Advertisement - scroll for more content
The Bucks fired Budenholzer that summer after a first-round loss to the Heat, and moved quickly to hire Adrian Griffin, effectively ending Lee's Milwaukee tenure. "(Organizations) reached out to me (about Lee as a head coach candidate)," Jrue Holiday, who played for Lee with the Bucks and Celtics, said on Friday. "I typically give them the truth. Even here, I talked to a couple people here before he got the (Charlotte) job and just told him my opinion on Charles as a person, I felt like that's more important than just the coach, just give them my opinion and I guess they liked him." "(I said) that he's a loser," Holiday joked. "No, (I said) that he's a great person. He's a family guy, you've seen him in multiple organizations, he's loved in multiple organizations ... he brought some new ideas (to Milwaukee). He brought some calm, he doesn't get too over the top or too low, but at the same time, he'll correct you when you need to be corrected, and he was never afraid of that, no matter who the person was."
James Edwards III: The Hornets hired DJ Bakker to be the HC of their G League team, per sources. Bakker — who worked under Dwane Casey in DET and TOR, and most recently Adrian Griffin in MIL — was the Motor City Cruise HC from 2021-22. Embedded with him for a day in 2022: nytimes.com/athletic/37571…
My podcast partner Chris Haynes, in a Bleacher Report live stream Friday, reported that the Bucks have also dismissed three assistant coaches inherited by Doc Rivers when he replaced Adrian Griffin in January: DJ Bakker, Sidney Dobner and Josh Oppenheimer. The departure of Oppenheimer, in particular, surprised some in NBA coaching circles because he is known to be a Giannis Antetokounmpo favorite.
Advertisement
Once on the inside, Rivers learned more. There was uncertainty. On his first day, Rivers asked the coaching staff what the Bucks’ identity was. “No one had an answer,” says Rivers. The communication was confusing. “Unfortunately for Griff, he had two staffs,” says Rivers. “Half of his staff was with Bud [former coach Mike Budenholzer], and then he had half of his staff. That doesn’t work.” When lead assistant Terry Stotts resigned after a conflict with Griffin, it got worse. “If I was a rookie coach and my lead assistant, who was next to the head coach, quit right before the season, the second guessing would start,” says Rivers. “When players see second-guessing among the staff, it’s over. That really hurt Griff, and that was really unfair.”
So when we’ve had these talks in the past, the mood is typically pretty hopeful and optimistic. But this feels different, like a really challenging, probably frustrating, experience where you’re trying to push through and grow to get to where you all want to go. How different is this for you? Giannis Antetokounmpo: What do you mean? The Damian Lillard integration. The coaching situation. You’ve already talked about all the change and how you’ve never had to take on this much leadership before. Antetokounmpo: Yeah, it’s … it’s … it’s hard. I feel like for me, this has been the hardest season that I’ve played — not only physically, because I had the procedure done on my left knee in the end of June. And I had to get back to myself. I feel like when the season started, I wasn’t (myself). And the reason was that I hadn’t played basketball until like the second week of training (camp). I had to get back to being by myself. But emotionally, and mentally, it’s been draining. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s been extremely tough, from Coach Bud (Mike Budenholzer) being let go (after the Bucks fell to Miami in the first round of the playoffs) to Coach Griff (Adrian Griffin) coming in, being let go, then (interim) Coach Joe (Prunty) for three games, Coach Doc (Rivers) coming in, and then you have Dame. It’s been tough. But at the end of the day, I think when you face adversity in life, that’s when you excel the most. So I’m just trying to, as a leader, as a basketball player, as a person, just trying to do what I do, keep on enjoying the game of basketball, keep on hanging in there, keep on trying to improve my game, doing the right thing. And hopefully, step by step, I get where I want to go and I’m able to help the team get where we want to go.
Rivers' prediction turned out to be prudent. Eleven games into his Bucks tenure, Rivers is 4-7, matching the worst start through 11 games of his 25-year coaching career. Milwaukee was 30-13 on the day they fired Adrian Griffin, moving on from their first-year coach despite a gaudy record because general manager Jon Horst said he believed the team needed a coach with a championship pedigree. Horst made the midseason move to hire Rivers, a champion coach with a track record of coaching stars, to help the team reach a higher ceiling than they believed was possible under Griffin. "He had to jump on a moving train," a team source told ESPN. "And then help direct it."
One early area of focus has been defending on-ball screens. The Bucks have allowed 0.96 points per direct pick since Jan 29, fifth best in the NBA. Prior to this stretch, they ranked 22nd (1.03 points per pick). They have switched on defense more than Rivers believes he has ever instructed a team to do, on 32% of on-ball screens compared to 23% before Rivers, according to research by ESPN Stats & Information. "We're big, we're not fast," Rivers said. "Switching keeps guys in front of you. And the more size we can put in front of people, the better we can be."
Sirius XM NBA: “I told [Bucks ownership] ‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this.’” Bucks HC Doc Rivers tells @TheFrankIsola & Ryan McDonough about his conversation with ownership after Adrian Griffin was let go Hear more great interviews on the new @SiriusXM App! sxm.app.link/NBAAllStar2024 pic.twitter.com/B6GKJu9HVT
“I told [Bucks ownership] ‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this.’”
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) February 20, 2024
Bucks HC Doc Rivers tells @TheFrankIsola & Ryan McDonough about his conversation with ownership after Adrian Griffin was let go
Hear more great interviews on the new @SiriusXM App! https://t.co/Siy1ymsQrr pic.twitter.com/B6GKJu9HVT
Advertisement
The Bucks instead hired Rivers on Jan. 26 to replace Joe Prunty, who was named interim head coach after the Bucks fired Adrian Griffin on Jan. 23. Rivers coached his first game in Denver on Jan. 29. The Bucks remained on the road for four games after that before returning to Milwaukee on Feb. 8. They’ve gone 3-7 with Rivers at the helm. "The end game is what we’re playing for," Rivers added. "And the organization felt strongly that a change needed to be made defensively and things like that, and that’s what we’re doing. The problem is, while you’re doing that, you’re in the middle of the season on the toughest trip." "I’ve been in Milwaukee [for] four days," he added. "I’ve had the job for three weeks."
Bucks owe a combined $30 million to Mike Budenholzer, Adrian Griffin and Doc Rivers?
Nets Daily: Heard a fun fact this week from a league source. The Milwaukee Bucks owe a combined $30 million to Mike Budenholzer, Adrian Griffin and Doc Rivers, their two former head coaches and current head coach.
Frank Madden: Bucks now with a 111.9 DRTG (6th in NBA) in the post-Griff era. Opponent 3FG% is 13th in that span so it’s not just jump-shooting luck either. pic.twitter.com/8MHgpmFK68
StatMuse: Win percentage this season: .698 — Adrian Griffin .200 — Doc Rivers The Pistons and Wizards are the only teams with a lower win% than Doc. The Celtics are the only team with a higher win% than Adrian. pic.twitter.com/R4oLq6jq2E
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement