It’s no secret that the Milwaukee Bucks brought Doc Rivers in for one primary reason. And that’s for him to lead this group to a championship this season. It’s not as if Rivers is going to get fired if the Bucks fail to win a chip this year (he won’t, right?), but there’s no denying that there’s a ton of pressure on him to win it all this season.
That’s the big picture. At this point, however, Rivers has to go through each and every minute detail of his new team. In this respect, the one-time NBA champion coach already knows what’s No. 1 on his agenda.
Doc Rivers Gets Honest on Milwaukee Bucks’ Defense
It comes as no surprise that the first thing on Rivers’ plate is fixing Milwaukee’s defense. This team has an elite offense led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. The same cannot be said about their defense, though.
“Our language and communication defensively, we have to get that right,” Rivers said, via Spectrum News 1. “Right now, you can feel it. Some this way, some this way. We’ve gotta get on the same page. We’ve got to do things differently, too, than the past. Jrue and Dame are different players. We have to change some things, for sure.”
Rivers refused to dance around the elephant in the room. He tackled it head-on as he addressed, albeit briefly, the significant downgrade the Bucks’ defense had to endure following Jrue Holiday’s summer exit. The 62-year-old shot-caller is well aware of the fact that Lillard is unable to match what Holiday brought to the table for Milwaukee, and this is something he intends to address at the onset.
In truth, this is just one piece of the puzzle for the Bucks. It’s a pretty big piece, though, and if Rivers is able to fix the issues this team has defensively, then he will get a legitimate shot at winning his second career title in his first (half) season in Milwaukee.
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