The Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to fire head coach Adrian Griffin and replace him with the legendary Doc Rivers earlier this season caught a lot of people by surprise.
In his first season as the Bucks’ head coach, Griffin had posted a 30-13 record. They had the best record in the Association at the time of his firing.
Since then, Rivers has overseen a Bucks team that has lost seven of 10. It really isn’t a great look for general manager Jon Horst and Co.
Rivers, 62, just recently opened up about the process that led to him being hired by the Bucks. To say that he was surprised to get the call would be an understatement.
“Personally. I’ll be honest. I told the ownership when they called (that) I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” Doc Rivers said on Sirius XM NBA Radio.
Milwaukee’s decision to fire Griffin received a ton of push back. But it became apparent that the team’s stars were not happy with his coaching performance despite winning 30 of the 43 games he coached.
Related: Doc Rivers complains about timing of Milwaukee Bucks hire
As for Rivers, the NBA championship head coach is already frustrated with how the Bucks are playing under his watch.
“First play of the game, we gamble for the 50th time in the corner. Guy drives, we have to help, leads to a 3. On our set, two guys forget what we’re running. Then we missed a shot and nobody gets back,” Rivers said after a recent loss. “That’s how we start out the third quarter. That tells you all you need to know about where our heads were. We had some guys here, we had some guys in Cabo.”
- Doc Rivers record (Career): 1100-770
The pressure is squarely on Rivers and his Bucks coming out of the All-Star Break. They added future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard in an off-season trade to team up with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Technically, this team should be competing for a championship. Instead, it heads into Friday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 35-21 record and as the third seed in the Eastern Conference.