After being eliminated in shocking fashion to the eight-seeded Heat, the Milwaukee Bucks began preparations for a long and grueling summer. It only took days to part ways with long-time coach Mike Budenholzer, and now the team is working hard to narrow their list of candidates to a select few candidates.
But according to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, a familiar name has inserted himself in the Bucks’ coaching search: the recently fired Doc Rivers, who is being tagged as a sleeper candidate to replace Bud.
“In the hours after Rivers’ firing was announced, I spoke with three NBA front-office executives — two in the Western Conference and one in the Eastern Conference — who expressed somewhere between skepticism and outright doubt that Rivers would get another job for the upcoming season. But then one pointed to the unpredictability of the situation in Phoenix, where new owner Mat Ishbia has traded for Kevin Durant and fired Williams, and another mentioned Rivers as a potential sleeper candidate in Milwaukee, and around we go again.”
At this point, we are all familiar with Doc’s postseason record and it does not reflect kindly on his influence as a coach. Even still, Doc has a history of leading teams to great success and was able to win a title with the Boston Celtics back in 2008.
Unfortunately, Rivers wasn’t able to get through to Joel Embiid and he’s now jobless after failing to reach the Conference Finals. For the Bucks, they will be looking for anyone that can keep Giannis happy.
A ‘Thundercloud’ Is On The Horizon For The Bucks
No matter who the Bucks bring in as the coach, their future remains in jeopardy as their core players continue to age out of their current deals. If the Bucks aren’t careful, everything they’ve built in the Giannis era could come crashing down…
“Giannis has a contract extension this offseason. If he doesn’t sign that extension, orange light — we got problems,” said Brian Windhorst. “They’ve got two free agents in their 30s, Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton, with the repeater tax starting for them next year and in the new CBA, the rules are set up to penalize teams that are high-salary teams and they have to decide on a coach and whether to pay to 30-year-olds… The Bucks are in a quagmire and we have the first move with the firing of [Mike] Budenholzer.”
It’s imperative that the Bucks find the right guy to lead their team, and Doc could be the one they need to get back on track as a franchise. But if not, it could set them back to a place where there’s no return.
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