know, Matt Geiger, you had an idea of what you were stepping into or what kind of—and I felt like it was starting to sync with that. Joel Embiid being MVP this year taking another step, being responsible playing. I think having a responsibility to himself playing a lot more, at least it came off like that, man so I was mad from the perspective of you gotta give culture a chance to be like something on the stove man. It’s gotta simmer. It’s gotta turn. It’s gotta curate, man. I just feel like management just gave up too soon.