[ESPN] Rivers called for a team meeting in March after a blowout loss to try and rally the team. Doc started the meeting by imploring players to look up his résumé, six people in the room told ESPN. The session was among a number of instances that rubbed large parts of the locker room the wrong way
THE MORNING AFTER the Bucks had turned a double-digit lead into a blowout road loss in Chicago on March 1, Rivers called for a team meeting. If the Bucks were to rally into a play-in spot, this week was the most critical. The Bucks next faced a short-handed Boston Celtics team in Milwaukee on a back-to-back set March 2 before a pivotal contest against the Hawks.
Rivers, who won an NBA title as coach of the Celtics in 2008 and will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, started the meeting by imploring his players to look up his résumé, six people in the room told ESPN.
“I took teams to the playoffs and to the championship that weren’t supposed to. I thought this was one of them,” Rivers told players in the session. “Either you’re with us or against us. If you’re not playing hard, we’re not playing you anymore.
“I know everything that goes on in this building.”
The session was among a number of instances that rubbed large parts of the locker room the wrong way and continued the theme of a season long disconnect between Rivers and the players, according to team sources. When asked by ESPN to characterize his relationship with his team, Rivers declined to speak on the record.
The coaching staff’s message was meant to be a rallying cry. It was also meant to empower Rollins and Porter to play as leaders, according to team sources. The messages did not seem to be getting through, and the team felt splintered in the postgame locker room, however, and that led to a players-only meeting.