Why did the Bucks fire head coach Adrian Griffin?
Journal Sentinel reporter Jim Owczarski shares his thoughts on why the Bucks moved on from Adrian Griffin on the Point Forward Podcast.
The Milwaukee Bucks officially named Glenn “Doc” Rivers the 18th head coach in franchise history on Friday, signing the 62-year-old Marquette University graduate to a multi-year contract.
“Doc has proven to be an exceptional leader and communicator throughout his distinguished NBA coaching career,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement released by the team. “As a championship coach, he is highly regarded as an established innovator and is the right coach to lead our experienced and talented team. I would like to thank our owners, Wes Edens, Jimmy and Dee Haslam and Jamie Dinan, for their unwavering commitment to victory. It’s a pleasure to welcome Doc to the Bucks.”
Rivers addressed the team the morning before Friday's loss to Cleveland, and after the game, Brook Lopez said, “I've played against Doc a lot in my career. I'm happy to have him here. I think he obviously has a lot of experience. “He's been in the NBA and playing in the NBA for a very long time. So it'll be good to have some kind of outside perspective in that locker room on what's happening on the field with the team this year. We can use his appearance (point of view) and all the wisdom he has. This will be of great benefit to us.”
Bucks forward Bobby Portis smiled and thought it was cool that Rivers will practice at the arena, where his college number is retired and gives the team a “great voice.”
“Someone who has obviously had success in this league, who has respect in this league, a notable coach, a top-15 coach of all time, I could go on and on,” Portis said. “But it fits great.”
Although an agreement was reached between the team and Rivers on Wednesday, the official signing was announced about a minute before the Cavaliers' game began. Bucks stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton declined to speak to the media after the game.
Rivers will coach his first game in Denver on Monday.
He replaces Adrian Griffin, who was fired Jan. 23 after leading the Bucks to a 30-13 record, the third-shortest tenure of a full-time head coach in NBA history. Rivers, who will now coach his fifth team, has never taken over a team midseason.
After his 13-year playing career ended in 1996, Rivers was hired as coach in Orlando for the 1999–2000 season. That year, he won his only Coach of the Year award and led the Magic to an eight-win improvement over the season before.
He was fired after 11 games in 2003 and made his first foray into television as an anchor before Boston hired him at the start of the 2004-05 season. Four years later, he led a Celtics team led by Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the title.
Rivers' Celtics teams from 2007 to 2012 were his most successful in the postseason, with the title in 2008, a Finals loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010 and an Eastern Conference Finals loss to Miami in 2012. He went to Boston 41:40 and After losing in the first round of the 2013 playoffs, he was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Clippers made the playoffs in six of his seven years at the helm and won 50 or more games four times, but they never advanced past the second round and he was fired after the team blew a 3-1 series lead in 2020 had “bubble” playoffs.
The 76ers were signed by Philadelphia at the start of the 2020-21 season and made the playoffs three years in a row, but also failed to get past the second round. He was fired in May and served as an ESPN game analyst this season.
An introductory press conference for Rivers will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Fiserv Forum.
What is Doc Rivers' record?
In 24 seasons with Orlando (171-168), Boston (416-305), the Los Angeles Clippers (356-208) and Philadelphia (154-82), he has a regular season record of 1,097-763.
He is one of only 10 coaches to win 1,000 games and is ranked No. 9 all-time. He is the only coach from this club who is not currently in the Hall of Fame.
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What is Doc Rivers' playoff record?
Rivers teams have a 111-104 record in 19 postseasons. He has won a championship and coached in two NBA Finals.
It's a record his new players find impressive — even if they know Rivers' recent teams haven't reached the pinnacle of the NBA Finals.
“The interesting thing to me is I know a lot of speakers are going to talk about some of the negative things because this is social media and they like to do it,” Bucks forward Pat Connaughton said. “But you talk about the successes that he's had and the ability that he's had to put teams in winning positions – whether they've closed or not – I look at our team and I look at the situation in which he gets. When we get into situations like that, I think we have a really good chance to finish.”
As for Connaughton, Rivers' non-championship teams did the following:
- 6-10 in Game 7s.
- 16-33 with a chance to win a seven-game playoff series, including nine straight losses, with a chance to reach the conference finals.
Rivers' teams also blew three 3-1 series leads:
- 2003: No. 8 Orlando was on the verge of an upset against the top-seeded Pistons in the first year of a seven-game first round series.
- 2015: No. 3 Clippers, who took the lead over No. 2 Houston. Star point guard Chris Paul missed the first two games of this series with a hamstring injury and played through after that.
- 2020: No. 2 Clippers lost that advantage to No. 3 Denver in the “bubble,” losing Games 6 and 7 by a total of 28 points.
“It will be fun just to be coached by someone who also has something to prove,” Portis said. “We know that we are with other players in the team and of course we all have something to prove. I'm not saying we've failed in the last few years, but we haven't achieved what we set out to achieve, so having a coach. “To be low-key in the same boat as us is great. It’s also refreshing to have everyone on the same page and have people who ultimately have a little chip on their shoulder and something to prove.”
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What is Doc Rivers' Bucks contract?
The Athletic reported that Rivers has signed a four-year deal worth around $40 million through 2026-27 – although it would make sense for his salary for this season to be split pro-rata.
The NBA coaching market changed drastically this season when Detroit signed Monty Williams to a six-year, $78.5 million ($13 million per year) contract in June. Then in July, San Antonio rewarded Gregg Popovich with a five-year, $80 million contract ($16 million per year). Miami upped the ante even further by giving Erik Spoelstra an eight-year extension worth about $120 million ($15 million per year) on Jan. 10.
Rivers originally signed a five-year, $40 million contract with Philadelphia in 2020 and still had two years of $16 million left when he was released.
How much will the Bucks pay the coaches this year?
Assuming Rivers' salary is split pro rata, the team could pay Rivers, Griffin (approximately $4 million) and Mike Budenholzer ($8 million) around $17 million this season.
However, this is not new territory for Buck's owner.
Current governor and co-owner Wes Edens fired his manager at Aston Villa in the English Premier League during the 2022 season and the Bucks fired Jason Kidd with 37 games remaining in the 2017-18 season.
New co-owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam had six head coaches in the first eight years they owned the Cleveland Browns, and they had two head coaches in five seasons of owning the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer. Both crew coaches have won MLS Cups.