On May 15, Beijing time, the Bucks officially announced that the team fired three assistant coaches, DJ Barker, Sidney Dobner, and Josh Oppenheimer. The three assistant coaches worked on Griffin's coaching staff and remained in the company after Griffin's dismissal.
Many people are relatively unfamiliar with the other two teaching assistants, but Josh Oppenheimer's name is already familiar. Oppenheimer started out as an assistant coach with the Bucks, was poached by the Rockets' coaching staff in the 16-17 season, and then went to the Development League to coach the Long Island Nets. In the 20-21 season, he was rehired by Budenholzer and Antetokounmpo to coach the Bucks.
According to Shams of The Athletic, the Bucks' firing of Josh Oppenheimer came as a surprise to the NBA coaching community. "No one thinks the Bucks will fire Oppenheimer because he is known to be the most respected coach of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was the player development coach under then-head coach Larry Drew during Antetokounmpo's first season in the NBA (and the Bucks). Over the years, Antetokounmpo and Oppenheimer have developed a special bond, especially in the early days when the then-up-and-coming star entered the league, with the latter helping the former adjust to the NBA environment. Shams said.
The whole league knows the close relationship between Oppenheimer and Brother Alphabet, did the Bucks not consider Brother Alphabet's feelings when making this move, and Oppenheimer has a high prestige in the team, and he has a lot of experience in the development of young players.
In response, Stein revealed more information, according to sources, the Bucks fired the three assistant coaches mainly on the advice of head coach Rivers, who hopes to assemble his own coaching team in the offseason.
Rivers is a veritable "dump" coach, and while he doesn't explicitly point out that the current coaching staff is incompetent, he clearly believes that all three assistant coaches are to blame for the first-round playoff exits. Bucks management also doesn't want to think that Rivers' regular-season win rate has plummeted since Rivers coached the All-Star Game, could this also make the assistant coach take the blame?
It's worth mentioning that just after losing to the Pacers in the first round, Rivers was asked by reporters if the team would be disappointed if they didn't win the championship, Rivers said: "Obviously, there is nothing we can do about it because of the injury, we can't win the game with the injury, the team will be really disappointed." Rivers took the blame away, and his dissatisfaction with the letter brother (playoff reimbursement) was revealed everywhere.
The Bucks have been on a downward spiral since winning the championship three years ago, and in addition to the impact of injuries, it is also related to the frequent change of head coaches, and the Bucks should cut Rivers as soon as possible if they want to return to the championship ranks.