I don't necessarily disagree, but my understanding (from seeing takes from people who know more than me) is also that they've also attempted some changes in their defensive scheme that have failed and are at least part of the reason for the worse defense, even beyond the worse perimeter defenders.
NBA: ***2023-24 NBA season***
- Thread starter JP4CY
- Start date
Ultimately the perimeter D is the problem. Griffin wanted to play aggressive, ball-pressure, man-to-man D. They probably could do that with Holiday and Allen (two players the Bucks had on the roster when they hired a coach who had this defensive philosophy).
Unfortunately, 5 months after they fired Budenholzer and hired this guy, they decided to trade Holiday and Allen and pick up Lillard, who is a huge defensive liability. It was just a stupid trade, partially (mostly) done to make a splash and retain Giannis.
For the record, I don’t think they should have fired Budenholzer for Griffin either.
I agree that perimeter defense is the problem, but I think it's perfectly fine to place at least as much blame on Griffin for not being willing or able to adapt to the personnel. It's a bit crazy, but the Bucks' defensive rating with Lillard on-court is actually better than their rating with Giannis and Lopez on-court and Lillard off, which shows that Lillard might not be the absolute centerpiece of the issues.
(Last season, the Giannis/Lopez on and Holiday off defensive rating was 110. Right now, the Giannis/Lopez on and Lillard off defensive rating is 125.)
I'd agree that they shouldn't have fired Budenholzer for Griffin, though I was okay with them firing Budenholzer at first because I thought the obvious choice was Nick Nurse. For the Lillard trade, I don't think it was bad in a vacuum--it was a calculated risk that having another go-to guy to rely on offensively in the playoffs would outweigh the defensive downgrade. However, their inability to adapt and inability to replace role players really escalated the challenges they were already going to have.
First, that is a great site! Thank you for sharing. I do agree that Griffin isn’t blameless because he hasn’t adapted to the players that he has.
I just put it on the GM/management most because they hired a coach with that defensive philosophy, and then promptly traded two of his best perimeter defenders away in Holiday and Allen.
I thought that Lillard trade had disaster written all over it from the beginning. I understand they hoped the trade off of D versus getting a second star would be worth it. But that clearly hasn’t been the case. And I fundamentally believe the Bucks made that trade to try and keep Giannis long term. It wasn’t made with the goal of putting together a complementary team.
I don't get this one at all...they should not have opened that job at the end of last season...and now they do this? Yikes!
I love the season Embiid is having but it’s absolutely gross how he keeps dodging Jokic when they play in denver.
Lakers getting hosed.
Obvious flagrant not called on Green end of regulation.
End of 2nd OT Green with moving screen to get Curry an open 3.
James takes it to the basket, makes 2 FTs to win by one.
Obvious flagrant not called on Green end of regulation.
End of 2nd OT Green with moving screen to get Curry an open 3.
James takes it to the basket, makes 2 FTs to win by one.
Complete joke. He’s missed 12 games this year and I believe 9 of them were against teams in playoff contention. 9 of them also were on the road. He was too scared he didn’t even come to sit in the bench with his team until late in the 4th quarter.
Dude will never win anything but individual awards. Such a weak competitor. Ducks real competition and disappears in the playoffs
