Bucks Caught In A Bind? Doc Rivers Done in Milwaukee?
Posted 1 month ago | NBA, News | 0 comments
By Nick Parsons
Bucks Caught In A Bind Not unlike Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, Doc Rivers has never had the stomach for building an NBA team. You want him to coach? No worries. He would coach in the East (Boston and Philadelphia), coach in the West (Los Angeles Clippers) and coach somewhere in between (Milwaukee).
But after starting his career coaching mediocre Orlando teams in the early days of the 21st century, Doc decided that he would deal only with veterans while others took L and L with rookies and youngsters on learning curves. Coaching the 2008 Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen NBA-champion Celtics whetted Rivers’s appetite for winning.
When Boston signaled that it was ready to move on from its core and loaded up on draft choices, Rivers was on the next train out of town. Similar scenarios played out with the Clippers and 76ers, followed by a coach-in-waiting TV gig. Last year Rivers planted his flag in Milwaukee after the Bucks had tried rookie coach Adrian Griffin. Griffin last only a couple of months before the veterans tired of him.
For a players coach who catered to his vets and despised playing kids, it appeared to be more than a decent match. Giannis Antetokounmpo needed to keep his batteries charged and newcomer Damian Lillard was floundering amid new digs and family problems. After a first half well below expectations, everyone needed the fresh start and positive vibes that Rivers perhaps could bring.
Instead, what the Bucks got was more of the same. Antetokounmpo got more frustrated by the day and Lillard never gave the team that spark that had been lost when Jrue Holiday was dealt to Portland to get Dame in the first place.
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The Lillard deal was a classic case of subtraction by addition. Plus, Khris Middleton seemingly hasn’t been completely healthy in half a decade. Predictably, the Bucks’ season ended in flames – losing to the red-hot Pacers who ran Milwaukee off the court in six games in the first round of the playoffs.
Still, it was thought that a full training camp with Rivers, plus a healthy (or at least healthier) Middleton and a more-focused Lillard would give get the Bucks back on their feet and ready for a long playoff run. What Bucks got a replay of 2023-24. Milwaukee entered the season +1000 to win the NBA title, but began the season with nine losses in their first 13 games.
They now sit at +4000, behind the likes of Charlotte and rebuilding Brooklyn in the standings. Bucks fans are now staring into the teeth of a long Wisconsin winter and a best-case playoff starting lineup that includes four players well into their 30s. Lillard is 34, center Brook Lopez with be 37 in April, Middleton is 33 and Antetokounmpo will be on the bad side of 30 in a few weeks.
Where do Rivers and Bucks go from here? Will they have enough juice to even get to the Play-In Tournament this season? If so, will old and tired legs survive even one or two series? Long-term, the questions are even more daunting. A rebuild is out of the question with Rivers as the coach and Antetokounmpo still at or near the top of his game.
Besides, every one of the team’s first-round picks for the next four years have been either traded or diluted by pick swaps. They traded a good part of the house for Lillard BECAUSE they couldn’t rebuild. How long will Lillard and Antetokounmpo put up with mediocrity?
No, the future doesn’t look too bright in Milwaukee. Rivers, a veteran coach who disdains coaching young teams, is now ironically caught in the worst of all possible NBA worlds – coach of an old team near the bottom of the standings with no clear escape path.
