Recently, a piece of news that surprised basketball fans came as a surprise: the Milwaukee Bucks, who had a great record, unexpectedly fired their head coach Adrian Griffin, despite being in second place in the East (30-12). Such a decision inevitably leads to the question of how to deal with the struggling coaches in the West if such excellent results do not guarantee a solid position. **The reasons behind Griffin's resignation, combined with the rumors and the author's analysis, can be roughly summarized as follows:
The first and central factor is that the team's star brother is not enthusiastic about the attitude of the rookie coach. In the midseason, the Bucks' performance in January was slightly weak, with a 6-5 record that could not hide the decline. During this time, he expressed his dissatisfaction with Griffin's performance in the roster rotation strategy and the construction of the tactical system. As we all know, harmony and trust in the dressing room are crucial, especially when the main players have a grudge against the coaching staff, which is undoubtedly a big issue that the management must face. In order to ensure championship competitiveness and maintain unity within the team, the Bucks management made a decisive decision to change the head coach, which seems both reasonable and necessary in the current situation.
Second, Griffin's tactical philosophy is at odds with the actual situation of the Bucks. He is a strong advocate of team basketball, and will not hesitate to criticize players with outstanding individual abilities if their style of play is not reasonable. For example, he has repeatedly complained that Antetokounmpo and Lillard were too obsessed with scoring singles and ignoring their teammates in the open position during the breakaway.
As the leader of the team, Brother Alphabet has been repeatedly reprimanded in front of the rookie coach, and how to establish his prestige has become a problem. Especially in the face of recent disappointing results, if the Bucks want to win the championship, it is obvious that they need an experienced coach who can not only ensure stable command on the court, but also maintain order within the team. This move can be seen as a reaffirmation of his authority, and the fact that Lee (Rivers) has taken over as head coach is also a positive change.
Veteran fans may be familiar with Lao Li's coaching skills, while new fans may be confused: what is the strength of this famous coach who has led the team to win the championship? In his coaching career, the label of "King of Reversal" is particularly prominent, and when he led the Clippers and 76ers respectively, he experienced the pain of 7 times when the 3-2 lead was overturned, and 3 times when the 3-1 advantage was reversed. Still, we can't simply deny his coaching talent, after all, he was able to help the team get match point first; However, at the critical moment, he seemed to have difficulty crossing that threshold. Past Clippers and 76ers fans may have witnessed his experience through gritted teeth. But in my eyes, Lao Li, who has been in the vertical and horizontal alliance for many years, does have its own uniqueness.
Looking back at his success with the Celtics, the tactical layout is clear: a lot of pick-and-roll and one-on-one play around Garnett and Pierce, as well as Ray Allen's key three-point strategy, helped the team win the 2008 championship trophy, and it is a testament to his mastery of a mature system. Later, he moved to the Clippers and went through the lineup stages of Paul + Griffin + Jordan Jr., Lowe + Harrell, George + Xiaoka, etc., although he often encountered adversity and on-the-spot command setbacks, he was not entirely responsible, and many times it was due to the injuries of core players that affected the game. Now that I'm back at the helm, I'm confident in his performance with the Bucks, especially given that the Bucks have two strong ball-handling cores, and even when the game is deadlocked, Antetokounmpo can break the deadlock with his individual ability.
To sum up, the Bucks' decision to change the head coach on the one hand reflects that Brother Alphabet is consolidating his dominance in the team, and on the other hand, it is also to launch a strong attack on the championship goal. Let's wait and see how the Bucks perform next in the new tactical system.