S.I.’s Chris Mannix: Why Bucks Have Struggled Under Doc Rivers | The Rich Eisen Show
So you spent time with the Bucks this week what is your impression of the Doc Rivers coached I guess retooled for the lack of better a phrase bucks what do you got for me yeah I I think of the storylines over this unofficial second half of the season I think Milwaukee
Ranks right up there as the most interesting because this is a team with championship Talent right you’ve got Giannis you’ve got Lillard you’ve got some good guys Chris Middleton when he gets back healthy you’ve got a big three in Milwaukee but for whatever reason it has not worked up until this point
They were 30 and 13 under Adrien Griffin but they fired him because they thought their defense was just not going to get much better Doc Rivers comes in and the defense did improve over those 10 games that he coached they’re about 12th in the NBA in defensive efficiency but they
Were three and seven so the results just weren’t there I it’s going to be fascinating to see if Giannis and Lillard and Middleton and this group of players can get on the the same page because this team has a very tight Championship window what’s funny about the All-Star Game Giannis and Damen
Lillard were the two oldest players on the Eastern Conference roster they’re older guys in their in the case of Dame in his early 30s Giannis in his late 20s Chris Middleton in his 30s as well there is a very tight window for this team to win a championship and if they can’t get
It together this year uh who knows what’s happens in the offseason so what is Doc bringing the equation do you think here I think doc is what he’s trying to do and I had a long conversation with him earlier in the week is he’s trying to simplify things
What he saw from afar was a team that was presenting its players offensively and defensively with too many options too many options defensively too many schemes defensively offensively not going to their bread and butter enough one thing doc said to me was we need to
Run a lot of pick and roll for Damon Giannis we’ve got one of the best Shooters in NBA history we’ve got one of the most dynamic players in NBA history we’ve got to run pick and roll for them all day long their very first practice
All they did was run pick and roll for Damen Lillard and Doc we’ve got to get back to that defensively they’ve got to get back to their defensive identity which is Giannis and Brook Lopez protecting the rim and their guards on the perimeter showing more effort fighting over screens just being an
Aggressive team one thing he said was look when you play Denver and you play Miami they don’t try anything special they’re just really good at what they do and they dare you to be better he said we’ve got to get back to being really good at
What we do and daring the teams that we play that beat us do you get the sense that they were buying it what he’s selling I think they’re buying it because I do think there was some confusion within the locker room about how they were playing some disagreement between players and the
Coaching staff about how they were playing I mean you know for a couple examples Malik Beasley who’s one of the best shooters in the NBA part of the Three-Point Contest there were times he was handling the ball a little bit too much Doc Rivers said to him said you
Know what you’re not a ball handler anymore you just be you you be a shooter Damen Lillard would say he was confused uh at least according to Doc Rivers would say he was confused about when he was bringing the ball up he said look you’re Damien Lillard you bring the ball
Up all the time you’re our point guard you’re our star so it’s it’s a word that I heard a lot during my week in Milwaukee simplify simplify simplify just making everything as basic as they can and being the be very best at it is it as simple as this is the Nuggets
World anyway though I don’t know it might be Boston’s World frankly I mean like look the Nuggets beat the Celtics in Boston they’re the team to beat until someone knocks them off right um I’m just really impressed with Boston’s big six like they’re their top six guys are
Elite the biggest question the Celtics have in the second half is can they keep Chris as porzingis healthy like he’s had he’s been relatively healthy most of the season but he’s had a variety of different bumps and bruises he has been a real key to what they’ve done on both
Ends of the floor he’s a perfect floor spacer offensively defensively he’s become a real shot contester at The Rim if he can stay healthy my prediction is they roll through the Eastern Conference and then we see what happens whoever they play in the west I think the West
Is going to be a street fight from start to finish catch the rich show every single day on the Roku Channel 12:00 to 3 Eastern for free
Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix and Rich Eisen discuss if the Milwaukee Bucks can turn things around after struggling mightily under new head coach Doc Rivers.
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21 Comments
The thing with the Bucks is this: Giannis is unstoppable, mostly. The rest of the team, easily schemed out. Lillard is vastly overrated. What has he done all those years in Portland? Milwaukee, sadly, is a one trick pony team. It's basically Giannis & the Others.
Doc Choke has Ribodue as assistant coach, then Rondo as facilitator. Those two made the Boston championship possible. Doc Choke is just lucky.
Bucks are a better team than they were a month ago. It’d be nice to stop playing B2Bs and get Middleton healthy
They have been missing multiple starters in almost every game he's been there, and he's trying install a new system. Judge this team by how they perform in the playoffs.
"I'm just impressed with boston big six" how does boston creme taste like honeybun mannix 😂
No in game adjustment in defense and offense, all he do is talk, no plays
Bucks are broken beyond repair
Maybe they will fire Doc and hire new coach yet again 😀. Changing coaches like underwear 😮. It’s just ridiculous and short sightedness
He’s not even a real doctor!
How can Beasely fool an entire franchise, most of their problems are cause of the holes in his game and he get run out there, the other team flocks to him all game and get whatever they want, offensively he offer very little, very weak with the ball, hitting an open shot is fools gold
Let's not forget Doc was the same coach who blew a 3-1 lead in the playoffs and allowed the Nuggets to knock them out the playoffs Doc River playoffs record is 111-104 he might be a good regular season coach but never a good playoff coach
Can Milwaukee turn it around.
Coming in mid season with injuries is tough. They have had a bad loss (Grizz before all star break), but they played like 6 games in 8 nights, mainly on the road and had Middleton, Lopez and or Dame out for several of those games. With all those games no time for practice to implement much. Lets see how they close final 19 games now that everyone should be back, they have time for some practices during all star break. Their success will be determined in the playoffs, not regular season
Doc is the most overrated coach. Everyone knows Rondo actually ran the team game plan in Boston
Summarize this for Y’all – They haven’t had enough time….
Guys are not in shape to play Doc's type of Defense
And from their hard work on defense
their offense suffers
Harden, Leonard, George, and Westbrook didn't look good at first either, did they?
Lets look at something more specific: Over the last 10 games, your #2 star, who also happens to be the biggest defensive liability on your team, laid a bunch of eggs. He missed two of those games and if you take out the game against Dallas where he shot a scorching 90%, he's 37.7% from the field. Take out that same 100% from 3 he shot in Dallas and he's only 28% from the behind the arc (and only 38% once you add that back in). Once more, taking out that outlier and he's only averaging 19.2 PPG, which only jumps to 21 PPG when you add that back in. What I'm getting at is, this isn't Doc River's fault. I get his history and I'm not necessarily trying to defend him but the problem is that they traded for an overrated superstar who is a complete liability on defense. Nobody wants to say it though. Almost every other #2 in the league would get called out but because he was a #1 who's only #2 by default now, we pretend like it's not happening.
Oh yeah, and he's only shooting on 42% from the field for the season (34% from 3PT). Is that good? Tell me a non "Superstar" shooting like that, who doesn't play defense, that you would allow to take as many shots as he does, especially those super long-distance ones that he does. He's like 3% better than Jordan Poole and that dude is a joke.
Problem is no offensive identity. Not just defense.
Its regular season. The Bucks will turn it around. I wish the Bucks would of sent Pat Connaughton to the Suns and kept Grayson Allen. Grayson is a better defender.