Bucks Fire Adrian Griffin

[Kernewek]

Giannis must be hard to deal with, how many coaches he had so far?? He might went to owners and told them to ax the coach

This is his 4th coach in 11 years (not counting a short sting for an interim coach) which is probably at or maybe below league average for 11 years. Kings by comparison have had 7, Magic 5. Unless Giannis really aggressively pushed for Griffin (which is possible) and then soured on him 40 games in, this doesn't seem like it is really about him being tough to coach.

He did really push for Griffin, and chose him over Nick Nurse.  And he has soured on Griffin.

Do we have a source for that?

[footey]

Giannis must be hard to deal with, how many coaches he had so far?? He might went to owners and told them to ax the coach

This is his 4th coach in 11 years (not counting a short sting for an interim coach) which is probably at or maybe below league average for 11 years. Kings by comparison have had 7, Magic 5. Unless Giannis really aggressively pushed for Griffin (which is possible) and then soured on him 40 games in, this doesn't seem like it is really about him being tough to coach.

He did really push for Griffin, and chose him over Nick Nurse.  And he has soured on Griffin.

Do we have a source for that?

The Internet

[Moranis]

Giannis must be hard to deal with, how many coaches he had so far?? He might went to owners and told them to ax the coach

This is his 4th coach in 11 years (not counting a short sting for an interim coach) which is probably at or maybe below league average for 11 years. Kings by comparison have had 7, Magic 5. Unless Giannis really aggressively pushed for Griffin (which is possible) and then soured on him 40 games in, this doesn't seem like it is really about him being tough to coach.

He did really push for Griffin, and chose him over Nick Nurse.  And he has soured on Griffin.

Do we have a source for that?

Marc Stein put out a report that basically said, Giannis didn't want to play for Nurse so he championed Griffin.  The report was a few days ago and not when it happened, but it was much more so about not wanting Nurse than wanting Griffin. At least that is how it reads.

[MattyIce]

Giannis must be hard to deal with, how many coaches he had so far?? He might went to owners and told them to ax the coach

This is his 4th coach in 11 years (not counting a short sting for an interim coach) which is probably at or maybe below league average for 11 years. Kings by comparison have had 7, Magic 5. Unless Giannis really aggressively pushed for Griffin (which is possible) and then soured on him 40 games in, this doesn't seem like it is really about him being tough to coach.

He did really push for Griffin, and chose him over Nick Nurse.  And he has soured on Griffin.

Do we have a source for that?

Marc Stein put out a report that basically said, Giannis didn't want to play for Nurse so he championed Griffin.  The report was a few days ago and not when it happened, but it was much more so about not wanting Nurse than wanting Griffin. At least that is how it reads.

In addition he supposedly only wanted to play for a coach who's also a former player.

[cman88]

Giannis pushing out 2 coaches in a year when it wasn't the coaches fault is kinda crazy.

and i think to blame Griffin for their defensive woes is unfair. their defense was on the downswing last year and they then traded Jrue Holiday/allen for a turnstyle in Lillard.

what do you expect? Doc isn't magically going to make Lillard a better defender.

And if Griffin was fired because he said guys like dame need to sacrifice for the bigger picture then that's a bad sign. You would think Lillard would understand the more talent the less your stats will be.

I don't see tatum/brown complaining their stats have taken a considerable Dip since last year....or KP. and half this board was worried JB/KP would be upset with having to take a lesser role...and it turns out its lillard.

[Kernewek]

Giannis pushing out 2 coaches in a year when it wasn't the coaches fault is kinda crazy.

and i think to blame Griffin for their defensive woes is unfair. their defense was on the downswing last year and they then traded Jrue Holiday/allen for a turnstyle in Lillard.

what do you expect? Doc isn't magically going to make Lillard a better defender.

And if Griffin was fired because he said guys like dame need to sacrifice for the bigger picture then that's a bad sign. You would think Lillard would understand the more talent the less your stats will be.

I don't see tatum/brown complaining their stats have taken a considerable Dip since last year....or KP. and half this board was worried JB/KP would be upset with having to take a lesser role...and it turns out its lillard.

You don't think the front office has any role to play in firing Griffin or Coach Bud?

[Moranis]

The Bucks had 3 elite defenders starting last year and gave up 125 ppg to the Heat.  They lost that series because they had no offense aside from Giannis and the Heat effectively doubled him and made him much less effective.  No one else stepped up.  And since the defense was bad anyway they went all in on offense.  Still to be seen if that will work, but it is clear that what Bud was doing wasn't working and Griffin pretty clearly did not connect with Lillard and lost the locker room as a result.  This says to me that Griffin was simply the wrong hire and they corrected course before it became too big an issue.  Doc is probably not the right coach either, but mid-season like this, they didn't exactly have a lot of options.

[Goldstar88]

Giannis pushing out 2 coaches in a year when it wasn't the coaches fault is kinda crazy.

and i think to blame Griffin for their defensive woes is unfair. their defense was on the downswing last year and they then traded Jrue Holiday/allen for a turnstyle in Lillard.

what do you expect? Doc isn't magically going to make Lillard a better defender.

And if Griffin was fired because he said guys like dame need to sacrifice for the bigger picture then that's a bad sign. You would think Lillard would understand the more talent the less your stats will be.

I don't see tatum/brown complaining their stats have taken a considerable Dip since last year....or KP. and half this board was worried JB/KP would be upset with having to take a lesser role...and it turns out its lillard.

You don't think the front office has any role to play in firing Griffin or Coach Bud?

They do, but the star players just have so much leverage these days. If Giannis wanted Bud to still be the coach, I believe he would be. Same goes for Griffin.

Tatum and Brown were very involved in the coaching search after Brad took the GM role. Seems to be the norm around the league now.

The Celtics reportedly hired Ime Udoka as the organization’s next head coach, and news seems to have been received fondly by Boston’s stars.

Reports indicated how the Celtics consulted their core players including Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart prior to making the hiring. The organization, as the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy reported, “wouldn’t do anything unless key players were on board.”

Yahoo! Sports’ Keith Smith took that one step further Wednesday afternoon.

“Udoka is the guy their main guys wanted and Stevens got him before anyone else could,” one source told Smith.

Brown told The Undefeated that he told the Celtics ownership and front office last offseason that it was important to hire a Black head coach after Brad Stevens was promoted to president of basketball operations. The Celtics seemingly listened, hiring former NBA player Ime Udoka, who was a Brooklyn Nets assistant last season and has nine years of coaching experience, on June 28. “They were on board with it. They talked about it. It wasn’t like it was just about being African American. [Udoka is] more than qualified,” said Brown.

[Who]

Damian Lillard gets too much criticism for his bad defense being responsible for Milwaukee's bad team defense.

Malik Beasley is just as bad of a defender as Lillard. He never gets criticized. He is an awful defender. One of the worst in the league. It repeated the exact problem Lillard had in Portland alongside CJ McCollum. Just because Beasley is not as small as CJ McCollum does not mean he helped create one of the worst defensive backcourts in the league. Beasley did.

Milwaukee need a legit 3+D starting SG to play alongside Lillard.

[ozgod]

According to Kevin O'Connor of the Ringer, whatever magic wand Doc has waved over the Bucks has now made them the team to beat in the East.

Milwaukee is only 8-8 since firing Adrian Griffin and calling a drastic audible on its season. But don’t let that average record fool you: The Bucks have flipped the script since hiring Doc Rivers. Under Griffin, they owned the NBA’s no. 22 ranked defense. Under Rivers, they are up to no. 6, thanks to a blend of smarter schemes, increased effort, and improved in-game adjustments. Now the Bucks are not just playoff bound, but looking more like the Eastern Conference team to beat.

The national TV game against Boston on March 20 is the big one. If the Bucks are still rolling then, the national discourse will undoubtedly be about who the true favorite is in the East. Truth is, it might already be the Bucks. If their newfound success on defense sustains, they are a well-rounded juggernaut, plus they have the best player in any East series in Giannis. And Lillard, despite his ups and downs this season, is still the best, most efficient, and clutch perimeter shot creator in the conference.

All it took was a handful of practices and an All-Star break for Doc to bleach out the stains left by his predecessor. But no matter how dire things were behind the scenes, most front offices wouldn’t fire a head coach who had led his team to a 30-13 record in the first year of his contract. Most teams would want to save face, or at least save money. But the Bucks made a gutsy call, and it just might have saved their season and given the franchise another shot at glory.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/2/28/24085544/milwaukee-bucks-defense-giannis-antetokounmpo-doc-rivers

[celticsclay]

According to Kevin O'Connor of the Ringer, whatever magic wand Doc has waved over the Bucks has now made them the team to beat in the East.

Milwaukee is only 8-8 since firing Adrian Griffin and calling a drastic audible on its season. But don’t let that average record fool you: The Bucks have flipped the script since hiring Doc Rivers. Under Griffin, they owned the NBA’s no. 22 ranked defense. Under Rivers, they are up to no. 6, thanks to a blend of smarter schemes, increased effort, and improved in-game adjustments. Now the Bucks are not just playoff bound, but looking more like the Eastern Conference team to beat.

The national TV game against Boston on March 20 is the big one. If the Bucks are still rolling then, the national discourse will undoubtedly be about who the true favorite is in the East. Truth is, it might already be the Bucks. If their newfound success on defense sustains, they are a well-rounded juggernaut, plus they have the best player in any East series in Giannis. And Lillard, despite his ups and downs this season, is still the best, most efficient, and clutch perimeter shot creator in the conference.

All it took was a handful of practices and an All-Star break for Doc to bleach out the stains left by his predecessor. But no matter how dire things were behind the scenes, most front offices wouldn’t fire a head coach who had led his team to a 30-13 record in the first year of his contract. Most teams would want to save face, or at least save money. But the Bucks made a gutsy call, and it just might have saved their season and given the franchise another shot at glory.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/2/28/24085544/milwaukee-bucks-defense-giannis-antetokounmpo-doc-rivers

This is a pretty weird take with us on an 8 game win streak…

[Roy H.]

According to Kevin O'Connor of the Ringer, whatever magic wand Doc has waved over the Bucks has now made them the team to beat in the East.

Milwaukee is only 8-8 since firing Adrian Griffin and calling a drastic audible on its season. But don’t let that average record fool you: The Bucks have flipped the script since hiring Doc Rivers. Under Griffin, they owned the NBA’s no. 22 ranked defense. Under Rivers, they are up to no. 6, thanks to a blend of smarter schemes, increased effort, and improved in-game adjustments. Now the Bucks are not just playoff bound, but looking more like the Eastern Conference team to beat.

The national TV game against Boston on March 20 is the big one. If the Bucks are still rolling then, the national discourse will undoubtedly be about who the true favorite is in the East. Truth is, it might already be the Bucks. If their newfound success on defense sustains, they are a well-rounded juggernaut, plus they have the best player in any East series in Giannis. And Lillard, despite his ups and downs this season, is still the best, most efficient, and clutch perimeter shot creator in the conference.

All it took was a handful of practices and an All-Star break for Doc to bleach out the stains left by his predecessor. But no matter how dire things were behind the scenes, most front offices wouldn’t fire a head coach who had led his team to a 30-13 record in the first year of his contract. Most teams would want to save face, or at least save money. But the Bucks made a gutsy call, and it just might have saved their season and given the franchise another shot at glory.

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2024/2/28/24085544/milwaukee-bucks-defense-giannis-antetokounmpo-doc-rivers

This is a pretty weird take with us on an 8 game win streak…

Yeah, but they've played passable defense for three games, so start planning the parade.

[Donoghus]

Why can't we get writers like that on our blog?

[Moranis]

Boston should absolutely be favored to come out of the East, but Milwaukee is the 1, and only, team in the East that would not only have 2 of the 3 best players on the floor against the Celtics, but also the best player in the series.  That does matter, especially in the playoffs.  It is players 3 to 6 where Boston has the edge and I do think that will be enough for Boston to win a hypothetical series, but it was always going to be a close series.  A writer thinking the team with Giannis and Dame is playoff better doesn't seem like a strange take though.

[celticsclay]

Boston should absolutely be favored to come out of the East, but Milwaukee is the 1, and only, team in the East that would not only have 2 of the 3 best players on the floor against the Celtics, but also the best player in the series.  That does matter, especially in the playoffs.  It is players 3 to 6 where Boston has the edge and I do think that will be enough for Boston to win a hypothetical series, but it was always going to be a close series.  A writer thinking the team with Giannis and Dame is playoff better doesn't seem like a strange take though.

Lol see we do have writers like this! They could absolutely beat us in a series, but yes saying they are the favorites because they have had some good defensive games twice against Charlotte and once against Philly without Embid is absolutely strange, especially in the middle of our 8 game winning streak. It’s also funny cause you are kind of arguing with yourself in your own post. We should “absolutely be favored to beat them” but it is not strange to think the bucks should be favored? That one hurts my brain a little.