MILWAUKEE — On Saturday, as Giannis Antetokounmpo sat at his locker following the Milwaukee Bucks’ 141-117 win over the New Orleans Pelicans, he held his left hand under his chin and considered the question about his new head coach for a couple of seconds before answering.
This was his first time speaking about Doc Rivers publicly, and he was taking the job seriously.
That seriousness is the same way Rivers told reporters he would be taking the expectations that come with being the head coach of the Bucks led by Antetokounmpo.
“I’ve learned that you would rather have them than not,” Rivers said of expectations. “When I took the Boston job (in 2004), I got a lot of calls from coaches to tell me not to take the job. ‘The expectations will be too unrealistic.’ I’m like, what? That’s ridiculous. You want that. You want expectations. And this team has them.”
For anyone previously doubting the high level of expectations, the decisions made by general manager Jon Horst since the Bucks lost to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in the playoffs’ first round last season have shown that winning games is not enough in Milwaukee. The Bucks are trying to win another championship.
That’s why the Bucks dismissed Mike Budenholzer, the NBA’s winningest regular-season coach and 2021 NBA champion, after the first-round upset last season. That’s why the team traded for All-Star point guard Damian Lillard in late September. That’s why the Bucks dismissed Adrian Griffin earlier this week after he helped lead the Bucks to a 30-13 record in his first 43 games as an NBA head coach. And that’s why the questions following the Bucks’ win over the Pelicans on Saturday night didn’t focus all that much on the win — their seventh in nine games — on Saturday night.
Instead, the questions for Antetokounmpo and Lillard focused on their thoughts about their new coach and how Rivers might be able to help lead the Bucks to a championship.
After a few seconds of contemplation, Antetokounmpo finally answered about his new coach’s desire to embrace the expectations that come along with coaching this star-laden team with sky-high expectations.
“It speaks volumes,” Antetokounmpo said, after putting up 30 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in the Bucks’ dominant win. “You could tell what he’s built of. He’s tough. It’s hard to take this job.”
“You lose, it feels like the whole world is ending. You win by five, why didn’t you win by 20? You have Giannis, you have Dame, you have Khris (Middleton). It’s hard. Nothing is good enough. Only a championship is good enough. We’ve got to that point, which is crazy. But I’m embracing it. I’m OK with it. I can sleep well at night. And I think having somebody that, you know, he’s not uneasy with that, he’s confident. Having somebody like that, I think he makes the environment of the locker room better.”
For Antetokounmpo, part of the confidence in Rivers comes from his extensive resume — the 24 years Rivers has spent on NBA sidelines.
“We know that he’s played in tough games,” Antetokounmpo continued. “We know that he’s played in two NBA Finals. Like, he’s been there before. We’ve been there one time. We want to go there again. And, sometimes, having people with experience next to you, it helps you.
“When it’s tough, when you face challenges, when things don’t go your way, having somebody that can be like, “Hey, I’ve been here before. This is what we’re going to do. This how we’re going to attack it. This is how we gotta stay together. Don’t worry about the expectation. We’ve gotta do this as a team.’ Somebody that can give you that guide, that lead, it’s always great to have him in your locker room. So, I’m excited that he understands that we’re trying to win a championship. I think everybody in this locker room understands that.”
And while Antetokounmpo has told the story before, he reminded reporters on Saturday night that the first NBA game he ever remembers watching was a 2008 NBA Finals game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. That Celtics team was, of course, coached by Rivers and would go on to win the NBA title that season.
“Fast forward, 16, 17 years later, he’s in the same locker room, and I gotta do what I can to help this team, and I gotta follow his lead,” Antetokounmpo said. “So, I’m excited. He’s a legend in this league. He has accomplished great stuff in this league, and I hope we can accomplish some great stuff together.”
Like Antetokounmpo, Lillard pointed to Rivers’ last four decades around the game as one of the major reasons to lean on their new head coach.
“We all know what he what he brings,” Lillard said. “We’ve heard his voice, him coaching other teams. We know he’s had success. He played in this league. He went to school in this city. He’s been around a long time as a coach. He’s coached a lot of great players. You would have a hard time thinking of something that he hasn’t experienced in this league, from playing to coaching, to talking about the game being on all these different broadcasts.
“So, it’s nothing that he hasn’t experienced. And I just think his voice, how he’s able to to motivate teams, he’s a strong voice. And he’s going to demand more from our team. He’s not going to be afraid to challenge myself. He’s not going to be afraid to challenge Giannis. He’s not going to be afraid to challenge Brook (Lopez) and Khris. And all the way down the line. So, I think when you’re dealing with a team that’s full of vets and as talented as we are, I think that’s something that that you need, if you want to reach the level that we want to reach. And I think he’s the perfect person for it.”
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As we reported in our initial story about the dismissal of Griffin, helping Lillard feel more comfortable in Milwaukee will be a major part of Rivers’ work in Milwaukee. Lillard is going to be a starter in the 2024 NBA All-Star Game and has put up big numbers this season (25.3 points and 6.8 assists per game), but more than halfway through their first season together, the fit next to Antetokounmpo has not been seamless. Antetokounmpo is putting up NBA MVP numbers once again this season (31 points, 11.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game) as well. And yet, the Bucks just haven’t seemed together this season.
Exploring the idea after Saturday’s game, Lillard felt like the Bucks current situation is actually quite similar to the situation Rivers encountered in Boston when the Celtics brought in former NBA MVP Kevin Garnett and seven-time All-Star Ray Allen to join forces with Paul Pierce, who had established himself as a star in Boston despite never reaching an NBA Finals.
“I think his most success as a coach is in a situation where there were extreme expectations in Boston,” Lillard said. “You’re getting Kevin Garnett, who was an MVP in Minnesota. You got Paul Pierce, who was one of the best players in the league for a long time. You get Ray Allen coming in there. You got (Rajon) Rondo, one of the best point guards in the league. And then, you throw Doc in there, and you’ve got some expectations.
“They expected to win. You were in that type of market where the people in the city really care, similar to here. They want to win. They’re demanding it. And I think, because of his experience — not just the high moments, but the low moments — of being criticized and people jumping on you for not succeeding, he’s felt it. And, I think, anytime you experience that in that way on both sides, you know how rewarding it can be, when you come out on top. And, I think, looking at our team, he feels like we have a chance to do that. So, you want a guy who’s had that type of experience to to be leading your team in this type of situation.”
To Lillard, Rivers’ experience with the championship team in Boston, as well as his experience navigating situations with multiple star players, will help in Milwaukee if he ever needs to have difficult or stressful conversations with the Bucks’ star players in Milwaukee.
While both players expressed their confidence and belief in their new coach, like Rivers, they didn’t shy away from how much work the Bucks have left to do to become a championship contender this season and how little time they have left to do it before the playoffs begin.
“I don’t assume, and I don’t expect that the moment he comes in, we will go 5-0 or we go 10-0 or whatever, like it’s going to take time,” Antetokounmpo said. “Are we going to change our offense? Is our offense going to stay the same? Are we going to change our terminology? Are we going to change our adjustments defensively? Are we going to change our practice plan? Like how is practice going to look? How is shootaround going to look? All of those things.
“Different coach, different routines for everybody, so it’s going to take time. But I think the most important thing that he emphasized is to come together as a team. The more we are together as a team, the faster we can get to where we want to get to.”
On Sunday, the Bucks embark on a five-game road trip that pits them against five talented Western Conference teams — the Denver Nuggets, the Portland Trail Blazers, the Dallas Mavericks, the Utah Jazz and the Phoenix Suns — in nine days. After interim head coach Joe Prunty led the Bucks to a 2-1 record through the process of firing one coach and hiring another this week, Rivers will coach his first game against the Nuggets on Monday.
Let the work begin.
(Photo of Jon Horst and Doc Rivers: Larry Radloff / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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