The Milwaukee Bucks are at a critical crossroads this offseason. While all eyes are on Giannis, Damian Lillard is going through a tough time. The veteran point guard suffered from blood clot issues during the latter stages of the season. However, once he recovered, tragedy struck once again. Now recovering from a torn Achilles, there is a huge question mark on his return date.

And even Doc Rivers currently does not have answers. During a recent appearance on The Bill Simmons Podcast, the Milwaukee HC reminded everyone that the 34-year-old was still a part of his team. Although some might think that moving to Milwaukee was arguably the biggest mistake of Dame’s career, his head coach is standing by Dame. Despite the injuries and chemistry issues.

This was on display when Bucks head coach Doc Rivers expressed his concern for the veteran point guard’s heartbreaking injury. That same concern has seemingly snowballed into a call for action, aimed directly at Adam Silver. The veteran head coach was asked about what he thought would be the ideal number of games in the regular season. Rivers’ reply was pretty interesting.

“I’d say 70. 70 is the perfect number.” Rivers said. The Milwaukee HC thinks that 70 is the number of games each team should play in the regular season. Why? Well, he had a pretty good explanation for that, too.

“I think at some point we may have to have a serious discussion because no one wants to see the injured basketball. We want to see healthy guys play, and the facts are that guys are getting injured, and we have to figure that out. Jayson Tatum is too young to have an Achilles, period. And so that made no sense to me, and so there’s something that’s going on because there’s more Achilles, there’s more blood clots, there’s something going on, and we have to figure it out.” Rivers added.

Doc urged Adam Silver to shorten the length of the regular season because more and more players are suffering from season-ending injuries. And he’s not wrong. Damian Lillard sustained two massive injuries this season, while Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles during the postseason. Not to mention Victor Wembanyama, whose season ended much earlier than expected. The cause? Doc Rivers believes that these athletes are playing too many games, which is taking a toll on their bodies.

There’s no doubt that at this pace, this topic will become a serious threat to the league. So, it’s only right that Rivers’ words are taken into consideration by Adam Silver and Co. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach had a few more ideas for the league.

Doc Rivers suggests that the league should change the challenge system

Officiating has been one of, if not the most debatable topic around the league. Every season we see controversies revolving around calls made on the court. Of course, the league wanted to solve this issue, so they introduced the NBA Challenge Rules. How does it work? Coaches are given two challenges they can use to review a call they might think wasn’t fair. Sounds about right. However, Rivers thinks as good as the rule may be, a few tweaks are needed.

His suggestion? “I hate the fact that if I use a challenge in the first half only have one left. I do think if I win a challenge, I should keep my challenges. I don’t think I should lose them, and the only rule that I would change is that the last play of a game should always be reviewed, whether you have a challenge or not. That Detroit-Knicks game was clearly a foul, and they missed it and didn’t call it. Wouldn’t you be sick if that were game seven of the NBA finals and you didn’t have a challenge? That would be awful. So, I do think coaches should be able to keep their challenges,” Rivers said.

If we’re being honest, the Milwaukee head coach does make a lot of sense. It’s only fair that the coaches are given their challenges back if they’re successful. Moreover, Doc also pointed out that the official should be given the power to review the last play of the game. He took the example of the Pistons and Knicks playoff game when Josh Hart fouled Tim Hardaway Jr. on the last play, but it wasn’t called.

However, the officials later attested that it was a mistake. The veteran head coach did give some great suggestions. Now, it’s upon Adam Silver and the NBA to implement them. Will they? Only time will tell.