Giannis Antetokounmpo's hands-on role in the Milwaukee Bucks' choosing Mike Budenholzer's successor was hardly a secret. The two-time MVP was directly involved in his team's offseason coaching search, his status as an organizational pillar and uncertain contractual future prompting ownership to give Antetokounmpo a major say in who would roam the Bucks' sidelines going forward.
The team is already searching for another head coach just eight months after hiring Adrian Griffin, dismissing him Tuesday at the midway point of 2023-24. All signs point to Doc Rivers leaving the broadcast booth to take the reins in Milwaukee. If Milwaukee can't come to terms with the former Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics head coach, Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson will reportedly garner serious consideration.
But before the Bucks introduce their third head coach in comfortably less than a calendar year, it's worth looking back on the circumstances that brought Griffin to Milwaukee in the first place. Rather than an outright preference for Griffin driving Antetokounmpo's decision to give management the green light to hire him, the Greek Freak apparently championed Griffin last spring to help ensure the Bucks wouldn't hire Nick Nurse, reports NBA insider Marc Stein.
“Why was Antetokounmpo throwing his support behind Griffin?
How did Griffin gain that sort of endorsement from a superstar of Giannis’ stature when they had never worked together before? League sources say now that the desire to play for Griffin is better described as a determination to play for someone other than Nick Nurse.
Nurse was among the candidates that the Bucks had high on their list after a five-game drubbing by No. 8-seeded Miami in the first round of last season’s playoffs, which led to Budenholzer’s ouster after five seasons in charge and, of course, Milwaukee’s first championship since 1971. But sources say that Antetokounmpo wanted the Bucks to go in a different direction and thus chose to champion Griffin.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks should regret not hiring Nick Nurse
Nurse, shortly after parting ways with the Toronto Raptors, was among the leading candidates to succeed Budenholzer in Milwaukee following the team's stunning loss to the underdog Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs last season. But he reportedly “pulled out” of the running for the Bucks' head job as the front office winnowed its choices down to Nurse, Griffin and Atkinson, sparking speculation the former had eyes for openings with the Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns or knew he was unlikely to get the gig in Milwaukee.
The Sixers hired Nurse just a couple days after the Bucks brought in Griffin. Half a season later, Philadelphia has been one of the league's most pleasant surprises behind a revamped offensive attack that's pushed reigning MVP Joel Embiid to even greater heights while accelerating the ascent of burgeoning star guard Tyrese Maxey, while Milwaukee is scrambling to replace Griffin with the man who preceded Nurse in the City of Brotherly Love.
Rivers is revered in league circles, among the most respected managers of talent and egos in basketball and a proven winner in the regular season across multiple stops of his well-traveled coaching career. His teams have never punched above their weight under the postseason pressure cooker, though, even the 2008 Boston Celtics needing a pair of seven-game series to begin their run toward hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
It's unclear why Antetokounmpo was against Nurse taking over with the Bucks. Perhaps Nurse's habit in Toronto of running marquee players ragged with throwback minute totals spooked Antetokounmpo, or maybe he through the player grapevine that Nurse's loud voice had grown stale in the Raptors' locker room.
Either way, it only adds insult to injury of the Bucks' unenviable current position that they're primed to name Rivers as coach in wake of ending the Griffin debacle, the entire basketball world knowing full well just how much better Nurse has been with the Sixers this season than he ever was.
Star players don't have a very successful track record of hand-picking head coaches. The next time a job becomes available, wherever it is, it would behoove management to keep that reality in mind.
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