I've never seen such edging in a coaching hire. There is some problem, clearly. Your speculation is as good as mine and on logical equivalence mine is as good as yours so here goes.
After being fired by PhilaBoo, ESPN, which has a broadcast contract with the NBA, hired Rivers as an analyst. They made it clear that they didn't want Rivers to use them as a chill pad until he got another coaching offer. Their stated reason for letting Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson go was that. Though ESPN was clear, they apparently did not make it a condition of his hiring.
In December, while working for ESPN, Rivers "began to serve as an informal consultant to [head coach Adrian] Griffin at the behest of the Bucks." That's a conflict of interest with his ESPN duties.
Then, of course, Griffin got fired on Jan. 23 and you know the rest. If this hiring ever happens, that’s a conflict.
My speculation is that Adam Silver is disturbed by this and is looking hard at it. He has one betrayed stakeholder in ESPN, two conflict of interest situations and at the center of it all is Doc Salieri Rivers. I speculate that Adam is holding up the Beer House gig until he determines if it is legally and ethically copacetic, and if it is in the interests of the Association.
