Coaches are hired and fired all the time in pro sports, often for questionable (at best) reasons. Personality clashes with players or owners, disappointments in key games, or sometimes simply a belief that a coach or manager has been in a job too long are all standard explanations given for coaching moves. But seldom are coaches who are succeeding fired, and even less often first-year head coaches whose teams are in second place in their division and only 3.5 games out of first.
Yet, that is precisely what happened to Adrian Griffin, the now former first-year head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. Last week he was terminated by the Bucks despite his team having a 30-13 record. Glenn “Doc” Rivers, both a former player and longtime coach as well as broadcaster, was hired Wednesday to replace Griffin, a move some found strange, others said they understood, but which everyone acknowledged was extremely unexpected. Rivers was in his second stint as an NBA broadcaster, having been brought on along with Doris Burke this season to replace the longtime duo of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. In addition to his recent ties with the Bucks as a consultant, Rivers’ background in the Milwaukee marketplace goes back to his days with Marquette. His jersey was retired by the school and hangs in the rafters at the arena where the Bucks’ home games are held.
The number one reason given for firing Griffin despite his impressive record was team defensive failings. Before Mike Budenholzer was canned at the end of a five-year tenure, the Bucks had won one title and led the NBA in defense in both the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. This year they’re ranked 22nd. Whether that could have been improved under Griffin will now never be known. But the expectations for the Bucks remain high, and the memories of last season’s playoff wipeout by the Miami Heat still linger. The fact that the Bucks essentially replaced their best defensive guard in Jrue Holiday for a seven-time All-NBA player with a well-known reputation as a poor defender (Damian Lillard) no doubt has also played a role in the team’s sub-par defensive performance.
But what probably hurt Griffin the most were public comments made by two-time NBA MVP and team stalwart Giannis Antetokounmpo, who repeatedly expressed his concern over the way things were going. Both Antetokounmpo and Lillard loudly voiced objections to being perceived as being responsible for Griffin’s firing, but it’s pretty obvious neither went to bat on his behalf. So now Bucks ownership and management has turned to Doc Rivers, a man who’s won one title and has 24 seasons of coaching experience.
By no means is this selection being universally praised. Over his extensive NBA career, Rivers has coached Orlando, Boston, the Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia. Besides leading the Celtics to an NBA title in 2008, Rivers was the 1999-2000 Coach of the Year, and was named one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history in 2021-22. His career record is 1,097-763, the ninth-most victories all-time. However, since leaving Boston, he has had solid teams with the Clippers and Sixers, but never been back to the conference finals.
His critics cite the fact Rivers’ has coached more teams that have blown 3-1 leads in the playoffs than any other, and has the most Game 7 losses. His most recent stint was with the Philadelphia 76ers from 2020-2023. Each season they lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Rivers had told ESPN he didn’t view broadcasting as a placeholder position until another coaching job opened up, but evidently the chance to return close to home (he’s a Chicago native as well as a Marquette grad) was too attractive to refuse.
As a league, the NBA is often regarded as one with too much player empowerment and too little coach oversight and control. Whether this situation qualifies as that or not depends on one’s perspective. However it’s hard not to see at minimum substantial player interaction and involvement with the bottom line decision. Why the Bucks lost faith in a young coach so quickly is anyone’s guess, and they’ve tried hard in the days since to negate the impression Griffin was in over his head as a first-year coach, saying they ultimately believe he’ll be successful, but they just felt a veteran coaching presence was essential for the Bucks to really contend for a title.
Only time will tell if that’s the case, and hopefully this termination hasn’t permanently hurt Adrian Griffin’s career. It’s another example of the strange and often bizarre way many teams operate in the weird world of professional team sports in America.
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