1 Proof That The Milwaukee Bucks are Already Feeling Postive Effect of Shocking Adrian Griffin Firing

The Milwaukee Bucks are still sub-.500 since they let go of Adrian Griffin, but they are already seeing some positive signs that they are moving in the direction they expected to go when they made the shocking decision to fire him. The dismissal of Griffin was said to be partly because the Bucks’ defense was not performing according to its true potential. One stat, however, shows that Milwaukee is improving on that side of the floor in the early phase of the Post Adrian Griffin Era.

The Bucks’ defensive rating in their last six games (since Griff got fired) is 112.5 and 8th in the NBA over that span. Small sample size, but some early promising returns.

Can the Milwaukee Bucks Keep Improving on Defense?

That defensive rating is significantly better than the Bucks dRTG in the entire 2023-24 NBA regular season so far. Through the season, the Bucks are just 19th in the league with a 116.2 defensive rating. Moreover, the Bucks are 23rd in the league with 119.9 points surrendered per contest.

The departure of two-way star and elite defender Jrue Holiday in the offseason and the arrival of the offensively potent but seemingly liability on defense in Damian Lillard have both been pointed out as reasons for the drop-off in the quality of the Milwaukee Bucks’ defense. That being said, it appears that the Bucks are starting to turn the corner on defense.