After the Milwaukee Bucks’ disappointing first-round exit from the 2023 NBA Playoffs, head coach Mike Budenholzer was fired just two disappointing seasons after winning it all.
The man tabbed to become the 17th head coach in the organization’s history is Adrian Griffin. Here’s the quick rundown on what you need to know about him: he’s known as a player’s coach, has been the head coach for exactly one NBA game so far in his career (for the Toronto Raptors in “the bubble” in 2020), is already an NBA champion, a literal doctor, is “Old School” in more ways than one, and he already knows Milwaukee pretty well.
“Adrian Griffin may be a first-time NBA head coach, but he’s no newcomer to the NBA.”
📝 https://t.co/vgHeKNOpvN pic.twitter.com/BVJMGYwCiW
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) June 7, 2023
Now, let’s dive in a little. Here’s nine things you didn’t know about the Bucks’ new top dog.
1. ‘Never give up’ doesn’t even begin to cover his determination
Griffin knew there was only a slim chance he would be drafted into the NBA, but was still heartbroken when his name wasn’t called during the 1996 NBA Draft — the same draft that saw legends like Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Allen Iverson and Steve Nash selected in the first round.
Sitting alone at around midnight, Griffin’s father entered the room and offered to go for a drive with his son. After meandering the streets of Wichita, Kansas, for half-an-hour in silence, Griffin’s father spontaneously said, “Son, don’t give up on your dream. God told me you’re going to make the NBA.”
That prophecy would prove true. Griffin would play for a few seasons in several semipro leagues stateside and abroad before the Boston Celtics finally noticed his potential.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
2. He’s an Old School, Hawkish, Classic Junkyard Dog
Then-Celtics head coach Rick Pitino repeatedly called the 25-year-old rookie his favorite player. “Adrian Griffin has no ego,” Pitino said in 1989. “He may be the most humble player in the NBA.” This could be why the famously humble Giannis Antetokounmpo (who was given a say in who the Bucks ended up hiring to replace Budenholzer) felt he would be a good fit in Milwaukee.
https://twitter.com/Giannis_An34/status/1668967206921666562
Famed sportswriter Bob Ryan, writing for The Boston Globe, wrote of Griffin during his rookie season, “a capital B, Basketball, capital P, Player,” after the undersized 6-5 forward tallied 15 rebounds in a win.
Griffin recalled that Celtics legend John Havlicek, who retired in 1978, once told Griffin that his toughness meant “You could’ve played back in the day.” That perception led to one of Griffin’s nicknames: “Old School.” He’s also earned the monikers “The Hawk” and “Classic Sports,” as well as “Junkyard Dog,” a nickname bestowed on him by Celtic teammate Kenny Anderson.
(A “Dog” mentality could benefit the Bucks in the near future as the core of Giannis, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez aren’t quite as young as they were three long seasons ago. Former Buck PJ Tucker repeatedly said “We dogs” throughout the team’s 2021 championship run, a scrappiness that’s been absent in the two underwhelming seasons since Tucker left.)
Griffin would go on to play in nine NBA seasons — twice the average of 4.5 years for anyone who makes it to The Association — for five different teams. This included an appearance in the 2011 NBA Finals, when his Dallas Mavericks fell to Dwyane Wade’s and Shaq’s Miami Heat.
3. His mom missed his NBA Finals debut because she had to graduate from high school
This, we think, is just adorable. Coach Griffin’s mom, now a widow, had long promised that she would finish high school. In 2006, she finally completed the journey. Unfortunately, her graduation was scheduled on the same night as her son’s first-ever NBA Finals game.
Griffin didn’t mind. He was more proud of his mom than anything. “Some people grow up thinking life is supposed to be perfect,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram at the time. “My parents taught us that life is tough sometimes, and there’s a lot of setbacks. You have to pick yourself up and kind of persevere through a lot of things if you want something.”
While Griffin’s Mavs lost that year, Griffin would get a championship ring 12 years later as assistant coach of the Toronto Raptors, who had defeated the Bucks in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals that season.
4. Dr. Coach
Griffin joins the shortlist of NBA coaches who have a doctorate.
He earned his degree in organizational leadership from Concordia University Chicago, with a dissertation entitled “How Active NBA Assistant Coaches Experience Stress, Stressors, Coping Strategies, and Interventions in a Competitive Sports Environment.” He also has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Seton Hall, where he played basketball for four years and is now a hall of famer; Griffin is also in the sports hall of fame of his hometown of Wichita, where he won a state championship with East High School in 1992.
Among the Dr./Coaches who came before Griffin are Jack “Dr. Jack” Ramsay, who earned a Ph.D. in education before leading the Portland Trail Blazers to their only title in 1977, and Griffin’s former boss in Toronto, Nick Nurse, who likewise recently received a Ph.D. from Concordia.
5. It’s a homecoming of sorts
Griffin has been part of (or tried to be part of) the Milwaukee Bucks organization at least three times before, in varied ways.
First, Milwaukee was one of the teams he unsuccessfully tried out for as he battled to make it into the NBA in his early 20s.
Then, a decade later as his career neared its end, he was traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Bucks in one of the largest trades ever — involving 11 players. But, he was cut from the roster before the season started. Within seconds, however, his new career opened up…
6. He went from player to coach in one phone call
As Griffin tells it: In what would be his final season as a player, his head coach on the Chicago Bulls — Scott Skiles — loved how the then-33-year-old Griffin mentored the team’s younger players. “When you retire, I’ve got a job for you,” Skiles told Griffin at the time.
The following offseason, Skiles left Chicago to coach the Bucks, the team Griffin had coincidentally also been traded to.
When it came time to set the final rosters before the 2008-09 season tipoff, it fell to Skiles to tell Griffin he hadn’t made the cut. But, during that same phone call, Skiles offered Griffin a job on the coaching staff.
Griffin accepted.
He spent two years coaching here before going back to Chicago, then Orlando, and then Oklahoma City before spending five years in Toronto, from where he was hired to return to the Cream City.
7. His NBA son won’t be joining the Bucks anytime soon
One of Coach Griffin’s sons, AJ Griffin, is a high-level prospect who was drafted in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks after just one season at Duke University. As a rookie, the younger Griffin put his name among the likes of Luka Dončić, Tyler Herro and Kevin Durant for shooting efficiency as a teenager in the NBA.
When AJ tweeted how proud he was of his dad after the elder Griffin was tabbed to be the Bucks’ next coach last month, Hawks teammate and All-Star Trae Young restaked the Hawks’ claim to AJ, tweeting “Congrats… but we keeping (AJ).”
AJ Griffin and his dad, Adrian, were only the 2nd father-son duo ever to both play in the Rising Stars Game. @whoisAG21 | @laurenjbara pic.twitter.com/4kMHWgEEw8
— Hawks On FanDuel Sports Network (@FanDuelSN_Hawks) February 25, 2023
All NBA teams play each other at least twice every season, so there should be a couple of Griffin vs. Griffin matchups this upcoming season. (The official schedules won’t be released until later this summer.)
Besides AJ in the NBA, Griffin’s daughter Aubrey played at UConn and another of his sons, Alan, currently is playing pro ball in Puerto Rico.
8. He’s a preacher’s son
Among the multigenerational loves in the Griffin household are faith and basketball.
When Griffin was a kid, he remembers he and his brother going to the community court every Sunday to shoot around, and their dad — a preacher — would join them once he was done with work.
Putting God first is central to the Griffin family. Coach often tweets Bible verses. AJ Griffin’s Twitter bio opens with “GOD FIRST.” This mindset may have helped Griffin seem like a good fit in Milwaukee, as Giannis, Bobby Portis, Middleton and Holiday are all open about their faiths.
9. The stars know this guy
Giannis & Co. aren’t the only superstars who know Griffin personally. Besides the stars he’s coached in Toronto (like Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Lowry) and elsewhere (like Russell Westbrook in OKC), Griffin was head coach of Team World stars including Dončić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during the 2020 All-Star Weekend, and in 2014 was an assistant coach for Steph Curry, James Harden and Kyrie Irving en route to a FIBA World Cup gold medal.
