The Milwaukee Bucks made the move on Tuesday to fire coach Adrian Griffin after just 43 games at the helm. The Bucks are 30-13 on the season, but didn’t feel confident in Griffin’s ability to lead Milwaukee to the title it believes it can win this season.
To replace Griffin, the Bucks have brought in former Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers. In three seasons in Philadelphia, Rivers garnered a 154-82 record and led the Sixers to the No. 1 seed in the 2021 playoffs. Unfortunately for him, Philadelphia was bounced in the conference semifinals in all three seasons, which led to his dismissal.
TNT reported the impending hire on Tuesday, and CNN Sports and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the hire was complete on Wednesday.
BREAKING: Doc Rivers is finalizing an agreement to become the next coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, sources tell ESPN. The Bucks are getting the coach they targeted over the past 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/SP16vhYJDP
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 24, 2024
On paper, this is a good hire for the Bucks. Rivers did a lot of great things with the Sixers and one has to figure that success will translate to Milwaukee. However, Rivers has obviously had a lot of playoff struggles recently and it will be interesting to see what he does with Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo with the Bucks.
Rivers will make his return to Philadelphia with the Bucks on Feb. 25.
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