Maybe it is performance based but their record and play of late doesn't scream for a change. Gotta be a story imo.
2023-2024 General NBA Season Thread
- Thread starter BigSoxFan
- Start date
There has to be more. The Bucks are 30-13. Did he have an inappropriate relationship with a staffer?
I don't see any reason to speculate. No need to go down the path of questioning his character without knowing what it is.
It’s also clear that they were flirting with Doc beforehand. There’s rumors that Giannis and Griffin weren’t a great fit personality wise, and that’s a death knell in the league.
That is legitimately shocking. Does ownership listen to too many NBA podcasts? There’s been plenty of people wondering about their offense, but crazy to only give him half a season.
I would assume that, like most stars of his ilk, Giannis has more or less free rein to go over the HC's head with concerns about HC-ing. That was my first thought, not anything bad about Griffin.
Going for Doc would be a big risk no? Changing things up midseason? He's a pro and doesn't have a rigid system, but that's still disruptive.
Until I hear otherwise, this is where I am.
You don't just fire a 1st year head coach with the 2nd best record in the league halfway through year one without something going on...
Mike Ditka wants to talk to you about how awesome the 1985 Chicago Bears are.
If the Bucks don't think Griffin is the right guy to guide them to a title, better to get rid of him now than later. Even with the record, nobody in the league thinks he's done a really great job (although if Boston weren't quite as good and the Bucks were in 1st, would he still be fired). Still, firing a rookie head coach halfway through the season would be seen as a major fuckup for a rebuilding or mid-level team, let alone an aging team in win now mode. What a disaster.
I actually think Doc's a bit underrated as a coach. He's not going to elevate a good team to a great one, and he's not going to be particularly innovative schematically, but I think he still connects with NBA players. I think he can still identify the role that guys need to play to be successful, and get guys to buy into that role. At a minimum, he's not going to de-rail a season for a good team. That might be all they need at this point.
Griffin was a bad hire from the start. It never made any sense to hire a first time coach to a team with immediate title aspirations.
After the whole Terry Stotts fiasco I had a feeling Griffin was only going to last a year. Still pretty shocking he didnt even get that
After the whole Terry Stotts fiasco I had a feeling Griffin was only going to last a year. Still pretty shocking he didnt even get that
Yeah, NBA teams have a finite window to win it all and you really have to be ruthless. No point in potentially wasting a year if you feel like the guy isn't good enough to coach a team to a championship. Griffin has been on the hot seat since Day 1, so this doesn't come as a total surprise. Agree that it still reflects poorly on everyone who signed off on his hiring in the first place if it was clear he wasn't it.
I thought the non-taxpayor MLE was $12.2M not $ 6.5M - so that's the salary limit? https://www.libertyballers.com/2024/1/23/24047690/2024-nba-trade-deadline-heat-hornets-sixers-kyle-lowry-terry-rozier-nick-nurse-joel-embiid
Article I linked suggests CHA will buy-out Lowry and thinks PHI would be s good fit.
edit: added linked article about Lowry possibly going to PHI.
Steve Kerr, Nick Nurse, Ime Udoka, Ty Lue were all first time head coaches on teams with title aspirations
The Knicks are interested in Bruce Brown. Not sure they have anything else the Raptors want but he would quickly become a Thibs guy.
And I like the Rozier trade for the Heat, a lot. He’ll easily fit into the Heat culture and the deal saves them $15 million. Fucking Riles!
The 6.5 was in reference to their traded player exception, which is nearly the same size as the one Boston has
Lowry and Beverley on the same team! The flopping would be vomit inducing.
And half a season where his team is second in the East.. by that standard almost every coach should be fired
The Warriors and Raptors both had much worse odds at winning it all than the Bucks did. Ty Lue was promoted midseason after David Blatt got fired, so that's not quite an apples to apples comparison.
I will give you Udoka but even that had a different feel. The Celtics definitely were in the upper crust of teams but the roster was also much younger and it felt like the window was much wider and there was room for growth. The Bucks feel like they have basically a 2 year window. That's tough for a first year coach.
Did you mean defense? I didn't think their offense was the problem. They are putting up 124.6 PPG which is 2nd in the league.
Seems like Griffin must have gotten a vote of no confidence from Giannis and Lillard or he did something egregiously wrong that caused ownership to step in.
I just can't shake that All-In bet on Russ when they could have had Caruso, Kuzma, KCP, & DeMarr instead
I was looking at the Christmas date as a check point for Milwaukee. The net rating for them in those 14 games up to today is 0.4. But it's entirely a regression on the defensive end. The team in its first 29 games had an offensive ppg was 124.6. Since Christmas to today it's 124.4. But in those same time frames the defense issues have gotten worse (118.8 in the first 29, 124 in the last 14). If there is no other story here, the defense not improving (or even holding steady around 120 a game) is probably Griffin's undoing, but I'm not sure that can all be laid at his feet. Giannis needs to own the fact he wanted Dame and that the defense was going to regress without Jrue. Griffin could have gotten better results potentially, but it's not an easy group when you look beyond Giannis and Lopez (and even he is flawed when you get him in rotations). Milwaukee made that Dame trade to be more explosive on offense, especially in the playoffs and particularly in the half court. But the defensive issues are hardly shocking, although the team becoming even worse in the last month is worrisome.
His teams record is not enough to undo that decision IMO.. I mean they just destroyed the Celts a few weeks ago..
I have to wonder.. if he were white would he get a longer window? (I’m Scandinavian white).. because there are plenty of first time coaches that have failed far worse than this.
Not all teams with title aspirations are created equally. This years Bucs were +600 to win, 3rd best odds.
2015 Warriors: +2800, 8th
2016 Cavs: +280, 1st
2019 Raptors: +1850, 5th
2022 Celtics: +4000, 13th
The Cavs stand out as the one exception here, but at that point Lebron was the best player on the planet and seen as essentially a player coach. The Raptors weren't far off, but it's really important to remember that Nurse was promoted on June 14 2018, more than a month before the Raptors traded for Kawhi (I don't know what their title odds were before that move, but guaranteed they were lower). The Bucks took a major chance here, and they blew it.
Doc was shadow coaching the Bucks for a month, per Shams. Woj says the two sides haven’t talked yet.
Love conflicting sources.
Love conflicting sources.
The job he did in Orlando was kinda absurd how good it was. Not many Head Coaches win multiple championships and if not for Perkins knee then KG’s knee he likely has 3.
I don't think Austin Rivers get along with his dad. At least, Austin didn't seem to enjoy any time with Doc.