Doc Rivers STRUGGLES to MAKE AN IMPACT + Klay Thompson’s CONFIDENCE off the bench 👀 | First Take

Doc Rivers STRUGGLES to MAKE AN IMPACT + Klay Thompson’s CONFIDENCE off the bench 👀 | First Take

How bad are things for Giannis and the bucks um definitely in a bad place right now I I think when I watch the Bucks what I’m seeing couple of things I I think I’m seeing right now a loss of belief right they just don’t have that Swagger that you would expect the team

With jannis Santa TMO and Damen Lillard to have they there there’s too many breakdowns and and Doc alluded to some of the things that are based on maybe concentration or based on just competitive will I’m seeing some of that as well they’ve had defensive issues all

Year and I think we’re we really started to see early on the impact of not having duw holiday as your point of attack Defender and and the difference that makes with a guy like Damen Lillard who mainly is going to do his damage on the under end of the floor I don’t think

People put maybe enough stock into that difference going into the season because everybody had the Bucks in the top two in the East there’s not a person out there that didn’t have the Milwaukee Bucks in the top two with the same roster they have now so it’s not the

Talent we we look at the roster we say that is good enough to contend in the Eastern Conference now maybe Boston’s the best team in eastern you come up short but where they have fallen to let allow teams like Cleveland maybe to surpass them in people’s minds to allow

The Knicks when they’re fully at full strength to pass them now in in terms of belief of who could make a run in Eastern Conference that speaks a lot more than to their roster defensively the competitive will and the multiple effort plays are just not there right

Now look Doc Rivers I’m not laying it’s at at his feet at all he just got there it’s hard Monica for a player to come in midseason to a new locker room and immediately have an impact it’s hard for a player it’s twice as hard for a head

Coach because everything’s been laid out since September how we’re doing things and now you come in and he doesn’t have great relationships with all these players I’m sure he knows some of these guys he doesn’t have deep trust built up yet he doesn’t even have a chance to schematically change much because you

Don’t practice a lot in the NBA so this is sort of an on the-fly thing for Doc to have an impact it’s going to take a lot more time than this and right now he came into a situation that was a little bit demoralizing it’s gotten worse and

Sometimes that’s going to happen when you make a coaching change mid-season it gets worse before it gets better and let’s see ultimately Monica what doc can do to squeeze the rest of the juice out of this team because they’ve got to improve defensively and they’ve got to improve their Swagger and endgame

Execution that’s to me is their biggest issues right now I’m jumping the gun here a little bit Molly and legs but I know one of our questions today is who needs to come out of the All-Star break and hit a stride to me it’s the Milwaukee Bucks for all of the reasons

That you just listed legs when you think of the expectations of this organization particularly the way that the postseason ended last year they are playing so far beneath the expectation it’s kind of confusing in many ways and I think leadership is hugely important Giannis anmo is someone that is respected in

This league for his intensity his work ethic Dame Lillard same concept but I also legs I can’t help but to think the last time that it was successful ad Superstar player was when kawhai Leonard was able to do it with the Toronto Raptors and I think in the era of stars

Being able to move and rightfully so they have earned that we dismiss the little things that are hugely important to winning now your uh point of attack defense is not a little thing that’s a big thing particularly for a team that has hung his hat on the defensive end

But I think this is taking longer than we anticipated for more than just the coaching reasons um we were all thrilled about the idea that the space and Pace that Giannis and Dame could could play Within that pick and role whether you want Giannis in it or Lopez um Bobby

Poris continues to be someone that is productive Off the Bench for this team but the little things like all of the little things have kind of culminated to a head scratching start to the season to the first half of the season from the Milwaukee Bucks and so I really think

That along the All-Star festivities I hope that the coaching staff has an opportunity to sit and narrow down how they want to proceed and that this team comes out with some rejuvenated enery because I’m with you legs it’s it’s just very very confusing yeah and Monica on

That note I’m going to bring in Brian windhorse Wendy before you jump in here Monica I just want to know did you get your egg white omelette today with the veggies did did that already happen or should we be expecting a little ring ring first of all I got so many texts

Molly way to play that off on TV um actually was huge so there’s half of it in my fridge still I’ll probably finish it today okay that’s good I already had my omelette in case you’re wanting Wendy but I asked for the potatoes well done crispy yeah and they’re like boiled

Potatoes I don’t you got to have you got to have your potatoes like borderline burnt I’m with you I’m like I don’t know how to I don’t know how to communicate that better but uh best in New York we got to work on that Wendy how we feeling

How we doing tell me this how bad are things right now for the bucks that’s where we are guys this was an absolutely wretched loss okay the Memphis Grizzlies started started two guys on 10day contracts one guy who’d been with them for about 48 hours and one of the reasons they

Started was because a guy that they signed to a two-way contract a few weeks ago Scotty Pippen Jr was injured and they beat the bucks so before we go anywhere doc let these guys off light by saying half of them were in Cabo because I think that was an ey raising quote Doc

Is not afraid to talk about his players and tell the truth sometimes they got off light compared to the performance that they put on to that okay so now that I’ve said that I want to say it would be very easy to write the bucks

Off and it would be very easy to say that this isn’t working that this is a disaster Etc I would encourage you not to quite do that yet um there are some indications that the Bucks have made some progress and I know that is a tough sell at this moment especially if you’re

A bucks fan and especially if you had huge expectations for that this year after the Dame trade which you should their defense has it’s in these last 10 games with Doc it is definitely gotten better and I’m not I am not putting last night’s effort up there but there are

Some improvements in there there their numbers have gotten better in this stretch they’ve been the number 12 defense that’s not exciting but they were in the bottom like seven or eight when he got there Steph Curry and Sabrina anesu will compete in a special longdistance shootout Saturday that’s

Going to be special Curry’s the NBA’s alltime three-point leader and ESU the WNBA single season three-point record holder their competition marks the first time an NBA and WNBA player will go head-to-head or shop for shop Monica you’re up first who you got oh okay so let me just say that I’m

All about this as a celebration as we started the show talking about women’s basketball it is growing and both Steph and Sabrina are about the opportunity to continue to grow the game for young people to be inspired by the shootout now I understand who step Curry is the

Women’s basketball has my heart so let’s go sad let’s get it done listen if if you’re ask if you’re asking me look this this has nothing to do with with gender or anything else it comes down to this for me personally like I’ve never seen anybody shoot a

Basketball like Steph Curry so I’m going to go with Steph it’s not even about supporting you know my my fellow NBA guy or anything it’s just I’ve never seen anybody do it at the level of Steph I do think she’s going to give a run for his

She might she might beat him but I if you ask me to lay money on it I I got to go with Steph Curry I say well this ain’t no this ain’t no pity party here she could beat him she could really really shoot a matter of fact if it was

Caitlyn Clark I I I would predict that she might win but I will say this I’m not betting against the greatest shooter God has ever created I’m not betting against him but it is going to be a very competitive matchup and it’s not like we haven’t seen Steph lose before remember

Klay Thompson beat Steph Curry in a three-point shooting contest so let’s not forget years ago so let’s not forget that he can lose and she does have the capability to beat him so it’s going to be very interesting that’s going to be epic my only thing is I just hope they

Have a lot of towels out there because we don’t want we don’t want the sweat to get no slippage you know we don’t want any more casualties they’ll be I’m I’m I’m I’m going I’m going to the store straight from here to buy to buy me some some new some some new

Sneakers you know appropriate Footwear appropriate yeah appropriate foot get an ankle brace while you’re at it those an Ste what was the tracksuit you had on what brand what brand was that tracksuit don’t worry about the brand that was definitely a designer track suit too it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s

It’s the uh it’s the uh suit that I had on when uh for Thanksgiving we did our Thanksgiving show in studio designer designer yeah it was a flex we need athletic don’t about it how abouts you need I’m not giving you any tips I’m not giving you any tips you know what I’m

Saying I’m not giving you any tips are you confident clay will Thrive Off the Bench yes I am because I believe in clay and um but he’s not out of the woods and here’s what I mean by that I’m just talking about this one game where he had

35 points last night yeah was his best game of the season I didn’t like seeing him say that do you know why Molly Tim Wendy because he went 0 for four over 10 minutes in the fourth quarter the issue for him has been primarily the fourth quarter that has been alarming to

Everybody certainly the 41% shooting from the field the 37% shooting from three-point range as low as that is it’s low for him most teams would love a 37% shooter for three-point range in the NBA I’m telling you right now that Klay Thompson that we’ve been saying and we’ve been lamenting and struggled about

25 to 27 other teams will want that brother on their squad at that Pace because that’s how gifted of a marksman he truly truly is we’re talking about one of the greatest Shooters in the history of the league okay and so what I want a guy like Klay Thompson to hear is

Two things number one don’t try to don’t try to get over bro ain’t nobody telling you ain’t nobody saying that Klay Thompson can’t play ain’t nobody saying that Klay Thompson isn’t a future Hall of Famer ain’t nobody saying that Klay Thompson is not one of the greatest

Shooters this game has ever known I’m talking to one in Tim legler right here you know what I’m saying is true him what we’re saying is you haveen it measured up to a standard you spoiled us with over the course of your career before you got injured Klay Thompson it

Doesn’t shoot less than 40% from three-point range Klay Thompson’s the one that beat Steph Curry in a three-point shooting contest Klay Thompson’s the one that scored 60 in the game Klay Thompson’s the one that scored 37 points in a quarter this is who we know him to be so the measuring stick is

You it’s not that oh my God you can’t play anymore you don’t belong in the NBA anymore nothing no it’s you you what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing you do and when you go in a fourth quarter even in the midst of a 35o explosion on 59% shooting over the first three quarters

You shot 0 for four in the fourth quarter over 10 minutes that’s not what clay does clay is usually the dude that closes remember when Steph Curry was in Oklahoma played against Oklahoma City and he had the Big Time game the big time shot and all this stuff remember

When they was down 3-2 or 3-1 rather and they had to come back and they went in the game six it was clay that dropped 41 not Steph Curry so the standard is simply one you’ve established and I think it’s important to remind CLA that there ain’t naysayers out there saying

You can’t play anymore you don’t belong in the NBA you still care make a major contribution most teams wouldn’t be honored to have you what they’re saying is we are accustomed to seeing you here because you are at a level as a marksman that very few people on the planet have

Ever can ever or will ever touch that is the narrative that he’s battling right now and he needs to understand that you know this is like watching a a movie play out in real time guys because we are seeing uh sort of fascinating moments in a hall of famers career and

He’s giving us these raw interviews uh after these games and having these things play out right in front of us we’re watching a guy go through a very challenging transition um and he’s you know struggling a couple of weeks ago he was in Brooklyn and he got benched down

The stretch and he was I thought on the verge of tears at the end of the game talking about how difficult it was in in the postgame locker room um two nights ago when they played the Clippers he made a colossal mental mistake committing a foul in the in the final

Minute that dramatically changed the end of the game that Steve cerr absolutely couldn’t believe he made the mistake he almost fell over onto the ground when he saw clay right in front of the bench make this air on this foul um Kay is openly admitting he is snapped at the

Assistant coaches um and then you see him respond to a benching and Stephen A you’re right like ultimately if this team’s going to do anything and there’s huge pressure on this team and he’s making over $40 million ultimately he’s just got to be better bottom line but

I’m just wrapped up in the unfolding drama that were seeing and so he responds to this benching with uh a great game and it wasn’t a good finish but it was a great game on a second night of a back-to-back and a tough place to play in Utah and also I just

Want to point something out we have really gotten to see Steve Kerr do some real coaching with his sleeves rolled up with this Klay Thompson situation and this team and I want to point out that Kerr won his 500th regular season game last night so congratulations to him

He’s had an amazing career Stephen A remember he turned down the Knicks job what would have happened if he took that Nick shot for Phil Jackson that’s another story for another show but I’m gonna say we watched Stephen A or we’ve watched Steve Kerr we’ve watched Steve

Kerr with this team find a way and he’s playing these younger guys and he’s he’s been able to get kaminga going and this change with Clay was to put Brandon pky this guy was picked in the teens they thought this guy would maybe be a backup his rookie year he’s been developed by

The Warriors into being a starter so this is a fascinating thing that Clay is just a part of look I I want to say first of all everything you heard out of Klay Thompson when we just showed those two sound bites is why I love Klay Thompson because we can’t just gloss over

Overstate how difficult this must be for him mentally to use the word he used Embrace this situation and by the way you can’t go out there and Thrive or do your job or help your team or play at your highest level unless mentally you are accepting of the situation right

And and it’s a very tough thing for guys to come to terms with so they did it I think it was necessary to do it I think what it did was it allowed them to unlock him and unleash him a little bit I don’t know if this is permanent but

They needed something for to get Klay Thompson Going he

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Tim Legler, Monica McNutt, and Brian Windhorst react to the Milwaukee Bucks’ struggles under Doc Rivers. Then, the panel looks at Klay Thompson’s impact off the bench.

0:00 How bad are things for the Bucks?
6:30 Curry-Ionescu 3-PT contest
10:00 Klay Thompson’s impact off the bench

#espn #nb #firsttake #bucks #warriors

✔️Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV