The Milwaukee Bucks have moved on to their next head coach in Taylor Jenkins, but in the meantime, Doc Rivers has done everything possible to depict his exit as unequivocally his own decision. Whether that's true or not, Bobby Portis isn't about to let him tell a one-sided story from his high-and-mighty mountain.
The Bucks forward couldn't help cracking up as he recounted a scene on the team's final post-game plane ride, which he shared Thursday in one of his not infrequent appearances on FanDuel TV's Run It Back.Â
"We're on the plane just chillin', you know, somehow our plane is messed up. So we can't take off. So we're sitting on the plane for four or five hours … Doc Rivers walks up from the front, he walks up from the back, he walks up to the players and says, 'Huh, y'all thought you were gonna get rid of me that fast? I got this plane messed up.'"Â
Give Rivers some rare self-awareness points. The players hated him, and he knows it. In the same vein, he sure doesn't sound like a beloved coach who only left because he felt like it. It's hard to keep the job when players' dislike has become an openly acknowledged fact.
Rivers' laughable narrative is only making him look worse
The fracture between players and the Bucks' coaching staff became a story of its own as a disastrous season neared its merciful close. Rivers mismanaged lineups, blamed the wrong players, issued self-deluded speeches. By late in the season, he'd completely lost the locker room.Â
Having fostered a toxic, ineffectual relationship with players amid a dismal season, Rivers seemed like a surefire candidate for dismissal, if only the Bucks could get out of their own way to make the right decision. In the end, they let him ride off into the sunset, Hall of Fame plaque in hand, on the pretext of deciding to retire.Â
Rivers has returned that favor by failing to show even a basic sense of humility or appreciation. He wasted little time throwing the front office under the bus. He has embarrassed himself without anyone asking him to. Instead of receding quietly in the shadows with a bagful of money, he still wants to go out looking like the one in control.Â
As Portis told his story, was he laughing with Rivers or at him?
Rivers' claims make even less sense in light of contract situation
It may be technically true that Rivers left on his own terms, but the Bucks are still paying his salary. That's generally not how retirement works. Generally, retiring players or coaches forfeit whatever money remains on the contract. Not in this case.Â
That's cause enough to raise an eyebrow at Rivers' rendition of events. It was time. His decision. Etc., etc. Really?
Would the Bucks pay Rivers to go away if the players liked him and management approved of his performance? Would Rivers retire on his own prerogative if it meant passing up millions in future salary?Â
There are, of course, plausible elements to his story. It's not hard to believe that the Bucks paved the way for him to exit quietly. He was that bad, and the team has enough drama on its hands already.
What Portis won't let him do is craft a dubious picture of events without adding his own ironic commentary. Rivers keeps talking. Well, so will Portis.
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