Former Boston Celtics championship coach admits he wasn't ready to coach contender

Former Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers admitted on SirusXM NBA Radio that he wasn't ready to coach the Milwaukee Bucks this season; a job he slid into after Adrian Griffin was fired despite a 30-13 record.

“Personally, I’ll be honest, I told our owners when they called, ‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this,’” Rivers said (h/t MassLive). “One of the things they said, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. We’ve done it now. We want you.’ So that was a tough one. That’s where you had the hesitation.”

Bucks fans cannot be happy with that statement. Rivers sounds completely unexcited to be in the position he's in, and his performance thus far (3-7) bears that out. Milwaukee tried to make moves toward being a contender at the trade deadline, adding perennial winner (but never of the big one) Pat Beverley and signing away Danilo Gallinari -- someone who may have a grudge with the Celtics after they traded him before ever giving him a minute of floor-time. -- but it's in vain if the Damian Lillard-Giannis Antetokounmpo duo never clicks.

Former Boston Celtics HC Doc Rivers ripped by JJ Redick

JJ Redick ripped Rivers before these comments, claiming he makes excuses every season for why his teams don't win the big one anymore.

“I’ve seen the trend, I’ve seen the trend for years,” Redick said (h/t The New York Post). “The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard. Just like getting traded in the middle of a season is hard for a player, we get it.

“It’s always an excuse. It’s always throwing your team under the bus. They lose to Memphis, ‘oh it’s his players fault!’ Memphis was playing G League guys and two-way guys. You look at his quotes over the weekend and now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade to the Clippers working out? He wants credit for that? There’s never accountability with that guy.”

Beverley fired back on his coach's behalf, but the damage is done from Redick. He went on the ESPN show he is now an analyst for and derided his former Los Angeles Clippers coach to a point of no return.

Tough scene for a man who probably regrets leaving Boston when he did, since the Celtics' rebuilding process didn't last long when he abandoned ship.