Doc Rivers managed to admit something that he probably should have kept under the lid.
If you have any affiliation with the Milwaukee Bucks, now is probably a good day to step away from a microphone.
For some reason, several important figures within Milwaukee’s organization (including Giannis Antetokounmpo) have had enough questionable quotes in the past few days that a break is needed more than ever.
But instead, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers managed to admit something that he probably should have kept under the lid unless he was given some sort of truth serum.
During an interview with Frank Isola and Ryan McDonough, the coach said that he was just as confused as the fans were when Milwaukee decided to fire Adrian Griffin earlier this season.
“To be honest, I told our owners when they called, I said: I don’t understand why you’re doing this. One of the things they said was well it doesn’t matter. We’ve done it now and we want you. So that was a tough one. That’s where you had the hesitation.”
It makes sense why Rivers was confused because nearly everything about his hiring process, including his role as an advisor to Griffin, was befuddling.
But the most confusing aspect of this entire saga is why either party was interested in this particular partnership. Rivers put himself in an impossible situation by taking this gig and it seems he knew that right away.
Doc Rivers has more experience coaching All-Star Games than he does with the Bucks.
Despite getting hired midway through the season, Doc Rivers could end up coaching the 2024 NBA All-Star Game in Indianapolis.
Unlike the All-Star roster, the coaches are not voted into the NBA All-Star Game but rather given as an honor to the teams with the best record in each conference. These are typically based on the standings two weeks before the actual event.
As of right now, the Minnesota Timberwolves (Chris Finch) and the Boston Celtics (Joe Mazzulla) have the best record in their respective conferences.
Due to the Riley Rule, however, Mazzulla is ineligible to coach the Eastern Conference this season. This rule was created after Pat Riley coached the Western Conference in the All-Star Game each year except one between 1982 and 1990.
Was reminded of something this morning
All-Star coaching staffs decided by this weekend. It is whoever clinches the top record in conference by February 4.
No repeats. Boston/Denver staff will get weekend off.
Doc Rivers or Nick Nurse in East. Daigneault/Finch/Lue in West.
Instead, the nod is given to the team with the next-best record at the cutoff date on Feb. 4. That means if the standings hold, after replacing former Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin, (somehow) Rivers would get the nod.
Rivers, who coached the All-Star game in 2008 and 2011 and again in 2021, has coached just one game for Milwaukee so far this season and it was a loss against the Denver Nuggets. At this point, he has more experience coaching in NBA All-Star Games than he does coaching the Bucks.
But it is far from a guarantee that Rivers gets the honor because the standings could change after the next few days. Milwaukee is on the road for three games (Trail Blazers, Mavericks, Jazz) between now and the cutoff date. If they do not play well, something especially bizarre could happen.
Philadelphia’s Nick Nurse, who replaced Rivers as head coach of the 76ers this past offseason and coached the NBA All-Star Game in 2020, could get the call instead.
The Sixers still have two road games (Warriors, Jazz) and one home game (Nets) before the Feb. 4 deadline. Philly is currently two games behind Milwaukee in the standings and could catch the Bucks.
Two other Eastern Conference All-Star Game head coaching candidates include New York’s Tom Thibodeau (for the first time since 2012) and Cleveland’s J.B. Bickerstaff (as a first-time honor).
The Knicks will host three home games (Jazz, Pacers, Lakers) while the Cavaliers have a home game (Pistons) and two road games (Grizzlies, Spurs) remaining.
In the West, meanwhile, either Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault or L.A. Clippers head coach Ty Lue could potentially surpass Minnesota’s Finch.
Curiously enough, Lue coached in the 2016 NBA All-Star Game under similar circumstances in which Rivers could get asked this season. He took over after Cleveland fired David Blatt even though the Cavaliers (30-11) had the best record in the East.
Regardless of whether or not Rivers was the right choice to lead Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, this aggressive decision to change head coaches yet again won’t come cheap for Milwaukee’s ownership group.
According to Shams Charania, the Bucks will pay Rivers $40 million through 2026-27. That is already fairly expensive but it is even more expensive when factoring in what they already owe to other head coaches.
"Doc Rivers is going to sign a contract with the Milwaukee Bucks through 2026…No options, fully guaranteed contract, in the range of $40 million dollars."@ShamsCharania on Doc Rivers' new contract with the Bucks.
At the time Griffin was hired, Charania reported that the coach signed a multi-year contract worth approximately $4 million per season. Budenholzer, reportedly had two years and $16 million remaining on his contract when he was fired.
Combine what is owed to the three coaches and you have nearly $18 million owed in salary to three different head coaches in Milwaukee this season. That is more than what the Spurs pay Gregg Popovich (who is the head coach and also the president of basketball operations for the Spurs) and what the Heat pay Erik Spoelstra.
It is also a massive financial burden when considering that the Bucks already have the most expensive roster in the Eastern Conference.
The Milwaukee Bucks did Adrian Griffin dirty — even if it was time for him to go
Nobody is under any illusions that the NBA — just like every other professional sport — isn’t a cutthroat business.
People are hired and fired on a whim. Players with non-guaranteed contracts are snipped from rosters like loose ends. Folks are traded at a moment’s notice and have their entire lives uprooted. It’s always been that way.
But, man. There’s something about the Doc Rivers situation with the Milwaukee Bucks that just isn’t sitting right with me.
It’s all kind of unbelievable, but it’s real. Just a day after the Bucks fired Adrian Griffin, here the team is hiring Doc Rivers. The two sides are already reportedly working on putting together his new coaching staff, according to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes.
Doc Rivers and Bucks general manager Jon Horst will collaboratively work together on coaching staff personnel with the expectation of adding to an already great group of coaches the organization values, sources say. https://t.co/gYLYPnUjL1
This is all just kind of strange, isn’t it? Things are happening so fast. One day, one coach is in Milwaukee. The next day there’s a new one. You’re probably asking yourself “How in the world is that possible?”
Well, as it turns out, the Bucks have been in contact with Rivers for quite some time. Maybe not in a formal interview process, but Milwaukee has been getting insight on how he’d run the team for at least a month.
According to The Athletic, Rivers was hired by the Bucks as a consultant for Griffin’s staff in December. A month later, he’s hired.
“League sources say Doc Rivers, who is an ESPN analyst after getting fired by the Philadelphia 76ers last May, began to serve as an informal consultant to Griffin at the behest of the Bucks. One month later, multiple sources briefed on the matter now indicate that Rivers is the serious leader for the now-vacant position and the preferred choice of key stakeholders.”
Look, we can’t possibly know that the Bucks brought Rivers on as a consultant ultimately to push Griffin out of the way. But there’s no debating that that’s what it looks like. The optics look terrible here.
Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse gives his thoughts on the Milwaukee Bucks letting go of Adrian Griffin after three games.
CAMDEN, N.J. — The Milwaukee Bucks made a shocking decision on Tuesday when they fired Adrian Griffin after just 43 games as the lead man. The Bucks were 30-13 despite some problems on the floor.
To replace Griffin, the Bucks hired former Sixers coach Doc Rivers, who was let go after three seasons at the helm in Philadelphia. He had a 154-82 record as coach of the Sixers.
Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse has a history with Griffin from their days with the Toronto Raptors. With the Sixers back at practice on Wednesday, Nurse addressed the Griffin firing while keeping the focus on his team.
“Yeah, listen, yesterday two people that I’ve had some great success with and I’m really close to in Kyle (Lowry) and Adrian had things happen to them,” Nurse said. “My concern is are they OK? Right? How do they feel? And my other thought is I’m concerned about my team. I don’t really get into all what other people are doing. I got enough to think about with this team and that’s just kind of how I always operate.”
The coach was referring to the Miami Heat sending Lowry to the Charlotte Hornets in the Terry Rozier trade. Nurse and Lowry had a lot of success during their time together in Toronto.
When asked if it was surprising to see Griffin fired despite the 30-13 record, Nurse was not very shocked. It’s the way the coaching world has operated.
“Yeah, you know, I don’t think much in the coaching world in football and baseball and basketball, hockey, soccer — none of that seems to be surprising anymore,” Nurse stated. “So again, I’m concerned about him and concerned about this team.”
The Sixers will begin a five-game road trip on Thursday with a matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
Goooood morning, folks! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you for taking a bit of time with us today. We appreciate you being here.
Were you as caught off guard by Adrian Griffin’s firing yesterday as I was? What in the world are the Milwaukee Bucks doing?
It’s not even that they were firing Griffin that surprised me. It was shocking, sure. But it wasn’t unexpected. The Bucks are in championship-or-bust mode and it didn’t feel like Griffin — a first-year head coach — would cut it.
What’s more surprising, however, is the Bucks reportedly going after Doc Rivers (!!!!) as his replacement. Almost all the reporting on this connects the Bucks with the current ESPN analyst as their leading candidate to replace Griffin.
I’ve got to be honest with you, folks. I don’t know how this man keeps getting jobs. Rivers is just like the villain in a horror movie. No matter how many times you think you’re finally rid of him, he always somehow finds his way back for another sequel. Somehow. Someway.
Look, this isn’t me saying that Doc Rivers isn’t a good coach. I think he is pretty good. But that’s just it — he’s pretty good. Not great.
There are just so many reasons not to do this if you’re in Milwaukee.
It’s easy to see the Bucks want a proven coach with a championship mettle. But Rivers is only “proven” in the sense that he won a title a decade and a half ago. That might as well have been a half-century in NBA years. It’s a completely different time in basketball now.
These days he’s become most known for blowing playoff series leads. His most recent tenures with the Clippers and 76ers flamed out like dumpster fires. Both teams seem much better off without him.
The Clippers had more playoff success once Rivers left, actually reaching the franchise’s first conference finals. He leaves the 76ers and Joel Embiid looks as great as he ever has and he just won an MVP.
Look, man. I’m sure Doc Rivers is a good guy. He’s probably great. He seems like he’ll give you a million great stories about how basketball was in the 80s on the golf course. He’s probably got some riveting tales about coaching Kevin Garnett, too.
But it’s clear, folks — the man is cooked. I’m sorry to say that, but it’s true. He’s been through the gauntlet enough for us to know that he’s not getting it done in today’s NBA. It’s somebody else’s turn.
The Bucks need to see that. If they can’t, then they deserve everything that comes with it.
The coaching carousel continues?
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
For a second there I thought we were finally on stable ground in the college football world. Nope. Not at all.
It feels like any moment now Jim Harbaugh could be announced as the new head coach for the Los Angeles Chargers. On Tuesday, the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that there’s a deal between the two sides “within striking distance.” It seems likely that the coach who just won Michigan its first title since 1997 is about to walk out the door.
So who would replace him? That’s the question. Our Blake Schuster has five answers for you. But don’t get it twisted — the fit might not be as clean as you think, regardless of who it is. It’s a tough spot to be in.
“Anyone who takes this potential job would not only be following the footsteps of the man who brought Michigan its first championship since 1997, but also doing so amid an NCAA investigation into the team’s sign-stealing scandal. More problematic is the timing of the opening.
Good luck, Michigan. Sounds like you’re going to need it.
Run it back
Mandatory Credit: Mike Frey-USA TODAY Sports
A few months ago, Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam title and became the first American teenager since Serena Williams in 1999 to win the U.S. Open. To make that history, she had to topple Aryna Sabalenka, who was on her way to being ranked as the world’s No. 1 player. She did it. The rest is history.
Now, it’s time to run it back. Those two will meet again tomorrow in the Australian Open semi-finals for a chance to play for another Grand Slam title.
“I love it. After U.S. Open, I really wanted that revenge and, I mean, that’s a great match. It’s always great battles against Coco … I’m happy to play her and I’m super excited to play that semifinal match.”
Sabalenka is one of the world’s two best players, though. She’ll always have a chance — she’s just that good.
This is going to be a match for the ages, folks. Most of us will probably sleep through it considering that it’s at 3:30 AM ET, but still. This will be epic.
Catch it if you can.
Quick hits: Patrick Mahomes is…last?!?! … A fatal flaw for each Super Bowl contender … and more
Despite the winning record in Milwaukee, Griffin’s departure wasn’t exactly shocking. Rivers, who was the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers until last season, makes plenty of sense as his successor. Rivers was already serving as an “informal consultant” for the team, per The Athletic.
What baffled everyone, however, is that the first outlet credited with breaking the news was CNN Sports. Even though CNN is a trusted news outlet, it isn’t a desk known for its sports department.
So what exactly happened here? How did basketball insiders like Adrian Wojnarowski (currently Rivers’ colleague at ESPN) and Shams Charania get scooped by an outlet that doesn’t have much of a sports presence?
During a broadcast of NBA on TNT, host Adam Lefkoe relayed that CNN Sports was reporting that Doc Rivers was accepting the head coaching gig with Milwaukee.
Jamal Crawford, the longtime NBA player who is now an analyst on the show, immediately asked Lefkoe to confirm that the outlet was indeed CNN. How is this possible? Others had the same question. Here is more from Awful Announcing:
“This Doc Rivers report is the first time CNN Sports has been mentioned as a thing in literally decades. CNN Sports Tonight, the highlight show alternative to SportsCenter from Turner, hasn’t aired since 2001. CNN was linked with the Sports Illustrated brand before the platform was taken over by Bleacher Report sports content in 2013. In fact, all of Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports branding had transitioned to Bleacher Report in the last several years before it literally just rebranded to TNT Sports earlier this month.”
A.J. Perez of Front Office Sports later reported, however, that the news was fully vetted by CNN before it was passed along to TNT.
someone should tell cnn sports that cnn sports is apparently breaking the doc rivers news pic.twitter.com/I6JjTNhyZv
It is important to note that CNN and TNT are both owned by the same parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. But at the time of the broadcast, there was nothing on the CNN Sports website that mentioned Rivers.
Unless CNN suddenly has a secret NBA source nobody else has, I have a guess at how this happened. It is important to know that Warner Bros. Discovery owns CNN and TNT, and operates NBA TV.
But this was far from the end of the story and the confusion continued.
Milwaukee Bucks and Doc Rivers continue to work towards a deal that will make him the franchise’s next head coach, but there is no agreement in place as of now, league sources tell @NBAonTNT, @BleacherReport.
Chris Haynes, who is widely considered the network’s top basketball insider and news breaker at NBA on TNT and Bleacher Report (which is also owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) refuted the report.
He claimed there is “no agreement” yet in place for Rivers to take over as the head coach of the Bucks. Bill Reiter of CBS Sports also reported that there is no agreement in place.
So what exactly happened here? Was this a giant miscommunication or was CNN Sports the first publication to break this news? Basketball fans had a lot of questions.
Adrian Griffin being ousted by the Bucks after just 43 games comes as a bit of a shock. Whenever a team makes a move like this it has to be considered shocking because it’s so out of the ordinary.
But is it surprising? No, absolutely not.
If you’d been paying attention to the Milwaukee Bucks season at all so far this year, the writing has been on the wall for a while. Griffin’s tenure was doomed to fail almost as soon as it started. All of the signs were right there for us — it was just a matter of whether we wanted to pay attention.
Who will the Bucks pick to coach them in a championship push?
The Milwaukee Bucks were a good team, but they probably weren’t great. And that was precisely Adrian Griffin’s problem.
News of Griffin’s firing in Milwaukee floored the NBA world on Tuesday. Not because folks were shocked the Bucks fired Griffin, who reportedly had issues with his scheme and some of his players. But because of the timing. At 30-13, Milwaukee is tied for the second-best record in the NBA at the halfway point of the regular season. There was no guarantee that standings success would last but, again, the second-best record in the league! It’s late January!
Nonetheless, the Bucks clearly have their eyes on someone who they believe can elevate their roster in the postseason. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard won’t be around forever. One of the rumored early favorites is Doc Rivers, who might be able to deliver on that promise.
Here’s a list of head coaching candidates for the Bucks to consider as they chase a second title with Antetokounmpo.
This is pure comedy. Well, at least for us. Probably not for Adrian Griffin.
The Bucks firing Adrian Griffin seemingly out of nowhere probably shouldn’t be as shocking as it is.
Yes, Milwaukee is 30-13. The Bucks are easily one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference and have two of the best talents in the NBA with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. There’s no question that this team is already good as is. But, clearly, the organization didn’t think the team was good enough. That’s why Griffin is out.
It seems like his players might not have thought Griffin was good enough for the job, either?
During the Bucks win over the Pistons on Monday in what turned out to be Griffin’s last game coaching the team, cameras caught Giannis Antetokounmpo actually drawing something up on the sideline.
This was what Giannis was doing yesterday against the Pistons
We don’t know if it was a play or not, but that didn’t stop Twitter from running with it. Everyone made the same joke about Adrian Griffin after seeing this.
