NBA Rumors: Despite their slow start to the season, the Milwaukee Bucks are not expected to fire head coach Doc Rivers.
With a talented roster, I'm not sure anyone expected the Milwaukee Bucks to be 4-8 through the first few weeks of the season. Nevertheless, this is a team that has struggled on nearly all fronts. Aside from Giannis Antetokounmpo, there are very few certainties for this team on any given night. As a team overall, the Bucks have a below-average offense and defense. And if something doesn't change quickly, things are going to get worse before they get better in Milwaukee.
In fairness to the team's slow start to the year, you can't help but wonder how much that could be due to the lack of having Khris Middleton in the lineup. As their third star, Middleton could help solve a lot of the team's offensive issues that they've had so far this season. By inserting him in the starting 5, he would also elevate the team's depth and overall bench. But still considered weeks away, the Bucks must figure out how to survive until he returns.
The Milwaukee Bucks are not firing Doc Rivers
Not to mention that even when he does return, there's no guarantee his presence back in the starting lineup is going to dramatically change everything. Generally speaking, one of the "easy fixes" for struggling teams is to fire their head coach. However, considering the Bucks fired their previous head coach less than a year ago and the fact that they gave Doc Rivers a three-plus-year, $40 million deal last season to become the new signal-caller, it's not a move the Bucks can realistically make right now. And the recent reporting does seem to back that up. It's not a move the team is considering.
If the Bucks aren't thinking of firing Rivers, that means the resolution is going to have to come internally. The Bucks are just going to have to figure things out on their own, for better or worse. I'm not saying that Rivers should be fired but that's normally the cop-out move for struggling teams. Without that option at their disposal, it makes the path back to contention all the more difficult for the Bucks.
From all indications, even if hiring Rivers ends up being a mistake in retrospect, this is one that the Bucks will have to go down with. Because of the contract they gave Rivers, they're not in a position where they can fire him and then make another splash hire. Plus, it would be an extremely bad look for the front office (firing two head coaches in two years) to do such a move. More and more, it seems that if the Bucks are going to pull themselves out of this early-season hole, it's going to have to be done by the players (and personnel) already in that locker room.