The Milwaukee Bucks made headlines after firing head coach Arian Griffin while the team had a 30-13 record and second place in the Eastern Conference. They are now turning to veteran head coach Doc Rivers to take over the team and possibly provide them success with the experience he has in the NBA.
However, the Bucks letting go of Griffin and getting Rivers has caused a stir, even getting the criticism from former players around the media. To his defense, his son Austin Rivers was on his podcast called “Off Guard” where he stands by the decision from Milwaukee to hire his father.
“They're a very strong team, and their owner is like we cannot waste anymore time. We need to bring someone who has a voice, someone who can control a locker-room and someone who has done it before. All those things point to my dad,” Austin Rivers said. “A lot of people are like, “How does Doc get this job?” I don’t know man he’s only like the second most winningest African American coach to ever coach basketball. Very relatable, has won, and has gone to the championship twice.”
Austin Rivers thinks his father and the Bucks' partnership will be great
From the outside looking in, this could be perceived in two ways. If there way anybody to attest to what Doc Rivers can do to a team and the type of attitude needed for a locker room, look no better than his son that has witnessed it probably more than other teams have. The other way it can be seen is bias as the two are related closely.
Either way, there will be high expectations for Doc Rivers and the Bucks as he is inheriting a great team with two major stars in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. Austin said on his podcast that this partnership “is going to be great.”
“Again people like to point out the negatives with Doc and not all the positives,” Rivers said. “To your point, he’s been there for less than 24 hours and the two best players have already reached out to him, like man this is going to be great. So he’s already a step ahead and that’s what they brought him there for.”
Gilbert Arenas goes scorched Earth on Bucks hiring Doc Rivers
As mentioned before, there have been former players critiquing the move from the Bucks, with one of them being Gilbert Arenas. On his self-titled show, he said that Doc Rivers has had a history of underachieving with great teams and that this could be another case.
“There's no positive for Doc here,” said Arenas. “If you lose, this is another team you had as a winning team, and you lost again. You win; you get no credit. The fu*k did you do?… Just another coaching job, but what I'm saying as just someone viewing the situation, if you do not win, we're gonna be looking at you because Adrian could've done the same sh*t you're gonna do. So you have to win it to get no credit. You're not getting credit for this team.”
"There's no positive for Doc here. If you lose…N*gga, this is another team you had as a winning team and you lost again…You win…You gets no credit."
Gil comments on the Bucks leaning towards Doc Rivers pic.twitter.com/TULkpndzQI
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) January 23, 2024
In any sense, the Bucks gave Rivers a $40 million contract that goes through the 2026-27 season according to CBS Sports, so the organization has faith in the seasoned head coach to take them back to the promised land of a championship, which they haven't won since 2021. Looking at the present, their next game is Friday night as Milwaukee hosts the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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