The Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly hired former Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers as their new head coach.
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
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.
The Milwaukee Bucks turmoil in their coaching staff is proving to be a very Boston Celtics-adjacent affair.
The Milwaukee Bucks turmoil in their coaching staff is proving to be a very Boston Celtics-adjacent affair. After news the team was letting go of first-year head coach (and Celtics alum) Adrian Griffin broke, word came around that the Bucks were considering a hire of former Boston head coach and current ESPN broadcaster Doc Rivers to replace him.
Now, another Celtics alumnus — this time current Boston senior consultant Jeff Van Gundy — is also being linked to the open head coaching gig in reporting from Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes. Noting that while Milwaukee is “zeroing in on Doc Rivers to replace Griffin,” the Bucks have “also formulated a short list of candidates that includes Jeff Van Gundy and Nate McMillan.”
“The plan for the Bucks is to act quickly on hiring the next head coach,” added Haynes, so we ought to know soon which (if any) former or current members of the Celtics organization might be helming Milwaukee for the rest of the season.
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.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the Bucks and Doc Rivers working on a deal.
The Milwaukee Bucks have appointed Doc Rivers as their next head coach, per multiple reports.
A day after Milwaukee fired Adrian Griffin, there had been rumors of Doc Rivers joining Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in Milwaukee. Eventually, today he signed a deal with the 2021 NBA champions.
Here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to the latest big news in the Association.
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.
The former Boston Celtics head coach could become the new head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks following their dismissal of Adrian Griffin.
The Milwaukee Bucks have fired Adrian Griffin. The rookie head coach led the team to second in the Eastern Conference with a 30-13 record. Following his departure from the Bucks franchise, former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers is reportedly a candidate to become the team’s next head coach.
Rivers has been out of work since being released by the Philadelphia 76ers during the offseason. He has also been unable to replicate the success he had with the Celtics since leaving the franchise and failed to take the Sixers beyond the second round in the playoffs during his tenure in the hot seat.
If Rivers does become the Bucks’ new head coach, he would have held the position with three of the Eastern Conference’s biggest teams. However, he will likely walk into a difficult situation.
Milwaukee is expected to contend this season but has struggled to construct a reliable defensive system. They also have the Celtics standing in their way, with arguably the most talented roster in the league.
Rivers has 24 years of experience as a head coach in the NBA. He has amassed an impressive record of 1097 wins and 763 losses over 1860 regular-season games. His playoff record stands at 111 wins and 104 losses in 215 outings.
Milwaukee is likely to move quickly with its hiring process. It will be interesting to see whether Rivers is selected as the right man to lead Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard toward a potential Eastern Conference Finals matchup against the Celtics.
Former Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers is a serious candidate to be the new head man of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Bucks made a stunning move on Tuesday, dismissing coach Adrian Griffin after 43 games at the helm. The Bucks have been shaky on the defensive end of the floor, but they were 30-13 and in second place in the Eastern Conference.
To replace Griffin, the Bucks promoted assistant Joe Prunty to an interim role. However, a former Philadelphia 76ers coach is a serious candidate for the position.
Doc Rivers, who went 154-82 as the Sixers’ head man for the previous three seasons, is a serious candidate to replace Griffin. Rivers has been commentating games for ESPN this season.
If Rivers were to be hired by Milwaukee, it would be a pretty solid move. Despite the playoff failures in Philadelphia, there’s no doubt he’s an obvious Hall of Fame coach. He would help Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo improve the Bucks’ deficiencies.
The former Boston Celtics head coach discussed the differences in coaching styles throughout his tenure in the NBA.
The NBA has undergone some significant changes since Doc Rivers led the Boston Celtics to a championship in 2008. The three-point evolution and the emergence of highly skilled forwards and big men have changed how the game is played. In turn, it has also changed the way the game is coached.
Furthermore, social media’s presence and the 24-hour non-stop news cycle have also added new hurdles for coaches and their players to overcome. During a recent “KG Certified” podcast appearance, Rivers discussed the differences between coaching throughout his time in the NBA. Rivers’ last gig in the league was as the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, where he helped Joel Embiid win the 2023 MVP trophy.
He’s also had spells with the LA Clippers, Celtics, and Orlando Magic. Rivers has a 1097-763 record in his 24 years as an NBA head coach.
You can watch Rivers give his full explanation as to how coaching has changed in the NBA by clicking on the embedded link above.
Ainge made bold moves to bring star talent to Boston by adding Garnett and Allen to Pierce, and the rest was, as they say, history.
The Boston Celtics formed one of the most dominant trios in NBA history with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen in the late 2000s. This powerhouse team was very well constructed through the combined efforts of coach Doc Rivers and team president Danny Ainge.
Rivers and Ainge had a strong partnership built on mutual trust and respect. Though they sometimes disagreed on personnel decisions and basketball strategy, they always presented a united front, and their synergy was critical to the team’s success. Ainge made bold moves to bring star talent to Boston by adding Garnett and Allen to Pierce, and the rest was, as they say, history.
Now, on a recent episode of the Showtime Basketball “KG Certified” podcast, KG, Pierce, and Doc reconvened to talk about the origin of the 2008 title team.
