The organization in which Adrian Griffin got his start in coaching has promoted him to the position of head coach after he served as an assistant there for several years.
After suffering a defeat in the opening round of the playoffs at the hands of the Miami Heat one month ago, the Milwaukee Bucks decided to part ways with former head coach Mike Budenholzer and replace him with Griffin. The team made the decision official on Monday and announced the hiring of Griffin. On April 29, it was reported that the Bucks were in the final stages of agreeing with Adrian Griffin to name him their next head coach.
On Tuesday, there will be a news conference to provide an overview of the situation.
Nick Nurse, who was fired at the end of the season and has since been appointed as the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, had Griffin working as an assistant for the Toronto Raptors for the past five seasons. Griffin was on Nurse’s staff when Nurse led the Raptors, now the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. Griffin got his start in coaching while working for the Bucks under Scott Skiles from 2008 to 2010. During that time, Griffin served as an assistant coach for the team.
In a statement issued by the franchise, Griffin was quoted as saying, “The Bucks are a championship organization, and I’m thrilled to work with an established roster of high-character and talented players.” “I’m thrilled to be in Milwaukee once again, and I can’t wait to get things going here.”
After finishing his nine-year NBA playing career, which includes spells with the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, and Houston Rockets, Griffin, now 48 years old, began his first coaching position with the Milwaukee Bucks. Both the Chicago Bulls and the Seattle SuperSonics made the playoffs this year.
Before joining the staff in Toronto, he served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls (from 2010 to 2015), the Orlando Magic (from 2015 to 2016), and the Oklahoma City Thunder (from 2016 to 2018), in that order.
The general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks, Jon Horst, was quoted in a release as saying, “Adrian is a well-respected coach and former player who brings great leadership and experience to our team.” Because of his championship-level coaching background, character, basketball savvy, and ability to connect with and develop players, he is the right option to lead our squad. Furthermore, he is entitled to this privilege because of his previous accomplishments.
Griffin is faced with the difficult task of following in the footsteps of a coach who guided the Bucks to their first championship in almost half a century.
During his five seasons as head coach of the Bucks, Budenholzer led the team to a regular-season record that was the best in the league at 271-120. He also led the team to an NBA championship in 2020-21, the franchise’s first title since 1971.
The Bucks decided to go in a different direction with their coaching staff since they could not replicate the success they experienced during the regular season in the postseason for most of Budenholzer’s tenure.
In three of Budenholzer’s five seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, the team finished with the best regular-season record in the National Basketball Association. Despite this, the team never advanced past the Eastern Conference finals in any of those three seasons.
During Griffin’s first season with the Raptors, the Bucks blew a 2-0 lead and ended up losing 4-2 to the Raptors in the Eastern Conference finals of the 2019 NBA playoffs. The Raptors went on to win the NBA championship. In the second round of the 2020 playoffs, the Bucks were eliminated by the Miami Heat with a score of 4-1. The game took place in the Walt Disney World postseason bubble.
After finishing with a record of 58-24 during the regular season, the Bucks were eliminated by the Miami Heat in the first round with a score of 4-1. They were the only No. 1 seed to fail to win more than one playoff game, and they were only the sixth No. 1 seed overall to lose to an opponent with a lower seed in the initial round.
