This…is a really shocking move. The Milwaukee Bucks have easily made the most controversial coaching firing in the last two seasons as they have fired Adrian Griffin after just 43 games and a 30-13 record.
The poor guy couldn’t even make it to the All-Star break.
Despite being 2nd in the East, joint-2nd in the entire NBA, and having a great 30-13 record, the Milwaukee Bucks have decided to fire 1st-year head coach Adrian Griffin after just 43 games in charge of the team. And, to be honest, I don’t think this is going to work out for Milwaukee.
Okay, so, I know what I just said might sound a little hypocritical given my past stance against the Bucks hiring Griffin in the first place, but this situation is far more complicated than it was back in July.
Back in July, the Bucks firing Mike Budenholzer, the very coach who won them the Larry O’Brien trophy two seasons prior, after an embarrassing upset exit at the hands of the 8th-seeded Miami Heat in the 1st round already felt like a knee-jerk reaction.
As I said, the guy won them their first title in 50 years, he is the franchise’s 3rd-winningest coach with 271 wins, he has the best winning percentage of any Bucks head coach (.693) with a minimum of 391 games coached, and he is responsible for turning the Bucks from inexperienced challengers under Jason Kidd to perennial NBA title contenders under the leadership of Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, Khris Middleton, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Was he a perfect head coach? No, as he should have won more titles with that Bucks squad. But was he a great head coach? YES! And the Bucks replaced him with a guy who not only was just an assistant coach last season with the poor Toronto Raptors, but who also has NEVER had a head coaching role in his life.
Now, don’t get me wrong: Adrian Griffin is a very competent assistant coach by all metrics.
He was a part of a Toronto Raptors team that won 2 division titles, 41+ games (or .500) in 4 of his 5 seasons with the team, he helped oversee two 50+ winning seasons, multiple playoff series victories, and the 2018-19 NBA title victory that will forever be celebrated in the hearts of Canadian basketball fans. The guy had the perigee of taking on his own coaching gig…but not with a “win-now” franchise.
After the Bucks went all out to bring in Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers for practically all of their depth players, defensive corkscrews, and a key member of their core in Jrue Holiday (who went to their archrivals in the Celtics after another trade), that team needed an experienced, playoff-hardened coach who could see them through the East (like Monty Williams, Frank Vogel, Doc Rivers…or his former boss Nick Nurse) and back to the NBA Finals.
Adrian Griffin just wasn’t that guy, and the brewing tension between Giannis, Dame, and the rest of the 2021 championship-winning core against Adrian Griffin’s passive (which is probably the wrong word here, but it best fits what it was like in Milwaukee) proved it.
So, I get why the Bucks management decided to fire Griffin despite his great record and team offensive success….but was that really the right move to do so in the middle of the season?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a successful NBA team fire their head coach before the All-Star break and then go on to win the championship. I mean, it doesn’t really happen as the team is…well, you know, SUCCESSFUL!
Say what you will about the Bucks defense, which is awful with them giving up the 5th most points/night (120.5 PPG), the most field goal attempts against/night (94.7 FGA/GM), and the 5th most fouls/night (20.5), but this team still has managed to be one of the Top-5 best in the NBA and serious title contenders.
Again, yes, the defense has been poor, but what did the Milwaukee Bucks front office think was going to happen when they traded a 5X All-Defensive guard away for one of the most lethal perimeter and mid-range guard scorers in the league?
Damian Lillard is a Top-75 player and more than deserving of his 7 All-Star selections and 7 All-NBA nods, but no one has ever said he was a defensive dynamo during his years in Portland. And he hasn’t been one in Milwaukee either.
So, I’d actually argue Adrian Griffin HAS done a very decent job with this core group of players given the circumstances (even though I, personally, would have made a different coaching hire), and firing him for a more veteran coach at this stage of the season may do more harm than good for the Bucks.
If this year didn’t work out and the Bucks were eliminated early on, then the management should fire Griffin and bring in a more experienced head coach for whatever roster they assemble around Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo next season (both of those guys are under contract for the foreseeable future).
But, seeing as how that hasn’t happened yet, I don’t think this decision is going to work out for the Bucks in the way their management might wish it too.
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