Doc Rivers named a sleeper target in the Bucks’ ongoing coaching search

The Milwaukee Bucks have been linked to over a dozen names throughout their coaching search thus far, and the list is still rapidly growing.

With so many names currently in the fold, the Bucks have a quality mix of both inexperienced and experienced coaching candidates to sort through. The most recent candidate linked to the job fits in the latter category, as he’s among the most experienced coaches in the game: Doc Rivers. Per The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, an NBA front office executive believes Rivers is a sleeper candidate for the Bucks’ opening after recently being fired by the Philadelphia 76ers after three seasons.

Doc Rivers named a sleeper target in the Bucks’ ongoing coaching search

While this news will not please many, it’s not surprising. The Bucks have left no stone unturned in their coaching search so far, and have even looked into a current collegiate coach. It’s easy to see why they’d look at one of the more well-known coaches in the NBA today. However, that still does not make it a great idea for the Milwaukee Bucks as they look for a new coach to lead the team.

Rivers has a well-known reputation for playoff collapses. In postseason games when his team has three wins, Rivers’ teams are 16-33. He’s also blown three 3-1 leads and a handful of 3-2 leads in the NBA Playoffs. Not all of the blame can be placed on Rivers for those playoff collapses, but it is still very concerning. To be fair, Rivers’ resume is not all bad, as he did lead the Boston Celtics to a title in 2008. Among active head coaches, Rivers also has the second most regular season wins ever, trailing only San Antonio Spurs’ legend Gregg Popovich, per StatMuse.

It will be interesting to see how much consideration Rivers gets for this job. While he does fit the Bucks’ needs with an experienced championship-winning coach, there are other options that may make much more sense, such as former Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel, another person they are expected to interview for the gig this week.

Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis in what has been a wild coaching search thus far.