The Milwaukee Bucks are still paying Mike Budenholzer, who still had two years at a reported $16 million left on his contract when the Bucks let him go last summer. They are obviously still paying Adrian Griffin, the first-year head coach Milwaukee canned midway through this season despite a 30-13 record.
Now they will be paying Doc Rivers as well. While the Bucks have not formally announced the hiring, Rivers and Milwaukee agreed to a three-and-a-half-year contract worth nearly $40 million, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic. Expect everything to become official in the next 24 hours.
Rivers is an upgrade over Griffin this season, although whether he can get this roster where the franchise wants to go is a different question. He takes over a team with the second-best offense in the league — yet it has never looked smooth on that end — and the 20th-ranked defense. For all the wins, the vibes around this team were never quite right (to put it kindly) and it has felt like a second-round-and-done team this season under Griffin.
Rivers has a few key areas to target, starting on defense. While a lot of the talk has been about Griffin’s changes in the Bucks’ half-court defensive system — from one that dropped Brook Lopez deep in the paint and protected the rim at all costs to one that was more aggressive and blitzing, even after he dialed it back some — the easier fix for Rivers is the Bucks terrible transition defense. Rivers teams have always prioritized getting back on defense over offensive rebounding, if he can instill that mentality here the Bucks instantly get a little better. However, if the Bucks really want to improve their defense, it falls to GM Jon Horst to make some trades in the next couple of weeks — this team needs more perimeter and wing defenders.
Rivers must also get full buy-in from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, and a willingness to sacrifice to win. From the moment Milwaukee traded for Lillard there was an expectation they would overwhelm teams with the Lillard/Antetokounmpo pick-and-roll. It has yet to happen. They run the play far less than expected, reportedly because Antetokounmpo doesn’t like being the roll man. Rivers has called for more Lillard/Antetokounmpo pick-and-roll when broadcasting their games, now he needs to get the stars to buy into his vision and start to execute it.
The concerns about Rivers as a coach deep in the playoffs — the same kind of issues that got Budenholzer fired (although for different strategic reasons) — can be put on hold until April and May. Rivers needs time to adjust the mindset in Milwaukee and get them playing at a higher level. If he can do that in the next few months, this mid-season shake-up will have proven to be the right move. No matter the financial cost.
