After the Bucks fired coach Adrian Griffith, the front office thought that the veteran coaching of Doc Rivers would propel them to greater heights. However, ever since Doc has taken over the Milwaukee Bucks, their performances have dwindled even further. In this wake, JJ Redick blasted Doc Rivers for worsening Bucks’ season. He even accused the long-time coach of dodging responsibility.
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On ESPN‘s First Take, Redick acknowledged that it is difficult to take over a team mid-season and expect immediate results. However, what irks him about Rivers is the coach taking undue credit and shifting the blame on his team.
“It’s always an excuse, it’s always throwing your[Doc River’s] team under the bus. They lose to Memphis, ”Oh it’s the player’s fault”. Memphis was playing G-League guys and two-way guys!”
Redick also pointed out that, Doc is now taking credit for James Harden’s trade and not addressing his coaching issues.
” Now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade working out to the Clippers. He wants credits for that! There is no accountability with that guy,” expressed a fuming JJ Redick.
First Take host Stephen A. Smith acknowledged Redick’s stance considering he played for him during his Los Angeles Clippers days. He also brought out the fact that Rivers was an advisor for the Bucks before he became the head coach. However, for him, now all Rivers needs to do is win after a disappointing tenure with the Clippers and the 76ers.
As per the ESPN analyst, if Rivers doesn’t win a title by the next season, no one will hire him as a head coach in the future. In the wake of such charged comments, the question that arises is why Rivers is receiving flak for his past coaching jobs.
Did Milwaukee Bucks make a hiring mistake?
Milwaukee Bucks fired Head Coach Adrian Griffith despite him leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a 30-13 record for a second seed in the East. They replaced Griffith with veteran Head Coach Doc Rivers and under his watch, the Bucks have eighth losses and five wins. Therefore, with 35 wins and 21 losses, the Bucks have fallen to the third seed and if not for the New York Knicks’ four-game losing streak, they’d have lost even the third spot. Like the Lillard and Giannis-headlined Bucks, Rivers has inherited loaded teams since the late 2000s. Being an NBA coach since 1999, Rivers’ most glowing moment came when he helped the Boston Celtics lift a title in 2008.
Then during his Los Angeles Clippers days, for a long time, he had the services of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Deandre Jordan, and JJ Redick alongside a strong two-way veteran crew. However, the team never made it to the Conference Finals and whittled in key moments despite having the lead. When he went to the 76ers, he had the services of Joel Embiid and 2018 MVP James Harden. However, the team couldn’t make it to the Conference Finals either after losing to the Celtics in 7 games.
The theme of puncturing under playoff pressure has continued for Doc Rivers’ teams. The Bucks are heading in the same direction. But with 26 games left, they can still salvage a substantial position. However, persistent doubts exist about their capacity to make a deep playoff run.
