The Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach, Doc Rivers, has given an explanation for his resignation.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ head coach, Doc Rivers, has given an explanation for his resignation.

Adrian Griffin and the Milwaukee Bucks have always had the signs. Even yet, after a 30-13 start to the season, it was nonetheless startling when they sacked their first-year coach on Tuesday.

They finished 3.5 games behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference and the NBA with a record that was good enough for second place. They were never as good, though, as their record suggested.

Milwaukee’s defense, which finished fourth last year, has fallen all the way to 22nd this year, and things are not looking good for them. On that end of the court, they frequently appeared disoriented, perplexed, and outmatched. Additionally, they were the only NBA champion to end the season with a net rating of 3.8, ranking them 10th in the NBA Last year, the Denver Nuggets had their lowest rating in the previous 20 years—4.1.

Why This Time?
For those paying attention, there were plenty of warning signs about Griffin.

The sole member of the Bucks’ coaching staff with prior head coaching experience, Terry Stotts, resigned a week before the regular season got underway and one day before their last preseason game. It was reported that he couldn’t put aside his dissatisfaction with Griffin’s coaching.

Another dubious choice was the defensive strategy. Griffin took over a top-tier defense that didn’t need to be totally redesigned. Yes, the Bucks lost Jrue Holiday, an excellent perimeter defender, and brought in Damian Lillard and Malik Beasley, two mediocre defenders in his place. No, that doesn’t justify this team’s sharp decline in defensive effectiveness.

The players didn’t tell Griffin to put Brook Lopez back in the drop coverage that turned him into a five-year Defensive Player of the Year candidate until four games into the season. That is something that ought to be obvious.