Joe Vardon at The Athletic wrote about Doc Rivers and what he calls the “absurdity” of the NBA’s coaching carousel. Good column.

Included is this nugget about Doc and the Bucks:

In the hours after Rivers’ firing was announced I spoke with three NBA front-office executives — two in the Western Conference and one in the Eastern Conference — who expressed somewhere between skepticism and outright doubt that Rivers would get another job for the upcoming season. But then one pointed to the unpredictability of the situation in Phoenix, where new owner Mat Ishbia has traded for Kevin Durant and fired Williams, and another mentioned Rivers as a potential sleeper candidate in Milwaukee, and around we go again.

The Bucks? You’ve got to be kidding me. If Doc lands the Milwaukee job I’ll volunteer for night construction on that hideous portion of 95 north in Delco. Rivers getting that gig would mean he failed upward for the second time in three years, going from the Clippers, to the Sixers, to the Bucks.

It would be like you and me hitting the ceiling at Waffle House, but we end up with a good Wendy’s gig, then when we fail at Wendy’s, Chic-fil-A is on the phone.

Can you imagine Doc coaching the Bucks? “Yeah throw the ball to Giannis and everyone else stand around.” Well, that’s sometimes what the Bucks did under Budenholzer, but anyway, Doc can replicate his dynamic offense from Philly. Milwaukee at least won a title recently, so pressure’s off. Doc could crash out in the second round and then say “no one picked us to win this series” while continuing to rack up regular season wins for his resume.


You know what Doc should do? He should do media. I can see him up there with Charles Barkley and Shaq. He’d be great at television. Just has to talk, no coaching.