Damian Lillard is confident Doc Rivers is the right coach who’ll be able to steer the Milwaukee Bucks ship to the promised land. The superstar guard shared as much on Saturday after their 141-117 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Rivers has yet to take over the Bucks, with the veteran tactician set to make his Milwaukee coaching debut on Monday when they play the Denver Nuggets on the road.
Despite the fact the Rivers hasn’t been tested yet with the Bucks, Lillard is brimming with confidence on what the one-time champion coach can do. After all, Rivers has the resume to show that he knows how to win at the highest level. Not to mention that Rivers has handled a veteran team with multiple All-Star talent before, having led the Boston Celtics to the Larry O’Brien Trophy back in 2008.
“We all know what he brings. We heard his voice from coaching other teams. We know he’s had success. He played in this league. He went to school in this city. He’s been around a long time as a coach. He’s coached a lot of great players. You’d have a hard time thinking of something that he hasn’t experienced in this league from playing to coaching to talking about the game being on all these different broadcasts,” Lillard said of Rivers, per Gabe Stoltz of Brew Hoop.
Damian Lillard added that Doc Rivers’ ability to communicate and motivate, as well as the the respect he commands make him qualified to handle a Milwaukee Bucks team with title aspirations. The star guard also shared his belief that Rivers will be able to challenge and elevate them as they look to improve in the second half of the 2023-24 campaign.
“There’s nothing he hasn’t experienced and I just think his voice, how he’s able to motivate teams…he’s a strong voice and he’s gonna demand more from our team. He’s not gonna be afraid to challenge myself. He’s not gonna be afraid to challenge Giannis. He’s not gonna be afraid to challenge Brook and Khris and all the way down the line. I think when you’re dealing with a team that’s full of vets and as talented as we are, I think that’s something that you need if you want to reach the level we want to reach and I think he’s the perfect person for it,” Lillard added.
What Doc Rivers Need To Do With Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are currently 32-14 on the season, good for second in the Eastern Conference. While some might say that they don’t have a ton of problems when looking at the standings, analytics say otherwise.
Milwaukee’s identity that won them the championship in 2021 was their defense. In the said playoffs, they had the best defense among all other postseason contenders. This 2023-24, the Bucks are 19th in the league in defensive rating.
The departure of Jrue Holiday may have played a role in that, but clearly, Adrian Griffin didn’t do a good job setting up the team for defensive success.
Doc Rivers is largely known for his defense, which the Bucks certainly hope will help elevate them in their bid to win the title once again.
It remains to be seen how Rivers will do it, but with the trade deadline coming up and still half of the season to go, he still have some time to change Milwaukee and transform them to his liking.
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