Carmelo Anthony is the latest NBA personality to express their concerns about Doc Rivers coaching the Bucks, and he didn’t hold back.
“As a player you knew Doc was going to be prepared for you, but I’ve never heard, and me and Doc have a good relationship, but I’ve never heard anybody say anything good about Doc, [meaning] a player,” Melo said on 7PM in Brooklyn. “When you think about it, let’s go back, Doc has been coaching for twenty-something years right. Look at all his players, now I’m not saying that nobody, but the narrative coming out of those experiences with Doc, nobody has nothing to say good about him. I don’t know what the issue is, I’m not in those locker rooms but I just know the narrative around that is no one has anything good to say about Doc. To his point [Bomani Jones], for years, even when Doc was leaving going to teams, no players were like supporting Doc.”
Anthony isn’t the only one questioning the longtime coach’s leadership ability and his capability to lead a team to a championship.
Stephen A. Smith said that if Rivers fails, it may be his last head coaching job in the NBA.
Despite the noise, Rivers was surprisingly named as the coach of the Eastern Conference for the upcoming All-Star game, which Inside the NBA host Charles Barkley openly questioned.
“Doc has lost his first two games, and he can be the All-Star coach tonight.”
Former player Gilbert Arenas has also been vocal in his criticism of Rivers.
Arenas suggested on Nightcap with Shannon Sharpe that the Bucks should remove the one-time champion coach from his position, mainly due to his lack of defensive strategy.
“The best thing for the Bucks right now is? Like, just to go into the locker room and say, ‘Hey Doc, listen. We changed our mind,” Arenas said. “We’re gonna go with that guy, that gave us the win when you wasn’t here. …So, Doc, pack your s**t, and then we’re gonna go ahead and finish this season without you because, at the end of the day, we were good before you got here.’”
Rivers has gone 1-4 since his tenure with Milwaukee began and things don’t get any easier, since the Bucks next game is against the first-seeded Timberwolves.
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