Bucks fire head coach Adrian Griffin in favor of Doc Rivers
After leading the Milwaukee Bucks to the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, the franchise fired head coach Adrian Griffin after 43 games.
General manager Jon Horst voiced that it was a difficult choice for the Bucks.
“This was a difficult decision to make during the season,” said Horst via ESPN. “We are working immediately toward hiring our next head coach. We thank Coach Griffin for his hard work and contributions to the team.”
Although Milwaukee sat with a 30-13 record entering Tuesday, the team had its stretches of struggles. The team fell from fourth on defense to 22nd while the players reportedly lost faith in Griffin last month during the in-season tournament in Las Vegas.
Griffin’s departure came in his first campaign at the helm after he was hired last summer to replace longtime Mike Budenholzer. The Bucks moved quickly to fill the void by hiring Doc Rivers as the next head coach.
Rivers had spent the first part of the season without a job after the Philadelphia 76ers let him go last offseason. He enters a situation with the Bucks hoping to compete for an NBA title, especially after acquiring star point guard Damian Lillard over the summer.
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Rivers has experienced sustained regular-season success throughout his NBA coaching career with 16 straight winning seasons since leading the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA title.
He ranks ninth in NBA history with 1,097 career wins, and his 111 playoff wins are fourth all-time. However, he’s struggled in the postseason with 10 Game 7 losses and nine straight contests with a chance to move to the conference finals.
