What a big mistake the Milwaukee Bucks made.
After firing Adrian Griffin just 43 games into his head-coaching career, the Bucks became perhaps the viable name least likely to meet the expectations and increased pressure in Milwaukee: doctor rivers,
There are a lot of factors at work in the Milwaukee, none of which are likely to be characteristic of any particular river. This is a 30-13 team that recently fired its head coach, which means every step, stumble, struggle and play will be magnified — and requires steady coaching that keeps its players intrigued outside the locker room. Save yourself from drama.
The Giannis Antetokounmpo-Damian Lillard tandem needs to be properly and fully unlocked. Rivers never did that with the duo of Joel Embiid and James Harden. Neither did the trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. And so on.
And, most importantly, the fact that you don’t fire a head coach boasting one of the NBA’s best records unless you believe he is incapable of even making a deep postseason run – something that Rivers hasn’t done that since his new players arrived in the middle. School.
This is not some idle, needless level of concern for this Bucks team and the choices they made. Rivers has proven himself time and again — and certainly since leading the Boston Celtics to a championship. 16 Years Ago – Unable to lead ambitious championship teams anywhere near as well.
This caution in turning to Rivers is also an open secret in the NBA.
When news broke that Griffin was out, and Rivers could be his replacement, a rival NBA executive sent this message to CBS Sports: “And the other Eastern Conference contenders breathed a sigh of relief.”
There is a reason for that relief.
Rivers is literally one of those coaches who has most often snatched failure from the jaws of NBA postseason success. again. and then. and then.
In its illustrious history, the NBA has blown a 3-1 series lead only 13 times and, somehow, Rivers has coached three of them. He is 6–10 in Game 7, the most losses ever for a coach in NBA history. Ten. Obviously, this is too much. And he was 17-33 in games in which his teams had a chance to win a playoff series, which is a brutal win rate of 34%. This is the largest loss for a coach in such a scenario in NBA history.
There are several reasons why Rivers is a uniquely poor option for Bucks general manager Jon Horst and other decision makers in Milwaukee. But first and foremost is Rivers’ almost astonishing postseason shortcomings since winning the championship in Boston.
He had a star-studded team for seven seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers and never made a single conference finals, which Sixers fans will be familiar with. Because during his three years in Philly, while coaching the guy who dropped 70 points the night before, Rivers’ teams again failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs.
Maybe that’s because Rivers’ teams have also blown 3-2 leads in several series — four, for those counting, including against the Celtics last year when he still coached that Sixers team.
It also explains why Rivers is a confusing choice for the Bucks’ job. While there are several serious potential postseason landmines in the East – the Heat, the new-look Pacers, the red-hot Cavs – there are two big dogs Milwaukee will have to contend with to reach the Finals.
One is the Celtics. The other is the Sixers – the team that became so convinced of Rivers’s inability to succeed that they fired him last season.
That means, with the Bucks hiring Rivers, he left Nick Nurse behind to hire his assistant, whom he fired just 43 games into his coaching career, only to have that guy hired him. Turned to what the nurse had successfully converted to Philly.
Why, then, would Milwaukee turn to Rivers with this history of lost series, the heartbreak and disappointment, and the optics of the whole thing? Why has Griffin’s firing certainly increased the pressure on those in Milwaukee to now turn to this particular coach?
It is difficult to know. Perhaps the idea is that he is a “winner”, a notion that the facts do not support at all. Perhaps that’s because many see him as a “cultured” guy who can create magic in the locker room and among the stars. But if you suggested the idea to rival NBA executives and coaches, at least several would look at it approvingly. There’s a lot to suggest that Rivers is no “great culture” creator as many in the media have tried to sell us.
This approach recognizes that Rivers has often thrown his players under the proverbial bus rather than leading them toward real success. His greatest skill since Boston has been survival rather than success, playing games rather than winning enough of them. Ask DeAndre Jordan. Ask Ben Simmons. And now, perhaps, ask the suddenly unemployed Adrian Griffin.
Because according to The Athletic, Rivers was hired to help the rookie head coach “to serve as a veteran coaching voice to help Griffin find a path forward through the season.”
And how has Rivers helped that head coach? It seems that pulling a Dick Cheney and using his voice helped that organization come to the conclusion that the Bucks really needed Doc Rivers.
This is some real Game of Thrones stuff. And it’s a reminder that Rivers is capable of going from one great position to the next – contender, contender, contender.
But what he didn’t do is win. Not in any permanent way. Not in the playoffs.
The Bucks, like the Clippers and Sixers before them, have fallen for the siren song of Rivers. But they’re likely to learn the same lesson Philly learned less than a year ago: Doc Rivers may be great at selling the idea of Doc Rivers, but he’s bound to be a mistake in the business of coaching basketball teams. Are waiting.
