Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks had it good in 2021, sitting on top of the basketball world as NBA champions. But just two years later, they fired their championship-winning head coach, Mike Budenholzer.
Soon afterwards, they shipped out defensive ace Jrue Holiday and replaced him with Damian Lillard. Now Doc Rivers is coaching the team, despite his well-documented history of blowing leads in the playoffs.
The result has been a team that has lost its stellar defense and championship-winning formula.
And despite reports that Giannis had lost faith in Griffin and advocated for the Lillard/Holiday swap, he is clearly frustrated with how things have been going lately.
“It’s hard. It’s hard,” he said at All-Star Weekend on Sunday. “This is my fourth coach in the span of six months … Different philosophy, different game plan. It’s hard. It’s draining.
“I’m a student of the game. When somebody asks me to do something, I try to do it to the best of my ability. I try to understand what we’re trying to accomplish, both so I can understand and so I can be there for my teammates when they ask questions.”
Milwaukee was 30-13 at the time of Griffin’s firing. They have gone 3-7 since Doc Rivers took over. But Giannis maintains that he is a fan of Rivers.
“But yeah, I love working with Coach Doc,” Giannis said. “He’s been very, very successful. We can talk all day about things he’s accomplished around the league. He’s won, I think, 1,100 NBA games. Some people have never played 1,100 games.
“He brings that level of — how can I say — a championship level to the team. He won. He’s coached a lot of successful teams in the past. When you have that guy in your bench, you have to bring your A-game.”
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