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Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN
After a brief courtship, Doc Rivers has reached an agreement in principle to become the coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
Rivers, the ESPN NBA analyst who recently led the Philadelphia 76ers to three consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals, immediately emerged as a top target after Adrian Griffin was fired. Sources said the parties negotiated intensively until Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning before reaching an agreement on a deal.
Despite having the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, the Bucs fired Griffin just 43 games into his career as a head coach, giving them a better chance to compete because the organization believed they could find improvement in the young coach. Sources said it is a championship.
Based on Rivers’ performance and availability, general manager Jon Horst plans to pursue him and convince him to pursue his second NBA title as a coach.
Bucks Rivers believes the star coaching tandem of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard makes it unique to elevate together.
Rivers has a long history in Milwaukee, where he was an All-American guard at Marquette in the early 1980s.
Since winning the NBA title with the Boston Celtics in 2008, he has had 16 consecutive winning seasons — a streak matched only by Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley, according to ESPN Stats & Info. His 1,097 regular season wins are ninth in NBA history, and his 111 playoff wins are fourth.
Rivers has had his share of setbacks in the postseason, including a career 10-game losing streak and five straight. According to ESPN Stats & Information, they had a chance to reach the conference finals and lost nine straight games.
However, Rivers will get a chance to bolster the Bucks’ defense and keep them in the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. After being fired by Philadelphia at the end of last season, Rivers was Frank Vogel’s runner-up for the Phoenix Suns coaching job before accepting analyst roles on ESPN and ABC’s NBA playoff coverage, sources said.
Griffin had a 30-13 (.698) record, but the Bucs dropped from fourth to 22nd in defensive efficiency a year ago — although some of that had to be due to the loss of All-Star guard Jrue Holiday.
Much anticipated, Griffin was hired to replace Mike Budenholzer in June and was tasked with incorporating the system into the All-Star Patriots team. Horst believed Griffin would develop into a good NBA head coach, but lost faith that he could make it on the timeline of the Bucks’ quick championship window, sources said.