Adrian Griffin is annoying, part 21.
I'm done talking about AJJ's inexcusable lack of a role in every post game thread. If he's hurt why play him even a minute. If he's not, get him on the f***ing floor. Oops there I go again.
The defense being a complete and utter dumpster fire, with no real effort to fix in sight, was laughably exposed when Griffin decided his base would be 2-3 zone against the Pacers last night. You have to be f***ing kidding me.
Not sure if anyone has posted Nehm's latest from The Athletic:
https://theathletic.com/5100682/2023/12/07/giannis-dame-bucks-pick-and-roll/?access_token=6070272#Overall a fantastic article. He basically suggests that the Bucks should be spamming the Dame/Giannis pick and role and haven't to this point with any regularity despite the early returns being off the charts. Griffin's response is comedy gold. So this is now a head coach who thought Brook and Bobby defending 30 feet from the rim was a good idea until the team had to tell him it wasn't. And offensively he doesn't want to spam the pick and role with two of the best offensive players of all time because "reasons." Tough start for this guy.
During Adrian Griffin’s first year in Milwaukee, the Bucks have not emphasized the Antetokounmpo-Lillard pick-and-roll in the way many expected heading into the season. That has not been the base of the Bucks’ offense. Rather than build their offense around that connection, Griffin has tried to assemble an offensive game plan that includes as many of the players as possible.
“I think you want to be a well-balanced team as well because we do have other weapons,” Griffin told The Athletic on Nov. 30 before the Bucks played the Chicago Bulls, when asked why the Bucks haven’t heavily emphasized the Antetokounmpo-Lillard pick-and-roll combination. “I know Dame and Giannis get a lot of the attention — and rightly so — but you want to have somewhat of a free-flowing offense at times, where the ball doesn’t get stagnant.
“But the go-to is definitely going to be the pick-and-rolls. When we need a basket, you’re going to put those two in action. You’re going to put Khris in there too. But it’s always five men on the offensive end as well. So, you know I’m a big believer in getting some movement, but get the ball back into the hands of the guys like Dame and Giannis that know what to do with it.”
And while Griffin talked about leaning on that pick-and-roll combination as a go-to play before the game, that just hasn’t been the case in most games thus far this season. For example, just a few hours after speaking with The Athletic, the Bucks ran an Antetokounmpo-Lillard pick-and-roll twice in the final five minutes of regulation as the Bucks tried to make a comeback against the Bulls that night and then only once in the five-minute overtime period.
“Just figuring out the dynamics, it just takes time. It’s gradually going up,” Griffin said. “I think, [in] the last two games, we have the highest pick-and-roll frequency for our team and Dame and Giannis. I knew it was going to take a little bit of time. And that’s all it is, building the chemistry with each other. I think, on my part, it’s just if if I need to call plays to kind of manufacture a little bit more, but they’re learning, in the flow of the game, to play off each other, and I think that’s the biggest thing.“
