Doc Rivers agrees to deal to be Bucks’ coach, sources say،
After a brief courtship, Doc Rivers has reached an agreement in principle to become the next head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
Rivers, an ESPN NBA analyst who recently led the Philadelphia 76ers to three straight trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals, became the top target immediately following Adrian Griffin's firing. The parties negotiated until Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning before reaching agreement on a deal, sources said.
Despite having the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks didn't fire Griffin until 43 games into his head coaching career, largely because the organization came to believe that 'she could find an improvement that would give them a better chance of competing for a championship. sources said.
Based on Rivers' accomplishments and availability, general manager Jon Horst planned to pursue him and convinced him to accept the job and pursue his second NBA title as coach.
The Bucks believe Rivers' history coaching star tandems makes him uniquely suited to maximizing Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Rivers has a long history in Milwaukee, where he was an All-American guard for Marquette in the early 1980s.
He has enjoyed 16 consecutive winning seasons since winning the NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 2008 – a streak topped only by Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, according to ESPN Stats & Information. His 1,097 regular season wins are the ninth-most in NBA history and his 111 playoff wins are the fourth-most all-time.
Rivers has some obstacles to overcome in the postseason, including 10 losses in the seventh game of his career and a streak of five in a row. It has also lost nine straight games with a chance to reach the conference finals, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Still, Rivers has the opportunity to bolster the Bucks' defense and keep them in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. After being fired in Philadelphia at the end of last season, Rivers was Frank Vogel's finalist for the Phoenix Suns coaching job, sources said, before accepting an analyst role on ESPN and ABC for coverage of NBA games.
Griffin was 30-13 (.698), but the Bucks had fallen from fourth in defensive efficiency last season to 22nd – although some of that must be attributed to the loss of All-Star guard Jrue Holiday.
Facing immense expectations, Griffin was hired to replace Mike Budenholzer in June and tasked with integrating his system into a team of star veterans. Horst believed Griffin would become a good NBA head coach, but he had lost confidence in his ability to do so on time for the Bucks' championship run, sources said.
