Are the Bucks better with Doc Rivers as coach?

On Jan. 26, Doc Rivers was announced as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, taking on the job after Adrian Griffin was fired despite a 30-13 record. 

Griffin's firing came as a shock to the NBA public, especially considering the team's stellar record. However, Milwaukee's defense and rebounding had taken massive dips in Griffin's first season, leading to concern for a team with championship aspirations that had made a significant roster addition during the offseason.

Firing a rookie coach with a 30-13 record is unprecedented. Has Griffin's replacement, Doc Rivers, produced better results during his two months as coach than Griffin did through 43 games?

In Griffin's 43 games as coach, Milwaukee posted the 10th-best net rating in the NBA, but it did so in a lopsided fashion, with the second-ranked offense in the league but the 21st-ranked defense.

The Bucks were also fourteenth in rebounding percentage during those 43 games. Not an awful mark, but one that looks worse considering that Milwaukee was one of the league's best rebounding teams year after year under former coach Mike Budenholzer. Being league average on the boards was a pretty big drop off, especially with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez still on the roster, who combined for 18.5 rebounds per game in 2022-23.

Griffin also allegedly butted heads with other coaches - Terry Stotts stepped down as an assistant because he and Griffin's relationship was strained - and players like Antetokounmpo, who said the team was "not organized at all" under Griffin. So while Griffin's record was great, everything going on behind the scenes was a bit unstable.

Rivers was fired by the Philadelphia 76ers after the 2022-23 season. He kicked off his Bucks tenure on Jan. 29 and has a record of 14-11 in 25 games. That's obviously worse than Griffin's 30-13 mark, and while some of Milwaukee's numbers have improved under Rivers, it's still hard to make a declaration that the Bucks have gotten better in any substantial way with Rivers at the helm.

In those 25 games, Milwaukee has the 11th-best net rating in the NBA with the 12th-ranked offense and the 14th-ranked defense. The Bucks are 19th in rebounding percentage, so that problem has not been fixed with Rivers in charge. In short, the defense is a little better, the offense is a little worse and the team has a worse record than it did before. At least coaches aren't fighting anymore?

Milwaukee has been inconsistent in clutch time under Rivers, posting the sixth-best net rating in the NBA, but only notching a 5-6 record in the 11 clutch time games it has played. Those numbers look worse when compared to the Bucks' 18-6 record in clutch time games under Griffin, and league-best net rating in clutch situations. Even Milwaukee's defense tightened up under Griffin when games were close, all the way to second-best in the NBA.

Things haven't magically gotten better under Rivers - which is obvious in hindsight - and lots of work still needs to be done. Even though Milwaukee has top-end talent in Giannis and Damian Lillard, this team has some major red flags to address before fans should dream of another ring. 

The Bucks aren't a young team, so their window for potential championships is right now, and the window is not getting any wider. So making a move that the franchise believes gives the team a better chance to win now makes sense. The only problem is that Milwaukee's hiring of Rivers hasn't greatly improved the team's chances of actually winning now.