Pros and Cons to Milwaukee Bucks hiring Adrian Griffin as head coach

The Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly made the decision to hire Adrian Griffin as the 17th head coach in franchise history.

Both Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic are reporting the hire. Milwaukee previously widdled the candidates down from over a dozen interviews to three finalists–Griffin, Kenny Atkinson and Nick Nurse.

Charania outlined an intensive process that included an interview with Jon Horst, meeting with Giannis Antetokounmpo individually at his home and dinner with Horst, Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and other top decision-makers.

In the end, Griffin was offered the job. There are a lot of unknowns about assistant coaches and it’s impossible to tell how this will play out for the Bucks. However, let’s check out the pros and cons of the move as we know them.

Here are the pros and cons to the Milwaukee Bucks reported decision to hire Adrian Griffin as their new head coach.

Pro: Giannis endorses Griffin

There were rumblings from the very beginning that Griffin was Antetokounmpo’s guy. He reportedly made it into the final three for that very reason and the Bucks’ superstar helped elevate him all the way to the job.

Griffin had to impress Giannis somehow and should get credit for that. He’ll need to build a system around Antetokoumpo that allows Milwaukee to recapture championship gold. Mike Budenholzer instantly helped elevate him to another level and Griffin will be tasked with maintaining that level. It’s a good sign that they are on the same page early on.

Con: No previous head coaching experience

Part of the reason I previously ranked Griffin as the least likely to get the job was due to his inexperience as a head coach. He’s been an assistant coach in the NBA for 15 years after playing in it for nine.

He was with the Toronto Raptors when they won the NBA Finals in 2019 and has been a part of quite a few postseason teams. Still, you can’t replicate the experience of being the head decision-maker on a squad that has deep postseason aspirations. There will surely be some bumps and bruises along the way. Hopefully, Milwaukee can minimize them on the court and get past the second round for just the second time in five years.

Pro: Coached under some great defensive minds

It will be interesting to see what Griffin brings to the table defensively. Budenholzer has already laid out the blueprint for an elite regular season defense. At a minimum, Griffin should be able to start there as a primary coverage.

However, he’s also coached under great defensive minds such as Scott Skiles and Nurse. Nurse loved to pressure the ball and use multiple coverages in doing so–two traits that are the opposite of what Milwaukee did under Bud. If Griffin can utilize some of those assets to mix in with the Bucks’ drop coverage, Milwaukee could be cooking with fire on the defensive side of the ball and take their game to the next level.

Con: NBA Championship or bust expectations

Milwaukee doesn’t have a realistic path to re-tool their roster. The new CBA restricts them from adding new talent even further. Their most likely route is to re-sign their current free agent for two-year deals and line them up with the contracts of Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday.

That means anything less than another NBA Finals appearance or Larry O’B will be considered a failure. That’s an extremely high bar and high-pressure situation for a first-time head coach. Griffin will either be the goat or the scapegoat.