Doc Rivers Admits He Doesn’t Know Why The Bucks Wanted To Hire Him

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Plenty of people were surprised to learn the Bucks had decided to hire Doc Rivers to replace Adrian Griffin as the team’s head coach last month—including the man who was offered the job.

It seemed like Griffin was more than holding his own during his first season at the helm for the Milwaukee Bucks, as the team boasted a record of 30-13 and was sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference at the end of January.

However, the franchise appeared to come to the conclusion that success had come in spite of Griffin, who reportedly failed to garner the support of his players (including Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo) while relying on a coaching philosophy the organization apparently didn’t think was going to translate to postseason success.

Doc Rivers had already been serving as an advisor to the rookie coach, so it’s only natural that the Bucks viewed the seasoned veteran as a natural successor. With that said, he didn’t appear to feel the same way at first.

On Tuesday, Rivers sat down for an interview on SiriusXM and admitted he was caught off guard by the job offer he officially accepted on January 26th.

Here’s what he had to say:

“Personally, to be honest, I told our owners when they called, ‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this.’ 

One of the things they said was, ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ve done it now and we want you.’ So that was a tough one. That’s where you have the hesitation.”

As things currently stand, the decision to tap Rivers to replace Griffin seems like it was ill-advised, as he’s gone 3-7 since taking the reins.

The Bucks are currently in third place in the Eastern Conference and seem to be well on their way to clinching a playoff spot barring a brutal collapse, but if they fail to make a deep postseason run, it’s going to be even harder to justify the decision to pull the plug on Griffin.