‘That’s insane’… Doc Rivers on what he was told about his own situation after Tom Thibodeau firing

Doc Rivers makes ‘insane’ admission about Tom Thibodeau’s firing

Looking at the list of longest-serving NBA head coaches, it feels like the days when teams trusted them to turn things around have gone.

In fact, upon being told that he’s the 12th longest-serving head coach in the NBA right now, Rivers was shocked on The Bill Simmons podcast.

“Someone told me I was 12, when you think about it, that’s insane. That’s nuts,” Rivers said.

Rivers then talked about the feeling of getting fired as he has faced that decision three times during his coaching career.

“Firing is hard. I’ve been fired three times. When it happens, especially when it happens to one of your guys, my guys are Thibs, Ty Lue, like that it really bothers you.

“You know what they are. Both of them are unbelievable coaches,” he added.

To put things into perspective, Rivers was hired by the Bucks in the middle of the 2023-24 NBA season. Considering he has coached the team for less than two full seasons, speaks volumes about how quickly NBA teams lose faith in coaches in the modern era.

Doc Rivers gives Utah Jazz, Boston Celtics as ideal ‘model’ for head coaches

Rivers has been an NBA head coach since the 1999-00 season. Obviously, he has seen the shift in how teams treat head coaches right in front of his eyes.

But is every team getting impatient and firing coaches left and right? Certainly not.

“I always use the, the Utah model, the reason Utah stayed good for so long, they never panicked. They didn’t fire Jerry Sloan because he couldn’t get to the Finals. They knew he could coach,” Rivers continued.

“There are certain franchises, Boston really for the most part, the Celtics, they don’t make changes once they think they have the right coach, a good coach.

“They’re right because they know they can scout better, they can draft better, they can make trades better because they know exactly what they’re looking for,” Rivers stated, further bolstering his point.

So what does Rivers ultimately think of the Knicks firing coach Thibodeau?

“I thought the Knicks were on their way to that and now Thibs is gone,” the Bucks coach concluded.

With coach Thibs gone and the Knicks hardly seeing any success in finding a replacement for him, did the top brass make a mistake? Only time will tell.