“Shock” would probably be a good word to describe the initial reaction of most folks once it was reported that the Milwaukee Bucks had decided to part ways with head coach Adrian Griffin. Not only did the Bucks own the second-best record in the Eastern Conference (38-10), but they were also coming off back-to-back wins.
Simply put, not too many saw this sudden turn of events coming.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Damian Lillard Reacts to Adrian Griffin Firing
As a matter of fact, even Bucks superstar Damian Lillard was not expecting all this to go down so quickly. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday following Milwaukee’s statement win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lillard admitted that he too was taken aback the moment he found out that Griffin was fired:
“There has been a lot of expectation of our team. Things have been expected to look a certain way,” Lillard said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “We’ve kind of had a bumpy road to our success, which is sometimes a part of the process, but like I said, I was surprised. It is part of the game. People get traded, people get waived, people get fired and it’s never something you want to see.”
Lillard has been around for quite a bit now. Through the years, he’s been through these types of situations many times. In fact, even he had to bid farewell to his beloved Portland Trail Blazers this past summer after 11 years with the team.
Nevertheless, as he said, this doesn’t make things any easier when they actually happen.
“As a person, you never want to witness somebody having to go through that and experience that and pick up their life and just move on to the next thing because at the end of the day we all go home to our personal time and our personal lives and we deal with our emotions and our experiences so you don’t wish that on nobody,” Dame continued. “… ‘Griff’ was a great dude. I enjoyed being around him. He was very accommodating to me and a lot of my personal situation, so I appreciate him and I appreciate the time that we had together.”
That time, unfortunately, was short-lived. Griffin got himself dismissed after just half a season and the 49-year-old will now be hoping that his next opportunity is just around the corner.
As Lillard said, we all wish Coach Griff the best of luck.
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