Even though Adrian Griffin had one of the best records in the league halfway through his first season, the Milwaukee Bucks sacked him as coach on Tuesday after only 43 games.
Doc Rivers is the primary target for the Bucks, according to sources who spoke with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The team plans to move swiftly to sign one of the few available and successful experienced head coaches. According to insiders, the Bucks have contacted Rivers about the coaching position with the team.
“It was not an easy choice to make during the season,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a release. “We are starting the process of selecting our new head coach right now. We appreciate Coach Griffin’s dedication to the squad and his hard work.”
Joe Prunty, a seasoned assistant, will assume the role of temporary coach. Horst will make remarks during a press conference on Wednesday before to the Bucks’ next home game against the Cavaliers.
After Milwaukee’s first-round playoff elimination the previous season, veteran coach Mike Budenholzer was sacked, and the team hired Griffin in the summer. The Bucks made a blockbuster deal to acquire Damian Lillard a few months after hiring him, which increased the expectation on the team to perform well this season.
The Bucks, who are 30-13, are ranked second in the Eastern Conference going into Tuesday’s games. Since David Blatt left the Cavaliers in 2015–16, this is the greatest winning % for a club that dismissed its head coach during the season.
But even with their stellar record, the Bucks have had moments of weakness, especially defensively. They were ranked fourth on defense in the previous season and now rank 22nd. They have recently conceded 135 and 113 points in back-to-back games against the Detroit Pistons.
The 49-year-old Griffin assisted in the NBA for 16 seasons, the last five of which he worked with the Toronto Raptors. That came after he played in the NBA for nine years.
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