Who is Milwaukee Bucks coach? Looking at Mike Budenholzer's replacement

The Milwaukee Bucks have a new leader pacing the sidelines in former NBA player and many-time assistant coach Adrian Griffin. He took the place of Mike Budenholzer, who helped the team win an NBA title in 2021.

49-year-old Griffin was signed by the team in June to lead the Bucks’ redemption bid in the just-started 2023-24 NBA season after a disastrous postseason last year, where they were booted out in the opening round despite finishing with the best record in the league.

The new Milwaukee Bucks coach played nine seasons in the league, from 1999 to 2008, having stops in Boston, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, and Seattle. He made his mark as a role player doing a lot of the intangibles and finished his career with averages of four points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 477 regular season games.

New Milwaukee Bucks coach Adrian Griffin played nine seasons in the NBA.

Following his playing career, Griffin transitioned to coaching. He first became an assistant coach in Milwaukee, staying there for two years before moving to the Chicago Bulls. After five seasons as an assistant in the Windy City, he transferred to Oklahoma City, where he did deputy work for two years.

Then in 2018, he moved up north to Toronto to be an assistant to Nick Nurse with the Raptors. The following year, they went on to win an NBA title, the first for the city. He stayed with the team until last season before he made his way back to the Milwaukee Bucks as a head coach.

This season, Adrian Griffin is coaching a retooled Bucks, which now feature seven-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard and two-time league most valuable player Giannis Antetokounmpo. He said he is humbled to be given the opportunity to coach the team and is confident of leading it to renewed competitiveness.

Milwaukee kickstarted their campaign in the new NBA season on Thursday, October 26, at home against the Philadelphia 76ers, who are now coached by Nick Nurse.

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Adrian Griffin willing to embrace high expectations with Milwaukee Bucks this season

While he is happy and excited to have landed the coaching job in Milwaukee, Adrian Griffin is fully aware of the high expectations thrust on him in the brand-new NBA year.

Griffin rejoined the Bucks’ coaching staff this offseason to replace Mike Budenholzer as head coach. He was with the team as an assistant from 2008 to 2010.

In his first year at the helm, he is tasked to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to redemption following the unceremonious ending to its season last year, where it was ousted in the opening round of the playoffs despite a stellar showing in the regular season that saw it finish with the best record of 58-24.

Adrian Griffin shared during his introduction as coach to the media that he is undeterred by the expectations from him and is instead using them as motivation to do his job better. He said:

“Yes, we have high expectations, but we're going to embrace them. But it starts by getting to work.”

Check out what he said below, beginning at 10:20:

Prior to joining Milwaukee this season, Adrian Griffin was with the Toronto Raptors for five years as an assistant, helping the team win the NBA title in 2019.

Milwaukee Bucks so far in the 2023-24 NBA season

Bucks Bulls Basketball (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Milwaukee Bucks made some major changes in the 2023 offseason, hiring a brand new head coach and the acquisition of Damian Lillard, all of this indicating a championship or bust situation.

In the 19 games played so far, the Bucks are the 3rd seed in the East with a record of 13-6. A decent start to the season, however, things aren’t all sunshine and daisies. The Bucks are currently 6th in Offensive Rating (ORtg) while being 20th in Defensive Rating (DRtg), meaning their offense is one of the best but they are one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

With the loss of Jrue Holiday, the Bucks were expected to lose some of their defense, but they weren’t expected to drop this low to start the season. A 19-game sample size isn’t big enough to decide whether this team can win it all, but the way things are looking, this might not work out.