Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin named Bucks head coach

The Toronto Raptors were staring down the prospect of either Nick Nurse or Adrian Griffin, chief architects of the last few seasons of basketball north of the border, leaving to become the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. Mike Budenholzer’s playoff failures warranted a change in leadership.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that Nurse is the man for the job. However, Griffin studied under Nurse for years and has been an assistant in the NBA since retiring in 2008. Griffin, who got his start in coaching with Milwaukee, is very much back in town.

Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Bucks named Griffin as Budenholzer’s replacement and the team’s next head coach. The Raptors won a championship with Griffin on the bench, and the Bucks are hoping his pedigree can rub off on their current roster.

Bucks hire former Toronto Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin.

After a 10-year career in the NBA, Griffin embarked on a 15-season coaching career that included stops in Milwaukee, Chicago, Orlando, and Oklahoma City before linking up with the Raptors in 2018. Griffin has been the de facto top assistant for Nurse, often coaching games when Nurse was sick or suspended.

Griffin had been contacted about the Jazz and Lakers’ vacancies earlier in the 2022 offseason, and he was a candidate very early on in the Pistons’ search to replace Dwane Casey. Only one of those jobs had Giannis Antetokounmpo, however, and now Griffin gets to install his culture.

According to Shams Charania, Nurse reportedly pulled out of the Milwaukee race, leaving them to decide between Griffin and former Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. As of right now, Griffin has one of the best jobs in the league, while Atkinson remains an assistant in Golden State.

While there are some questions about giving a first-time coach a roster that is hell-bent on winning a championship in the next few years, it’s nice to see someone who had paid his dues in the coaching ranks for so long finally get a chance to be the leader of a team.