It isn’t often that a head coach is fired when his team has won 69.8 percent of their games that season. In fact, the last time a winning NBA head coach was fired was in 2015-16, when the Cleveland Cavaliers let go of 2014 EuroLeague Coach of the Year David Blatt. When the Milwaukee Bucks decided to part ways with Adrian Griffin Sr., he didn’t share Blatt’s rumored problem of failing to hold star players accountable though.
To the contrary, his issue might have been giving non-star players free reign to publicly hold him accountable. In a vacuum, an organization should want that type of transparency between a head coach and players. Yet, the timing of the Dec. 7 report about veteran Bobby Portis calling out Griffin after a close loss and the Bucks dismissing him on Jan. 23 doesn’t seem to be coincidental.
Bobby Portis Ultimately Responsible For Bucks Head Coach Adrian Griffin’s Firing
Portis’s message to Griffin and his teammates had merit. At the time of Griffin’s departure, Milwaukee was still trying to find the right recipe on both ends. Nonetheless, when considering how the Bucks have looked in the 70 games since (playoffs included), they were clearly too hasty.
Almost every week there’s a new excuse for why they and Doc Rivers —who they hired on Jan. 26 —need more time. This despite Rivers being just 31-30 with Milwaukee in the regular season and 2-4 in the postseason. Perhaps Rivers’s body of work should allow him to be given more grace. Regardless, that doesn’t mean he’s been better for them than Griffin.
If a team’s record reflects what they are, then the Bucks have been average-at-best under Rivers, whereas Griffin had them firmly in playoff —if not title —contention.
David Blatt-Adrian Griffin Parallels
In some ways, Griffin’s experience as an NBA head coach did parallel Blatt’s.
Like Blatt, Griffin was hired to coach a team that then made a significant change to their roster. With the Bucks, it was their decision to trade defensive stalwart Jrue Holiday for the scoring-minded Damian Lillard. With the Cavs, it was Andrew Wiggins being shipped to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Love. In addition, LeBron James returned to Cleveland after his stint with the Miami Heat.
Unfortunately for Blatt, James didn’t seem to respect him much. Indeed, James went out of his way to change the offense without Blatt’s consultation and gloated about it. It’s no surprise that Blatt didn’t feel comfortable calling James out due to his behavior and their respective statures, but that’s not the story.
Instead, it’s that the stars didn’t really trust Blatt and their influence trickled down and emboldened other mutinous players. That appears to have been the case for Griffin as well.
Milwaukee Mutiny?
Frankly, the individual who leaked the contents of the locker room meeting may have wanted Griffin to be painted in a bad light.
Portis’s admitting to recently talking to his family about it, comments that came with a smile, could be evidence that he was the source of the leak. Considering the relationship between Lillard and Chris Haynes, who broke the story, he’s another candidate. The fact that one of Rivers’s focuses was on making Lillard more comfortable lends credence to that.
Nonetheless, Portis is ultimately responsible for Griffin’s firing if said report or meeting was truly a factor in the decision. Vocal leaders are necessary but so is being tactful and respectful. Whatever Portis had to say to Griffin could’ve been said in private. Instead, he chose to make a first-year head coach with a 30-13 record look incompetent in the locker room and thus the media.
The post Bobby Portis Ultimately Responsible For Bucks Coach’s Firing appeared first on Last Word On Basketball.