There is already a new coach for the Bucks. Milwaukee franchise fired Mike Budenholzer after the early and unexpected elimination against the Heat and has opted for Adrian Griffin to replace him. Griffin, an assistant until now for the Raptors, will make his debut as a top-level coach on an NBA bench after being an assistant since 2008, a few months after his retirement as a player became official. This confirms a new bet for someone young and who is debuting, something very common in the North American competition lately (Joe Mazzulla, Ime Udoka, Darvin Ham…) and that it gives Griffin an opportunity to show everything he can doalso landing in one of the entities that will opt for the ring in the coming years.
Griffin (who will turn 49 on July 4) is an old acquaintance of American basketball. He spent four seasons with the Seton Hall University Pirates before making the jump to the NBA undrafted. He played nine seasons in the best League in the world, in which he went through the Celtics, Mavs, Rockets and Bulls, before returning to the Mavs and, once again, defending the Chicago jersey. He retired from the Sonics after being traded midway through the 2008-09 season. At 1.96 cm tall, his best stats came in 2001-02, when he averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. In the Mavs he also touched the ring: he played in the 2006 Finals, in which Dwayne Wade deprived Dirk Nowitzki of the dream of a ring that he would reach five years later.