Adrian Griffin being ousted by the Bucks after just 43 games comes as a bit of a shock. Whenever a team makes a move like this it has to be considered shocking because it’s so out of the ordinary.
But is it surprising? No, absolutely not.
If you’d been paying attention to the Milwaukee Bucks season at all so far this year, the writing has been on the wall for a while. Griffin’s tenure was doomed to fail almost as soon as it started. All of the signs were right there for us — it was just a matter of whether we wanted to pay attention.
Let’s go over the four big signs here.
1
The Terry Stotts argument
Terry Stotts was brought on the Bucks’ coaching staff as Griffin’s lead assistant. This was a big move – especially after the team traded for Damian Lillard.
But, suddenly, Stotts unexpectedly resigned from the team in October just six days before the season started. According to The Athletic, it all happened because of an incident between Griffin and Stotts at a team practice.
“According to sources who witnessed Tuesday’s events, Griffin wrapped up the shootaround and called the team together for a huddle to close out the day and let the players get to post-shootaround shooting drills. During that huddle, Griffin informed the coaches that he wanted to have a separate huddle with them once they wrapped things up.
When the players and coaches broke the huddle, Stotts went in the opposite direction of the coaches’ huddle and instead started walking toward players to discuss the offense. As Stotts attempted to start a conversation with Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Griffin called to Stotts to join the coaching huddle. When Stotts asked for some time with the players, Griffin yelled for Stotts to join the coaches’ huddle. The incident occurred in front of the entire team, those sources said.”
Just like that, Griffin’s tenure was already off to a rocky start.
2
The defensive switch
One of the biggest bugaboos for the Bucks this season is the team’s defense.
Milwaukee always had one of the best defensive units in the NBA under Mike Budenholzer. It was always anchored by Brook Lopez protecting the rim and the Bucks shutting off the paint.
The Bucks started the season as one of the league’s worst defenses. Why? Because Griffin chose to switch the scheme up. Instead of having Lopez patrolling the paint, he opted to employ a more aggressive scheme requiring the center to guard more on the perimeter. The players all had to convince Griffin to change course and reverse the scheme.
The results were terrible and Milwaukee hasn’t recovered from that yet — it still ranks as the 8th worst defense in the NBA. That’s a huge indictment on Griffin as a coach.
3
Bobby Portis calling out the offense
It wasn’t just the Bucks’ defense that became a problem — there were offensive struggles, too. Particularly during late-game situations.
It became so much of a struggle that Bobby Portis popped off at Griffin and challenged him to be a better play-caller. Here’s more from Bryan Kalbrosky.
“The Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated by Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers in the semifinals of the NBA Cup.
After the game, per Bleacher Report insider Chris Haynes, Bucks veteran forward Bobby Portis “passionately challenged” first-year Milwaukee head coach Adrian Griffin.
Portis reportedly “stressed how essential it is for Griffin to structure the offense” during crunch time. According to Haynes, the coach “welcomed the criticism” and agreed that he could do a better job calling plays.”
This was the first time we’d seen a player on the Bucks openly challenge Griffin directly like this.
4
Giannis Antetokounmpo calling out everyone — including the coaching staff
This was probably when the clock really started ticking on Griffin’s tenure.
After a downright mystifying loss to the Houston Rockets, Giannis Antetokounmpo took it upon himself to challenge the entire Bucks organization from the equipment managers to the players.
Antetokounmpo was just very clearly unhappy, per The Athletic’s Eric Nehm.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was not happy last night.
“We have to be better. We have to play better. We have to defend better. We have to trust one another better. We have to be coached better. Every single thing, everybody has to be better."
At @TheAthletic: https://t.co/QInkDLFeNY
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) January 7, 2024
That was just a couple of weeks ago. Now, here we are. Griffin doesn’t have a job. That’s not a coincidence, folks.
The clock has been ticking the entire time on Griffin’s tenure as the Bucks head coach. It was a tough spot to be in — this was his first coaching job and it came with win-or-bust circumstances. It’s unfair. But that’s the NBA.
The Bucks will move forward and, hopefully, Griffin will get another shot down the line. If he does, maybe he’ll apply the lessons he learned here and have a better outcome.
