Doc Rivers reveals he questioned Bucks if they made right decision by firing Adrian Griffin

I don’t think anyone expected Milwaukee to fire first-year coach Adrian Griffin midway through the current campaign, especially considering he had led the Wisconsin franchise to the Eastern Conference’s second spot. Since last month, he was replaced by Doc Rivers who has coached the team for 10 games already. 

In a recent interview on Tuesday, the veteran tactician revealed that he was also confused over the Bucks’ decision to move on from a rather successful coach and even dared to question the organization before accepting his new role.

“Personally, I’ll be honest, I told ownership when they called, ‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this,’” Doc said about Milwaukee parting ways with Griffin. “One of the things they said was, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter, we’ve done it now, and we want you.’ And so that was a tough one, that’s where the hesitation...”

The Bucks shocked plenty of people when they decided to hire Doc Rivers to replace Adrian Griffin—including the man who now serves as their head coach

READ MORE: https://t.co/QvtGqMxVBfhttps://t.co/QvtGqMxVBf

— BroBible (@BroBible) February 21, 2024

As the Bucks have struggled this past month, some fans and experts believe that Rivers never takes accountability for his mistakes, and always finds excuses to deflect his poor decisions. One of them was his former pupil JJ Redick, who went after the coach on ESPN. “I’ve seen the trend, I’ve seen the trend for years,” he said.

The ex-NBA player believes the new Milwaukee tactician never gets the criticism he deserves. “The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard. Just like getting traded in the middle of a season is hard for a player, we get it.

“It’s always an excuse. It’s always throwing your team under the bus. They lose to Memphis, ‘oh it’s his players fault!’ Memphis was playing G League guys and two-way guys. You look at his quotes over the weekend and now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade to the Clippers working out? He wants credit for that? There’s never accountability with that guy,” he assured.

Ever since Rivers took charge, he hasn’t had it easy. Despite the Bucks being one of the East’s top contenders with a 35-21 record, the club is 3-7 with their newest coach on the bench, with whom they’ve dropped to their conference’s third place.

Antetokounmpo reveals how changing coaches in Milwaukee has affected the team: ‘It’s draining’

Respecting a coach’s process seems to be one of the best moves for a healthy team, even though sometimes squads need to be shaken up from their core in order to react positively on the basketball court. However, the Milwaukee franchise has had four head coaches in the past six months, and their players are starting to suffer the consequences.

During this past All-Star Weekend, star Giannis Antetokounmpo was asked about all the events that have occurred behind the scenes with these modifications, and he admitted that it has been “hard” to deal with them.

“It’s hard. It’s hard. This is my fourth coach in the span of six months,” the forward revealed. “Coach (Mike Budenholzer), coach (Adrian Griffin), (interim) coach Joe (Prunty) and Doc. Different philosophy, different game plan. It’s hard. It’s draining.”

The Greek Freak admits he’s tried his best to adapt. “I’m a student of the game. When somebody asks me to do something, I try to do it to the best of my ability,” he expressed. “I try to understand what we’re trying to accomplish, both so I can understand and so I can be there for my teammates when they ask questions.”