The Milwaukee Bucks made a shocking decision a few days ago by firing their head coach, Adrian Griffin. Then, they quickly decided to hire Doc Rivers as their new head coach. Doc Rivers will make his coaching debut for the Bucks on January 29th against the Denver Nuggets. This will be the first time he coached for a team since the 2022-2023 season with the Philadephia 76ers.
Jamal Collier from ESPN cited some possibilities of what lured Doc into the coaching job by saying:
“Enter Milwaukee, where he was an All-American at Marquette in the 1980s and has his retired jersey number hanging in the rafters at the Bucks’ home arena. Then consider the team he inherits, with two superstars in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard and a chance to win a championship.”
The Marquette alum will be coaching two all-stars who averaged 30 points per game last season. That should be a very exciting thing to do, right? Well, there are a few issues he has to improve within the team’s play style.
How can Doc Rivers do Better With The Milwaukee Bucks Than he did With The 76ers and Clippers?
Before joining the Bucks, Doc Rivers spent three seasons with the 76ers and seven seasons with the Clippers. He coached the likes of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and James Harden in Philadephia. While with the Los Angeles Clippers, Rivers coached the famous Lob City Clippers tandem of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Deandre Jordan, and Jamal Crawford.
Doc has been recognized as a defensive-oriented coach throughout his career. That’s how he coached his way into a championship with the Boston Celtics back in the 2007-2008 NBA season. On that roster, he had the defensive anchor in Kevin Garnett, a playmaking off-ball defender in a young Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, and Kendrick Perkins, who supported Garnett in the paint.
Doc had solid defensive tendencies with his Clippers, even though they were much more known for their circus-like offense. During his time with the 76ers, he helped mold Joel Embiid into a defensive center that could shoot from a long range. In those three years, Embiid wasn’t the only defensive powerhouse on his teams. Doc also coached a solid “3-and-D” player in Danny Green and the unorthodox off-ball defender that’s Matisse Thybulle.
The answer here is simple: improve the defense.
The Milwaukee Bucks Defensive Woes and how Doc Rivers Could Save the day
The Bucks 2021 championship team was a defensive juggernaut composed of Giannis, a highly-seasoned veteran in Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, Khris Middleton, and Jrue Holiday. Damian Lillard was traded to the Bucks, and Jrue Holiday was sent to the Boston Celtics. Milwaukee knew the player they were getting with Damian Lillard: an offensive juggernaut with inconsistent, sometimes non-existent defense. However, Damian Lillard isn’t solely to blame for the Bucks’ defensive woes.
Bleacher Report writer Grant Hughes cited:
“Everyone understood Damian Lillard would be a downgrade on defense from Jrue Holiday, but the “I told you so” crowd that likes to pipe up about how Milwaukee’s struggles on D were easy to see coming is missing something important. The Bucks’ defense has actually been better with Dame on the floor than off it. So, it’s clearly not just the point guard swap dragging the team down.”
Two main issues their defense has are their transitional defense and the points they allow per game. They’ve been in the bottom half, if not last, in those stats throughout the season. Doc Rivers can fix this in several ways, such as making better defensive adjustments to help protect perimeter scoring better. He could make adjustments to their defensive training to help with transitional defense. That could prevent teams from getting easy buckets and forcing them to reset after a fast break.
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