Short-lived Adrian Griffin Era Done in Milwaukee
Image by John Fisher
The Milwaukee Bucks have fired rookie Head Coach Adrian Griffin on Jan 23rd. Griffin had only been head coach of the Bucks for 43 games and led the Bucks to the second-place in the NBA Eastern Conference.
This move has many NBA fans puzzled as to why the Bucks would give up on a coach so early into his tenure. Especially given that he has been leading the Bucks to the second-best scoring offense in the league.
An incredibly bold move from the Bucks creates a standard throughout the organization that the team is truly in championship-of-bust mode. They made this clear in the 2023 off-season when they traded for superstar guard Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. This is attributed to the Bucks high performing offense, however, moving guard Jrue Holiday has shown some downsides. One of the main downsides is not only losing Holiday’s incredible defense, but also that Holiday has helped escalate the Bucks rivals, Boston Celtics to arguably the best team in the NBA. The effect of losing Holiday has the Bucks ranking as the sixth-worst defensive in the NBA in terms of scoring.
The main goal of signing Griffin in the first place was to maximize the duo of Lillard and Giannis’ performance. Regardless of the scoring, this has not proven to be effective as even Lillard has admitted that he has struggled to play with his typical rhythm without the ball. When it comes to Giannis, it comes down to the eye test which shows just a little bit of awkwardness within the offensive scheme.
Adrian Wojnarowski brings up the main reason why Griffin was let go; the championship window for Milwaukee closing and the pursuit of a top head coach.
Franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo is somehow already 29 years old and Lillard is 33 years old as well. This is a big factor as it’s tough to say how much time the Bucks’ superstars will have in their primes. As Wojnarowski says, the Bucks are looking to maximize their championship window, and clearly, that window didn’t include Adrian Griffin as the head coach. So, now what?
As Wojnarowski mentions, the Bucks are hoping to acquire Doc Rivers as their new head coach. Rivers has been an incredible coach over his head coaching career in the NBA and has been one of the top names in the NBA for years. He is most famous for leading the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics to an NBA Championship. This move would most certainly help with the management of Giannis and Lillard, as being able to manage players also has been a staple in Rivers' coaching career.
And to the Bucks’ point, the Philadelphia 76ers have looked like a better team this season after getting a big-name head coach in Nick Nurse. With teams like the Celtics and 76ers looking like legitimate Finals contenders, maybe it was time for Milwaukee to make a big splash to stay competing.
Only time will tell with this new look Milwaukee Bucks. For now, Joe Prunty will step in as the Bucks’ interim head coach. Believe it or not, this will be Prunty’s third stint with the Bucks as interim head coach. The longtime assistant will look to keep the Bucks atop the Eastern Conference over the next few games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Denver Nuggets. Until then, the Bucks front office has a lot of work to do in pursuit of their next head coach.
