Doc Rivers Reveals Why He Took Bucks Job After Contemplating Retirement From Coaching

New Bucks coach Doc Rivers was supposed to be doing analysis for networks this season. Instead, he's tasked with leading one of the best teams in the East to a championship mid-way through the season. For Rivers, he didn't plan on coming back after leaving the 76ers but he says he couldn't resist the allure of a chance to win another title with some of the top players in the game.

“Coming back here, to a place that changed me as a literal person, is a dream,” Rivers said Saturday. “I wasn’t going to just take a job,” Rivers said. “I’ve been contacted several times this season, and I wouldn’t even take the call. I was dead serious. If the right opportunity opened, I would listen. If not, I was fine.”

For Rivers, he knows what's at stake with this latest venture and the risk that comes with potential failure. The Bucks are built to win now, and anything short of a Finals run is going to be scrutinized by the fans and the media.

“Winning it all, it’s like having a blood transfusion with everybody in the organization, and once you get that in you, you want another one, ” Rivers said. “And that’s my pursuit. I don’t know if there’s anything to prove there. It’s just something that I want to do. Listen, Giannis, that’s what he wants to do. Khris Middleton and (Brook) Lopez — just because they’ve won one doesn’t mean they don’t want to win another. And Dame wants to win one."

Only time will tell what kind of culture Rivers will establish with the Bucks but the hope is that he can make his impact felt right away with a professional-level defense and a system that brings the most out of the stars.

What Happened In Milwaukee?

The Bucks hired Adrian Griffin after their first-round defeat in the postseason. Mike Budenholzer, who was their longtime coach, was a big loss for them and they were deciding between a few candidates before finally settling on Griffin. Ultimately, while Griff began innocently enough, it was pretty much doomed from the start. He was never meant to coach Damian Lillard and by the time the season arrived in October, the first signs of trouble were already there with Terry Stotts having left abruptly.

On the court, the Bucks' defensive identity slipped and it only got better after the team begged Griffin to switch back to their tried and true method that won the title in 2021. These instances began to add up for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who eventually lost faith in Griffin and began to call his own plays on the sidelines.

The Last Chance For Doc

Unfortunately for Rivers, a history of playoff failures and series collapses have tarnished his legacy. Stretching across his tenures in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Doc has fallen victim to ugly defeats in the past, where his teams are often favored to win. For the 76ers last season, they were up 3-2 over the Celtics in the second round before an embarrassing display of shooting sent them home in 7 games.

While Doc claims he was getting calls before the Bucks gig, it doesn't change the fact that this could be his last chance to change the narrative and capture another championship before he ends his coaching career. Either way, this is a make-or-break job for Rivers and it'll be interesting to see how he does under all the pressure.