Getty Recently fired Milwaukee Bucks coach Adrian Griffin (left) and Damian Lillard (right)
The Milwaukee Bucks’ firing of first-year coach Adrian Griffin was months in the making — with the misuse of newcomer Damian Lillard playing a vital role in the decision.
According to The Athletic, league sources said that Lillard “spent much of this season struggling with the way the Bucks function on the offensive end.”
“While he had remained patient with coaches and teammates, there was an inevitable pressure on Griffin from the organization to make the most of Lillard’s talent in the kind of way that validates the choice to part ways with Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen and three first-round picks in order to land him,” The Athletic reported on January 23.
Despite the Bucks owning the second-best record (30-13) in the Eastern Conference, frustration with a disjointed offense that did not incorporate a synergy between Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo was a pain point throughout the first half of the season.
“For the season, Lillard’s usage rate of 26.9 is not only well below his final season in Portland (a career-high mark of 33.1) but well below Antetokounmpo’s rate of 32.2 that is third in the NBA (which is down from his league-leading mark of 37.3 last season),” The Athletic report read. “Griffin’s inability to create more on-court harmony among his best players on the offensive end remained a point of contention until Griffin’s end.”
While the Bucks are the second-most efficient offense in the league, averaging 124.2 points per game, Griffin’s inability to marry the strengths of Antetokounmpo and Lillard appears to have been as much of a source of frustration as the team’s struggling defense.
Adrian Griffin’s Vision for Bucks Did Not Translate on the Floor
GettyGiannis Antetokounmpo and Adrian Griffin
While the offense had its pain points, it was largely the team’s defense that was the glaring issue that could squander the Bucks’ chances at a championship.
The Athletic reported that there were schematic issues abound under Griffin, who struggled to get the players to execute his vision on the floor.
“According to team sources, the issues plaguing Griffin’s early tenure ranged from putting together strong schemes on both ends of the floor for the Bucks to fulfill their championship potential to successfully communicating his vision to his players for them to execute it on the floor,” The Athletic report reads.
Giannis’ Pleas for Better Defense Fail to Materialize
GettyGiannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The short-lived Griffin-era Bucks underwent a massive undoing of the franchise’s once-vaunted defense over the past five seasons under Mike Budenholzer. As of Tuesday, January 23rd, Milwaukee ranks 22nd in defensive rating, allowing 116.8 points per 100 possessions.
The situation has worsened in the new year despite pleas from Antetokounmpo. Following a 122-116 loss to the Houston Rockets on January 6, Antetokounmpo mused about the team’s defensive struggles.
“Now, defensively, we have to have a plan,” the former Defensive Player of the Year said, per The Athletic “What is our strategy? Are we going to give a lot of open 3s? Are we going to let them get in the paint? When they go in the post, are we going to stay with ours and play one-on-one? What is our strategy?
“Right now, we are giving everything. We are giving everything. We are giving the 3s. We are giving straight-line drives. We are letting guys play in the post and get comfortable. We’re giving offensive rebounds,” Antetokounmpo added.
Antetokounmpo’s critique did not bring a better defensive performance.
The new head coach, whoever it may be, will inherit a defense that has allowed 121.0 points per 100 possessions in January, the 27th-ranked defensive rating in the league, per NBA.com.