The Bucks shocked the NBA world on Tuesday when they decided to fire first-year head coach Adrian Griffin despite having a 30-13 record, good for second-best in the Eastern Conference.
A day later, Milwaukee already found its replacement, hiring veteran head coach Doc Rivers to take the reins midseason.
After trading three first-round picks to pair superstar Damian Lillard with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks face title-or-bust expectations. The hiring of Rivers brings a coach with 23 years of experience and pedigree, led by more than 1,000 career wins and a 2008 NBA title with the Celtics. In 2022, he was honored as one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history.
With success also comes a historic amount of playoff shortcomings. As Mike Prada of The Athletic noted, Rivers has blown three 3-1 series leads and five 3-2 series leads as a head coach. He is also 16-34 in his career and has a chance to close out a playoff series.
Whether Rivers is the man to lead Milwaukee back to the NBA Finals remains to be determined, but you can learn more about each of his stops as a head coach below.
Doc Rivers Training Timeline
1999-2003: head coach of the Orlando Magic
After Rivers’ 13-year playing career came to an end in 1996, he took three years off before devoting himself to coaching. Rivers’ first head coaching job was with the Magic in 1999-00, where he would spend his first four-plus years.
The rookie head coach made a big impression, leading an Orlando team with no expectations to a 41-41 record to win the Coach of the Year award in 2000.
The Magic finished .500 or better in each of Rivers’ four full seasons at the helm, making the playoffs three times. However, Orlando never made it out of the first round, most notably blowing a 3-1 lead to the Pistons in 2003.
When Rivers’ Magic got off to a 1-10 start the following season in 2003-04, he was fired.
2004-2013: Boston Celtics head coach
Rivers took the rest of the 2003-04 season off and spent the rest of the year as an NBA commentator on ABC. He was signed before the next season by the Celtics, where he would spend the next nine years of his career.
Boston struggled with Rivers at first, being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in 2005 before missing the postseason in 2006 and 2007. After finishing a disappointing 24-58 in 2006-07, the Celtics traded for future members of Hall of Famers Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to build a “Big 3” alongside All-Star Paul Pierce.
In the first year with a new superteam, Rivers led the Celtics to an NBA-best 66-16 record, and then won the first NBA championship of his career after defeating the Lakers in six games.
Boston would only return to that stage one more time under Rivers, falling to Los Angeles in the 2010 NBA Finals. In 2012, the Celtics blew a 3-2 series lead against LeBron James and the Heat, losing in Game 6 at home before losing in Game 7 on the road.
Rivers was 416-305 in nine seasons in Boston, qualifying for the playoffs seven times.
2013-2020: LA Clippers head coach
After a first-round exit with the Celtics in 2013, Boston traded Rivers to the Clippers for a 2015 first-round draft pick (which later became RJ Hunter).
Rivers has now been tasked with taking over a Clippers team led by Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan along with a cast of talented role players.
He led Los Angeles to a franchise-record 57 wins in his first year and helped the Clippers reach the Western Conference Semifinals in his first two seasons. However, Los Angeles would never reach the Western Conference Finals under Rivers.
Rivers and the Clippers blew two 3-1 series leads in the Western Conference Semifinals: one against the Rockets in 2015 and another against the Nuggets in the bubble in 2019-20 in his first season coaching All-Star duo Kawhi Leonard and Paul. Jorge.
Rivers was fired after the latter, finishing with a 356-208 regular season record and six playoff appearances in seven seasons with the Clippers.
2020-2023: Philadelphia 76ers head coach
Rivers was quickly picked up and took over as the 76ers’ head coach after Philadelphia was eliminated from the playoffs before the Eastern Conference Finals in three consecutive seasons under Joel Embiid and company.
The hope was that Rivers could make the most of Embiid (and eventually James Harden) and lead the Sixers back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2001, but to no avail.
Philadelphia made the playoffs in all three seasons under Rivers, but was eliminated in the Eastern Conference Semifinals each year. After an ugly 24-point loss to the Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Semis in 2023, Rivers was fired by the 76ers.
Doc Rivers’ coaching record
Rivers has a coaching record of 1,097-763 (.590) in the regular season and 111-104 (.516) in the playoffs. He has one NBA title and two appearances in the NBA Finals.
You can find his history with each team he has coached below.
| Equipment | Seasons | WL Season Reg. | Gain % | World League Qualifiers | Gain % |
| Magic | 5 | 171-168 | .504 | 5-10 | .333 |
| celts | 9 | 416-305 | .577 | 59-47 | .557 |
| Scissors | 7 | 356-208 | .631 | 27-32 | .458 |
| 76ers | 3 | 154-82 | .653 | 20-15 | .571 |
| Career | 23 | 1097-763 | .590 | 111-104 | .516 |
