Doc Rivers’ comments to Jim Owczarski regarding effort and competitive spirit
December 17, 2025
Doc Rivers’ comments to Jim Owczarski regarding effort and competitive spirit
26 comments
So after losing to the nets by 45, docs plan is to change nothing on offense, maybe simplify the defense a little bit, and we won’t be asking the players for more effort.
Doc Rivers is more useless than a screen door on a submarine
I would think that motivating the players is one of the jobs of the coach.
But what do I know
The one thing I could do every game when I played in middle and high school was play as hard as possible and be an menace on defense. Could score 5 could score 30 I didn’t know how my offense would be any given night but I knew I wouldn’t be beat to a loose ball and I would make my assignment on defense hate me. Oh and I’d have 3 or 4 fouls.
Glenn is one of the worst coaches and biggest aholes in NBA history.
Weird quotes from him. Dude is done.
Can’t believe we hired him at all, that was the true beginning of the end.
I’m going to go against the grain and actually say I think Doc is being real here. In reality it isn’t as easy as saying
“Everybody be positive and play harder.” Of course the next step should be to talk about what he and the team will do to encourage effort and a good mindset, instead of getting defensive. But then again I am not NBA Champion Coach Doc Rivers, so what do I know.
Why won’t they fire him? Is it Giannis, Horst, or Haslam that won’t let them?
You can tell nobody there likes the guy but they continue to employ this man. Fire him and hire literally anybody else
Scheme matters a helluva a lot as well. Bad coaches usually end up blaming effort because they don’t have to look themselves in the mirror as to why their team sucks.
Jesus Christ fkn fire him and hire a high school coach and pay them minimum wage – they’d fkn do better than this. I’m sick of his canned ass politician like answers. He WAS a good coach with good players in Boston but has since shit the bed. I’m done.
Start the bus
This is a giant slap to the face to the fans. Effort is the bare minimum fans should get from their team. Using external circumstances as an excuse for poor effort is such a bad excuse for poor coaching.
I think Doc sucks but also what he said is true. Motivation/confidence can be built by practicing and executing something the right way. Of course the Bucks aren’t doing any of these things.
Doc Rivers is a basketball terrorist
Guaranteed if a coach like Ime or Thibs saw that kind of shit effort they would do something about it.
I think while Rivers is deficient in parts of his game, he is 100% right on the effort thing and it not being as easy as the reporter thinks it is. Rivers is a player coach for a reason. He has stayed in the NBA for a while despite subpar decision making often.
He understands the players, connects with them. Even if he is subpar at rotations and some Xs and Os.
Today was something.
Dude has like a city mayor personality. Like just sticking around trying to not look too bad and to keep powerful people content and when the sun rises everything is just like yesterday.
Is the headline here “Doc admits players have quit on him” or am I missing something?
I’m glad Jim asked him some real questions. And as expected, Doc assumed no responsibility and basically blamed the players. Get this guy off the team and let him go back to ESPN
Maybe this is a naive take, but I think the players can be putting in tremendous effort – but if they’re receiving poor/stale coaching, they’re not going to do well. It’s like he’s phoning it in & just wasting the talent of these guys – because we /do/ have talent.
Why is he still our coach? Have the last 2.5 seasons not been EXTREMELY dissapointing?
What the hell is our front office thinking
Yikes. Even our media crew recognizes the dire situation with Doc. There is some pushback here by Jim, but more defensiveness, opposition and bullheadedness from Doc.
I have no hope left that this is going to be a productive season. It truly seems as though Doc has chosen to just hope for the best rather than studying and understanding modern schematics and then utilizing any and all available time in the schedule to implement an effective scheme. Meanwhile, the Giannis stuff (whatever it may be) is vague and anxiety producing. Really just confused as to what and who this team really is.
What’s the goal? Are we tanking to improve the chances of a higher pick? Is our personnel just really much worse than I believed?
26 comments
So after losing to the nets by 45, docs plan is to change nothing on offense, maybe simplify the defense a little bit, and we won’t be asking the players for more effort.
Can we replace doc with Jim
[A reminder who is coaching this team!](https://youtu.be/HwNI9ReLGz0?si=3xPH7-Me5RC-zktz)
Good to hear that they’re trying
Doc Rivers is more useless than a screen door on a submarine
I would think that motivating the players is one of the jobs of the coach.
But what do I know
The one thing I could do every game when I played in middle and high school was play as hard as possible and be an menace on defense. Could score 5 could score 30 I didn’t know how my offense would be any given night but I knew I wouldn’t be beat to a loose ball and I would make my assignment on defense hate me. Oh and I’d have 3 or 4 fouls.
Glenn is one of the worst coaches and biggest aholes in NBA history.
Weird quotes from him. Dude is done.
Can’t believe we hired him at all, that was the true beginning of the end.
I’m going to go against the grain and actually say I think Doc is being real here. In reality it isn’t as easy as saying
“Everybody be positive and play harder.” Of course the next step should be to talk about what he and the team will do to encourage effort and a good mindset, instead of getting defensive. But then again I am not NBA Champion Coach Doc Rivers, so what do I know.
Why won’t they fire him? Is it Giannis, Horst, or Haslam that won’t let them?
You can tell nobody there likes the guy but they continue to employ this man. Fire him and hire literally anybody else
Scheme matters a helluva a lot as well. Bad coaches usually end up blaming effort because they don’t have to look themselves in the mirror as to why their team sucks.
Jesus Christ fkn fire him and hire a high school coach and pay them minimum wage – they’d fkn do better than this. I’m sick of his canned ass politician like answers. He WAS a good coach with good players in Boston but has since shit the bed. I’m done.
Start the bus
This is a giant slap to the face to the fans. Effort is the bare minimum fans should get from their team. Using external circumstances as an excuse for poor effort is such a bad excuse for poor coaching.
I think Doc sucks but also what he said is true. Motivation/confidence can be built by practicing and executing something the right way. Of course the Bucks aren’t doing any of these things.
Doc Rivers is a basketball terrorist
Guaranteed if a coach like Ime or Thibs saw that kind of shit effort they would do something about it.
I think while Rivers is deficient in parts of his game, he is 100% right on the effort thing and it not being as easy as the reporter thinks it is. Rivers is a player coach for a reason. He has stayed in the NBA for a while despite subpar decision making often.
He understands the players, connects with them. Even if he is subpar at rotations and some Xs and Os.
Today was something.
Dude has like a city mayor personality. Like just sticking around trying to not look too bad and to keep powerful people content and when the sun rises everything is just like yesterday.
Is the headline here “Doc admits players have quit on him” or am I missing something?
I’m glad Jim asked him some real questions. And as expected, Doc assumed no responsibility and basically blamed the players. Get this guy off the team and let him go back to ESPN
Maybe this is a naive take, but I think the players can be putting in tremendous effort – but if they’re receiving poor/stale coaching, they’re not going to do well. It’s like he’s phoning it in & just wasting the talent of these guys – because we /do/ have talent.
Why is he still our coach? Have the last 2.5 seasons not been EXTREMELY dissapointing?
What the hell is our front office thinking
Yikes. Even our media crew recognizes the dire situation with Doc. There is some pushback here by Jim, but more defensiveness, opposition and bullheadedness from Doc.
I have no hope left that this is going to be a productive season. It truly seems as though Doc has chosen to just hope for the best rather than studying and understanding modern schematics and then utilizing any and all available time in the schedule to implement an effective scheme. Meanwhile, the Giannis stuff (whatever it may be) is vague and anxiety producing. Really just confused as to what and who this team really is.
What’s the goal? Are we tanking to improve the chances of a higher pick? Is our personnel just really much worse than I believed?