Sixers set to make two new hires for Doc Rivers' coaching staff
Sam Cassell and Dan Burke join Dave Joerger, who was previously named an assistant.
The 76ers are adding two new assistant coaches to Doc Rivers' staff.
On a day when it was learned that Daryl Morey will be hired as the Sixers president of basketball operations, Los Angeles Clippers assistant coach Sam Cassell will be added to the staff, according to sources. That was expected to happen if Cassell didn’t receive a head coaching offer.
In addition, the Sixers confirmed an ESPN report that Dan Burke, an assistant with the Indiana Pacers since 1997 and who earlier this season said he “hated” the Sixers, will also be hired as an assistant. And Rivers has retained Eric Hughes for his assistant coaching staff. Hughes spent last season as a player development coach under former head coach Brett Brown. However, he had assistant-coaching stints with the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors.
Meanwhile, Rivers is expected to add former Clippers head video coordinator Pete Dominquez to an associate-coach position, according The Athletic.
Cassell has been an NBA assistant for 11 years, including the last six with the Clippers. In 15 NBA seasons, he played on three champions, two with Houston (1994 and 1995) and one with Boston in 2008, when Rivers was the head coach.
Cassell and Burke join an experienced staff that also includes former Memphis and Sacramento head coach Dave Joerger.
Burke may have a few questions to answer when he comes to Philadelphia. Two days after the Pacers lost to the Sixers, 119-116, last November, Burke didn’t exactly talk about the Sixers in complementary terms during a television interview.
“I hate that team,” Burke said. “I really wanted to win that game. I think [Joel] Embiid gets away with a bunch of [bleep] the league ignores. It would have been a good one to just walk away from.”
Never one to miss an opportunity, Embiid weighed in on Burke’s hiring, tweeting, "Yes sir!!! Now we can enjoy together what the league lets me get away with #PhillyForever.
Before going to the Pacers, Burke, 61, spent eight seasons as a video coordinator and scout with the Portland Trail Blazers from 1989-1997.