Bucks Zone

Doc Rivers linked to Milwaukee Bucks for vacant head coaching position

Another name has popped up for the vacant head coaching position of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Jonas Panerio

© Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
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Could Doc Rivers be the next head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks? Although this is just a rumor for now, it appears that the veteran coach—who the Philadelphia Sixers recently fired—is being linked to the Bucks as they are looking to fill their that position.

Sleeper candidate

Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported that several front-office decision-makers expressed skepticism regarding Rivers getting a high-profile job in the NBA after failing to lead the Sixers—a team that had the reigning MVP in Joel Embiid and a former MVP in James Harden—past the second round.

“In the hours after Rivers’ firing was announced, I spoke with three NBA front-office executives — two in the Western Conference and one in the Eastern Conference — who expressed somewhere between skepticism and outright doubt that Rivers would get another job for the upcoming season,” Vardon wrote.

However, he added that all bets are off considering the unpredictability of Phoenix Suns’ owner Mat Ishbia, on one hand, and the dire need of a good coach to lead the Bucks’ quest for redemption after getting blasted by the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, on the other.

“One pointed to the unpredictability of the situation in Phoenix, where new owner Mat Ishbia has traded for Kevin Durant and fired Williams, and another mentioned Rivers as a potential sleeper candidate in Milwaukee, and around we go again.”

Impressive resume

Despite the cloud of gloom that surrounded his exit from the Sixers—Philadelphia had a 3-2 series lead and blew it—Rivers’ resume is impressive. He won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008, was Coach of the Year in 2000 with the Orlando Magic, and has compiled a whopping 1,097 wins in his long career.

His downsides are not to be ignored either and the most glaring one is a history of blown leads like the one this year - or even worse ones. This is why the Bucks are biding their time and doing their due diligence in selecting a new head coach.

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Jonas Panerio
JONAS PANERIO