Doc Rivers is back where he belongs. The former standout at Marquette University officially accepted the head coaching job for the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday.
The 24-year veteran head coach will be at the helm of another talented team led by Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Why Doc Rivers is the perfect coach for the Milwaukee Bucks?
This is the perfect coach for this team, as Rivers' whole coaching career has been coaching superstar players. Go back to Tracy McGrady in Orlando, the Big 3 in Boston, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in Los Angeles, and recently, James Harden and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia.
After being fired from Philly, Rivers accepted a role with ESPN/ABC's NBA coverage alongside Mike Breen and Doris Burke. During that time, the team brought in Doc Rivers as Adrian Griffin's informal consultant to help Griffin navigate his first year as head coach with a championship-contending team.
But all along, it felt inevitable that Rivers was eventually going to take over as coach. This situation is similar to when the Cleveland Cavaliers fired David Blatt during the 2015-16 season to hire Tyronn Lue. The only difference is Blatt made it to his second year, whereas Griffin had one of the shortest tenures in NBA History.
Nonetheless, Milwaukee wanting to capitalize on their championship window, struck oil with a coach who is known as a master motivator and someone who will get the best out of his players.
He not only is one of the top coaches in the game, but he helped develop Joel Embiid into one of the three best basketball players in the world.
The hiring of Rivers will be massive for Milwaukee, as he will help Milwaukee become more balanced offensively. Per Team Rankings, Milwaukee is number two in offensive efficiency, but how many games this year have been decided by Giannis, Damian Lillard, or Khris Middleton having to carry the bulk of the scoring load to win? Too many, and that's why Doc Rivers was brought in, not only because of his coaching experience but because he'll infuse an offense that will help the offense be more balanced and get more guys involved.
The defense won't be an immediate fix unless General Manager Jon Horst makes a trade at the deadline. Milwaukee has to make small tweaks on the defensive end, such as giving up fewer points in the paint. Per NBA.com, Opponents are hitting 64.5 percent of their shots from inside the paint, which means that when Brook Lopez and Giannis are on the floor together, teams are getting to the paint at will.
Much has been made about Doc Rivers not being a successful postseason coach and being the coach of three teams who have blown 3-1 leads, but that's not all on Doc Rivers.
His Clippers teams were talented, but they didn't have enough depth or enough scoring coming off the bench to contend for a championship. During his stint in Philly, he had Maxey, Harden, and Embiid, but it wasn't enough to get past the second round because the 76ers didn't have enough around those three to compete for a title.
Milwaukee's got Cameron Payne, Malik Beasley, Andre Jackson Jr, Bobby Portis, and Pat Connaughton to help fill their roles. If anybody can get the most out of that group of talented role players, it's Doc Rivers.
It'll be interesting to see how Doc Rivers fares in his stint in Milwaukee.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks anaysis.