Doc Rivers left his broadcasting job on ESPN last month to take over as the new head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks were 30-13 on the day they fired Adrian Griffin; under Rivers so far, Milwaukee is 3-7. No team faces more pressure to right the ship in the “second half” of the season than the Bucks.
Rivers was making excuses in Milwaukee even before the Bucks started losing. Rivers laid out why it would be so difficult taking over the team in the middle of the season, and his comments immediately turned into a meme. As the Bucks have started losing, the excuses kept coming. When Milwaukee lost to an extremely injured Memphis Grizzlies to end the first half, Rivers said “we had some guys in Cabo.”
Former player and current analyst J.J. Redick has heard enough. Redick blasted Rivers for his history of making excuses and throwing his players under the bus during a Tuesday morning TV appearance on ESPN. Redick is taking over Rivers’ spot in ESPN’s NBA Finals coverage now that Doc is in Milwaukee. Watch the clip here:
JJ Redick calls out his former head coach Doc Rivers, who he will be replacing on ESPN/ABC’s NBA Finals coverage.
“I’ve seen the trend for years. The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard… it’s always an excuse.… pic.twitter.com/NeTGnP1Suw
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 20, 2024
Redick starts by making a great point that it’s also hard for players when they’re traded mid-season, but that rarely get the luxury of using that for an excuse if they play poorly. If this Bucks job is so hard for Rivers, all he had to do was turn down Milwaukee’s job offer and stay at ESPN.
Rivers famously threw Ben Simmons under the bus when his Philadelphia 76ers were eliminated during the 2021 NBA Playoffs. It’s been a habit throughout Rivers’ career: he’s so media savvy that he’s excellent at putting out the message he wants to get across, but it feels like it’s starting to fall on deaf ears.
While the Bucks’ record under Rivers is terrible, it does seem like Doc has already made some progress after taking over for Griffin. Milwaukee’s defense is No. 10 in the league since Rivers took over on Jan. 29 after being No. 21 under Griffin. The Bucks’ biggest issue as of late isn’t Rivers — it’s that Damian Lillard has been on a prolonged slump.
The discussion around the Bucks and Rivers right now ultimately doesn’t matter that much. Milwaukee is in full-on championship-or-bust mode, and they will be judged on the length of their playoff run more than anything else. Yes, Rivers has a long history of blowing series leads in the playoffs. If he does it again, whatever spin he decides to put on it sure feels like it’s going to get shrugged off.
Doc has to find a way to get Lillard right. He needs to keep the defense around a top-10 level and continue to fine-tune the Lillard-Giannis Antetokounmpo pairing. The Bucks still have a championship ceiling, but no one wants to hear excuses along the way.
