Current:Home > MyBucks fire coach Adrian Griffin after 43 games despite having one of NBA’s top records -FutureWise Finance
Bucks fire coach Adrian Griffin after 43 games despite having one of NBA’s top records
View
Date:2025-04-16 20:02:40
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks fired Adrian Griffin as coach on Tuesday after just 43 games despite having one of the league’s top records midway through his first season.
“This was a difficult decision to make during the season,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement announcing the move. “We are working immediately toward hiring our next head coach. We thank Coach Griffin for his hard work and contributions to the team.”
Joe Prunty, who had been an assistant coach on Griffin’s staff, will serve as the Bucks’ interim head coach. Horst will speak at a news conference Wednesday, before the Bucks’ home game with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Milwaukee is 30-13 to tie the Minnesota Timberwolves for the league’s second-best record entering Tuesday. The Bucks are 3 1/2 games behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.
But the dip in Milwaukee’s defensive performance had raised concerns about the Bucks’ viability as a championship contender even after they had acquired seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard before the season to team up with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks rank 22nd in the NBA in defensive rating — down from fourth a year earlier — despite having two of the NBA’s top defenders in Antetokounmpo and 7-footer Brook Lopez. Antetokounmpo was named the NBA’s defensive player of the year in 2020, while Lopez finished second in last season’s balloting.
Milwaukee had given Griffin his first head coaching job last summer after firing Mike Budenholzer, who led the Bucks in 2021 to their first title in half a century. The Bucks had posted the most combined regular-season and playoff wins of any team during Budenholzer’s tenure and had the league’s best regular-season record in three of his five seasons on the job.
Budenholzer’s firing came after the top-seeded Bucks were stunned 4-1 by the Miami Heat in the first round of last season’s playoffs.
Griffin, 49, had spent 16 seasons as an NBA assistant, including the last five with the Toronto Raptors. That followed a nine-year NBA playing career.
Taking over a squad with two members of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team in Antetokounmpo and Lillard put Griffin under a major spotlight at the beginning of his head coaching career. An early warning sign regarding Griffin’s tenure came before the season with the abrupt departure of assistant coach Terry Stotts.
Stotts had more than 1,000 games of head coaching experience, which figured to benefit Griffin as he began his own head coaching career. Stotts had called accepting the assignment a “no-brainer,” but he left the staff less than a week before the season opener.
___
AP Pro Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
veryGood! (444)
Related
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna is headed to UAB after serving probation
- After landmark legislation, Indiana Republican leadership call for short, ‘fine-tuning’ session
- Detroit Pistons face final chance to avoid carrying NBA-record losing streak into 2024
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Inkster native on a mission to preserve Detroit Jit
- 'Our expectations fell very short': Dolphins in tough spot as division crown hangs in balance
- When is the 2024 Super Bowl? What fans should know about date, time, halftime performer
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- XFL-USFL merger complete with launch of new United Football League
Ranking
- New Mexico governor seeks funding to recycle fracking water, expand preschool, treat mental health
- Dying in the Fields as Temperatures Soar
- The Detroit Pistons, amid a 28-game losing streak, try to avoid NBA history
- Indianapolis Colts TE Drew Ogletree faces domestic violence charges
- The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
- 2024 NFL draft first-round order: Carolina Panthers hand Chicago Bears the No. 1 pick
- Nick Saban knew what these Alabama players needed most this year: His belief in them
- 20 Secrets About The Devil Wears Prada You'll Find as Groundbreaking as Florals For Spring
Recommendation
Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
Cowboys vs. Lions Saturday NFL game highlights: Dallas holds off Detroit in controversial finish
The Empire State rings in the new year with a pay bump for minimum-wage workers
2023 NFL MVP odds tracker: Lamar Jackson is huge favorite heading into final week
Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
Nick Carter Shares Family Video in First Post Since Sister Bobbie Jean Carter's Death
Russia carries out what Ukraine calls most massive aerial attack of the war
After landmark legislation, Indiana Republican leadership call for short, ‘fine-tuning’ session