Why did Bucks fire coach Adrian Griffin? They didn't believe he could lead team to title

The signs of a problematic alliance between the Milwaukee Bucks and head coach Adrian Griffin came early in the season. Before the season even. The Bucks hired Griffin to replace Mike Budenholzer, whose shelf life as Milwaukee’s coach expired even though he led the franchise to the NBA championship in 2021. And to help the first-year coach, the Bucks brought in longtime NBA head coach Terry Stotts as an assistant. However, Stotts resigned just before the 2023-24 season began, and continued criticisms from Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo revealed not all was perfect for the first-year coach with massive expectations. That Bucks-Griffin alliance ended Tuesday when the Bucks dismissed Griffin amid a 30-13 season. ESPN and The Athletic reported that ESPN NBA analyst Doc Rivers is a favorite to coach the Bucks. Despite sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference, 3½ games behind Boston, tied for the second-best record in the NBA and sporting the league’s No. 2 offense, the Bucks are also 22nd defensively. Baked into that .698 winning percentage is play that has resulted in both impressive victories (Philadelphia, Boston, Sacramento) and dubious losses (Atlanta, Houston, 1-4 record against division rival Indiana). But more than any one game, Griffin, 49, wasn’t connecting with players and the team wasn’t making the necessary progress, prompting a change. Adrian Griffin has been dismissed as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He was in charge for just 43 games. Antetokounmpo rarely has been satisfied with the Bucks’ play. “Once you’re up 20, you’ve got to put them away. You’ve got to put them away,” he said after an Oct. 30 loss to Miami. “We weren’t able to do that tonight. Hopefully, we can learn from this.”

Following a Dec. 7 loss to Indiana in the In-Season Tournament semifinals, Antetokounmpo said, “The talent level we have is incredible. But we have to be more organized. I feel like sometimes we're not organized at all. We don't know what we try to get from our offense, or sometimes defensively we're not sprinting back.”