Milwaukee is in terrible shape. Was it necessary to change coaches during the NBA season?
Nikita Biryukov February 8, 2024, 16:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
How bad are things going for the Buckeyes with Doc Rivers?
The arrival of Doc Rivers as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks came as a complete surprise to almost all basketball fans, as the club, under the leadership of Adrian Griffin, was in second place in the Eastern Conference and was playing well. But the management of the Wisconsin Club decided to incorporate a more experienced specialist into its ranks. Did Milwaukee need to change anything? Because the results of the team under Rivers’ wing are not yet particularly impressive. Or was the specialist hired with forward-thinking plans for the playoffs? Let’s try to understand the Bucks’ prospects with Rivers.
Doc’s arrival to the Bucks:
A rookie coach left and a coach arrived with a 51% win rate in the playoffs. Personnel changes in Milwaukee
At the time Griffin was fired in Milwaukee, the team had 30 wins and 13 losses in the NBA regular season, second in the Eastern Conference. Now the Club, led by Rivers, has played five games in the regular season. The Stags only won one of them. At the same time, they recently lost to the Utah Jazz with a score of 108:123, leading by 12 points heading into the final quarter. 40:13 – This is exactly the drive the Bucks players missed in the decisive quarter of the game. The team is clearly not finding its game. In addition, Rivers, to put it mildly, still cannot cope with his responsibilities. Milwaukee has Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damien Lillard on the roster, who are in their prime and have already shown that they can interact well on the court. But for now something strange is happening in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee’s game, when Griffin led the team, was based on offense. After the arrival of Rivers, the situation not only worsened, but became simply catastrophic. Milwaukee is 27th in the NBA’s offensive rankings, although the club is fourth overall on the season.
So why did Milwaukee’s front office decide to change a coach who was doing well during the regular season? The fact is that the club’s veterans, including Giannis, were disappointed in Griffin. All this is due to the lack of leadership qualities of the specialist, for whom the experience with the Bucks was the first as the team’s head coach, since previously he had only worked as an assistant in several NBA clubs. Milwaukee decided it was best to take some steps now to make key basketball players happy and try to change the style of play as easily as possible so the team would be fully prepared for playoff contention. But so far Rivers is just trying to establish team interaction and, frankly, it’s not working out well. Since not even the technician has answers to many questions, as he himself stated in one of the publications.
doctor rivers
Milwaukee Bucks head coach
“Well, I think we have to find our identity. We still don’t have an answer. We must understand who we are. Every year you embark on a new journey. We have five guys who have won a title. And we have to make sure everyone understands that we want to do a lot of what they’ve already done. However, you cannot make the same trip. “Every year the trip will be different.”
When it comes to Doc Rivers, we can’t help but mention his poor playoff record. Although Doc is a very experienced coach, during his career he lost playoff series more often than anyone in the NBA, leading them by a score of 3-1 or 3-2. There were as many as seven such cases! Therefore, not even experience always helps you in the most important stages of the NBA. Griffin didn’t even get a chance to prove himself, but they hired a coach with an eye on the postseason, during which Doc very often lost ideas in the playoffs. In Rivers’ first season in Philadelphia, the team failed to beat the Atlanta Hawks in the second round (3-4), and in the second season they lost to the Miami Heat in the same second round (2-4). What happened in the last season of Doc about Phil? That’s right, elimination in the playoffs in the second round against the Boston Celtics (3-4), even though the Club led the series with a score of 3-2 and could have closed all doubts at home in the sixth game. , but not destiny.
Doctor Rivers, season 2023/2024
Photo: Kelsey Grant/Getty Images
Adding even more absurdity to Rivers’ move to Milwaukee is the fact that the coach will be going to the NBA All-Star Game and leading the Eastern Conference team. What happens is that the coach of the best team in the East or West always goes to the cost center. But Joe Mazzulla, who coaches the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics, was already an All-Star last season and, according to league rules, the same coach cannot participate in All-Star Weekend twice in a row. Therefore, the opportunity presented itself to Rivers, as at the time the Bucks were in second place in the conference. Will a coach who has been back at work in the NBA for just over two weeks go to the All-Star Game? He sounds a bit absurd no matter how you look at it.
In any case, it’s too early to draw conclusions about the correctness of the decision to fire Griffin and put Rivers in his place. Since Doc didn’t have a full preseason workout with the team and he’ll have to deal with all of this during the regular season. The losses already show that it won’t be easy, but we won’t bury Doc. Recently, everyone was criticizing the Los Angeles Clippers after James Harden moved to the club. Now what? The Sailboats fight with Oklahoma, Minnesota and Denver for the lead in the Western Conference. Rivers has too much on his shoulders right now. Let’s see what happens with Milwaukee’s new coach with a 51% playoff win rate.
