Last summer, the Milwaukee Bucks faced a crucial decision. Bring back Doc Rivers after one and a half seasons and two first-round exits, or go out looking for the team's fourth coach since 2022-23. Ultimately, they gave him their vote of confidence, entrusting him to pilot the ship for another season despite fan outcry and disillusionment. A large contingent never supported the hire in the first place.
To the surprise of no one, the choice to bring him back has detonated in their faces. The Bucks entered Monday 18-26, a season-high eight games below .500, and nowhere near contender status. A Giannis trade suddenly feels close to becoming a reality. The franchise had a chance to take a different direction, change the culture, and find a new coach last offseason. Simply put, they blew it.
Fans' worst fears have come true. Why is no one surprised?
Rivers isn't known for his in-game adjustments. That much was clear last year, and he's only hammered it home in his second full season at the helm. When lineups aren't working, does he change it up? Usually not until far too late, if at all. When role players have a red-hot hand, do they get extra burn? Sometimes. Sometimes not.
Fans will not forget that it took until Game 5 of the first round of last year's playoffs for Rivers to bench Kyle Kuzma and Brook Lopez for Kevin Porter Jr. and AJ Green.
When he has made adjustments, they're often the wrong ones. Benching Ryan Rollins, which Rivers did briefly earlier this season, was never the answer. Neither was giving Jericho Sims crunch-time minutes at Myles Turner's expense.
Obviously, the head coach doesn't deserve all the blame. Giannis' injuries haven't helped. Turner, Milwaukee's splash off the offseason, has underperformed dramatically. Clearly, the Bucks roster isn't cut out to contend.
But Rivers hasn't maximized the pieces he does have. Whatever his limitations, Turner is criminally underused in the post and pick-and-pop sequences. Rivers doesn't draw up plays to get him the ball in mismatches. The Bucks' bench depth, supposed to be a strength, has all but dissolved under Rivers' watch.
The whole feels like less than the sum of its parts. That's the opposite of the impact a good coach should have. After every loss, fans are treated to the same message, the same laundry list of flaws that need fixing. Nothing changes. It's long past old. The Bucks' underachievement isn't all on Rivers, but his fingerprints are all over their struggles.
There are multiple factors at play, not just Rivers' abysmal coaching, but that it's all gone horribly wrong is hardly a shock. This was always a possibility with his lack of adaptability dating back to last season and bleeding into the playoffs. Rivers was a questionable hire in the first place for a team chasing postseason success. He hasn't taken his team to the conference finals since 2011-12 in Boston. In two playoff runs under Rivers, the Bucks have won three total games.
Even in the regular season, they are just four games above .500 since he took over midway through the 2023-24 campaign.
Fans wanted Rivers gone months ago. They never wanted him in the first place. The Bucks need a major culture shift, but they may get the one they never wanted as a Giannis trade ticks closer to fruition. At this point Rivers' days are likely numbered, but it's too late to reverse a bad decision. The damage is done.