'Adrian Griffin never had a voice': ESPN's Kendrick Perkins reacts to Milwaukee Bucks firing head coach

The Milwaukee Bucks sent shockwaves across the NBA world on Tuesday when they fired Adrian Griffin after just 43 games into his first season as head coach.

"Did they fire their head coach before the all-star break?" ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins asked on "SportsCenter" Tuesday afternoon. "That’s what you’re telling me? A team that’s 30-13."

While such a decision might seem surprising for a team that is in second place in the Eastern Conference standings and is tied for the second-best record in all of the NBA, Perkins said it's really not that much of a shock.

"The writing has been on the wall since the start of the season," said Perkins, a former NBA player. "When you look at the Bucks defense it has been horrible. So bad that when I’m watching the game with my kids I make them go to bed cause I don’t want them to see that type of defensive effort."

The Bucks' defense has been among the worst all season, a stunning development given where they were under previous head coach Mike Budenholzer. The Bucks, in 2023-24, have the 25th ranked scoring defense and are ranked 22nd of 30 teams in defensive rating.

Griffin was hired after being a career assistant to lead a roster full of veterans and with a championship or bust mindset.

"Adrian Griffin never had a voice and never had the locker room from the start of training camp and now we’re seeing this happening, which is still surprising," Perkins claimed.

Where do they go from here, Perkins asked?

Well, he says the Bucks should tap his former coach Doc Rivers, who led the Boston Celtics to an NBA championship in 2008. According to reports, Rivers, a Marquette University alum who was fired as the Philadelphia 76ers head coach after last season, is on the short list of candidates the Bucks will pursue.

"They got to search the market. Doc Rivers, for example, that’s got the championship pedigree," Perkins said. "But you got to bring someone in that has a championship pedigree. Someone Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to listen to. You can’t bring in an assistant (Griffin was never a head coach until this season). You can’t bring in a guy that’s never coached in the NBA before. You cannot do that and expect the Bucks to be successful. And them being successful is going to the NBA Finals and winning it all."

Is that still possible given the trajectory of the team's defense, which is magnified in the playoffs?

"I believe so," Perkins said. "They still have their core players that they won a championship with outside of Jrue Holiday. They still have one of best duos in Giannis and Dame. You bring in the right voice that's going to demand the respect, speak their language, hold them accountable, you'll see a change."

More: Here are all the head coaches in Milwaukee Bucks history

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Adrian Griffin fired as Bucks coach not a shock, Kendrick Perkins says