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Head coach Adrian Griffin has been fired in a stunning move from the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Milwaukee Bucks have fired head coach Adrian Griffin halfway through his first season on the job, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Bucks are 30-13 overall at the time of the move and currently hold the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
Milwaukee is planning to pursue Doc Rivers as its next head coach, according to NBA insider Shams Charania. Assistant coach Joe Prunty will be the interim head coach until the team names a replacement. The Bucks are targeting “a small pool of accomplished and available veteran head coaches,” according to Woj.
While Milwaukee’s record looks good, it’s been obvious since the start of the season that this team didn’t look like the juggernaut it was supposed to be after trading for Damian Lillard. Milwaukee’s defense has been disappointing — ranking No. 21 overall at the time of Griffin’s firing — with Griffin toggling between schemes and players all season in an attempt to find a solution. The Bucks’ defense is struggling at the point of attack, where former star Jrue Holiday thrived, as they try to integrate a much weaker defender in Lillard.
The Bucks have won five of their last six games at the time of the firing.
Griffin took over for Mike Budenholzer, who was fired after the Bucks lost in the first round of last season’s playoffs as the No. 1 seed. Budenholzer guided the team to the 2021 NBA championship, but his playoff decisions were often highly questionable. It was a bold move to hire a long-life assistant like Griffin to be head coach of a team with championship-or-bust aspirations, and it wasn’t working despite a winning record.
Griffin’s tenure got off to a odd start when assistant Terry Stotts — former head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers with Lillard — left the team before the season started amid turmoil with Griffin. Milwaukee started the season at 5-4 but eventually found a way to win, even if it wasn’t always convincing.
Rivers was fired by the Philadelphia 76ers last season after a second round playoff exit. He’s currently working as an analysis for ESPN and various other outlets.
We’ll update this story as it develops.
