Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Bucks’ dismissal of Adrian Griffin | Press Conference | 1.24.24

Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Bucks’ dismissal of Adrian Griffin | Press Conference | 1.24.24

You’ve been through coaching changes before um just kind of how do you react when you find out that news and how how do you try to comprehend Building from here um you know obviously it’s tough um you know you build a relationship with people um and all of a sudden boom them

You know they’re not here um for a coach like Griff I think from day one was everything was about togetherness was always leading this group um you know into the direction that we set in the beginning of the year and him not being here at the end of the day you

Know like we’re human it’s it it hurts everybody but I then got to keep on moving forward we have a goal in our head which is to be the best basketball team that we can be uh obviously there’s a lot of high expectation uh from the ownership group from the front office

From ourselves um to be great and this is this is the business of the NBA you know I’ve been in a situation like that in the past I understand how things works I got to keep on moving forward today Joe PR is our our head coach uh we

Played a very very good game and guess a very very good team that we lost by 40 a week ago and tomorrow Coach P is going to be our coach again we going to watch film we going going to let Coach uh Joe lead us in uh towards the direction that we’ve

Set as I said in the beginning of the year and um going try to be better um I think 38 games left as whoever comes in to to coach you guys just as you’re count like trying to think of the idea of getting ready in 38

Games with a new coach for a playoff run do you feel like that’s enough time to to mesh in the way that you need to to kind of prepare for for a stretch run that’s a very good question um at the end of the day I I am not in

Meetings that’s being taking place with I don’t know who ultimately makes a decision like that probably the GM and the the owners um at this time I don’t know if there’s going to be a coach uh that’s going to come and uh take over so I don’t want to

Make assumptions that there’s going to be a coach obviously there’s um a lot of media Outlets out there that have uh put some names out there but uh as I said today my coach is Joe priny and I got to respect him I got to respect that and

Um I cannot assume that we’re going to have you know uh in the near future another another coach when that happened I can uh I can you know comment about that more 38 games also do I know if it’s going to be enough no I don’t know I’ve never been

In a position like that before I don’t know if 38 games enough to come together and uh try to win the a championship so I don’t know we’ll see we’ll see how how how it goes but at the end of the day like we we play the game

Players play the game uh we get we get into game together Chris is dunking the ball all of a sudden dunk last game dun this game I don’t know what’s going on um I made the three this game last game too like we just switching roles

Like I think I mean Chris milon is in my body actually no I’m mean Chris milon nobody he’s in my body now I’m joking but um players players play the game you know and and at times we we need direction but at the end of the day our

Talent will take over and we we’re going to read the play we’re going to make the best uh possible decision um and I think we’ve played the a season that guys have been healthy we’ve played a lot of minutes together like me and D we’ve played 40 something games together

And we going to play 70 80 who knows but we on the court together me Chris D Brook like we on the court so we playing good or bad sometimes we lose sometimes we win um sometimes sometimes we we don’t play well sometimes we play

Well but it’s good that we are out there together now who’s going to come and give us that direction um in the future I don’t know right now I know the D the guy’s giving us direction is Coach Joe and uh today he was he was incredible uh was able to

Get a win we play them again on Friday hopefully we can get a win again um John John was up there pregame and said one of the factors behind the decision was he felt there’s another level the team there’s a gear um this team can be better and I know you just

Said players play so I guess I’m curious where do you think uh this change can help you play better as a group and get to a different level because that’s that’s why JN said they made the change so I’m curious how you feel that can

Help help you all the the change yes the change I don’t know um you got to I think Jim you got to ask John I do believe like I can break it down and you know go from defense offense from my chemistry from the way we practice from

Our our our level of uh Focus you know when we go out there like there’s a lot of things that we can do better from a Twan game with me and day more for uh me and Chris to also connect more from posting up brou like there’s so many

Things from not giving up a lot of thre is like you know uh today we were trying to do Sam went off but okay um there’s a lot of things that we can do better so I’ll probably assume maybe I’m not sure you got that he’s uh referring to those

Things um early in the year you had said you have a partnership with Adrien yes um obviously now a change has been made he’s no longer the head coach I’m just curious how you what you felt about that partnership and I don’t want to say that

It didn’t work cuz yall are 17 games over 500 but it’s obviously a change was made so I’m just curious how you felt about that time together with him feel like he did unbelievable job I’m not going to lie that Reg speak for for itself did the unbelievable job you know

He was a great person easy to talk to um you felt this um feeling of how can I say uh easiness when you were around him um you know I had main conversation with him I had conversation I talked with him yesterday you Know the record speak for yourself like he was 30 and 13 you know and at the end of the day this this is the NBA and sometimes like decisions are made um people you know it’s it’s a hard job man I I want like I feel I feel and I

Hope everybody that came to the podium today and everybody that spoke about this situation gave coach Griff like his props and his credit like at the end of the day he’s a head coach he’s going to be around the league for a long time we going going to see him probably in the

Near future uh he’s going to try to come after us he going he knows all my weaknesses and my strength now uh but at the end of the day like you know this is the NBA and um sometimes um people think that when you win by four

You got to win by 12 funny and when you lose a game you got to win a game and uh it’s it’s hard um but I didn’t day I trust the you know the ownership decision I trust the front office um they’ve never uh they’ve never did me

Did me wrong in the past they’ve always created a a great um atmosphere a great culture a winning culture they always did whatever was the best for the team and for us to be in a position to win so you just got to do the same thing here

You just got to you just got to trust that this is the best decision for me and the guys and um and we just got to go with it trust that’s it but um at the end of the day me personally I don’t know about other people opinion um I believe

Coach Griff was incredible person incredible coach and um for me he’s I’m going to always stay in touch with him John had said that he didn’t consult with any players before decided to make this before making this decision were you caught by surprise by it did you

Sense there might be some sort of change coming with the trade deadline approaching or was this kind of Catch You by surprise no I think he caught me by surprise um I’ve been here 11 years this have happened one time before uh and I think the time that that

Happened wasn’t doing really well um we were we were 30 you know 13 13 but again like trust like I I got to trust the front office I got to trust the ownership group um that they can see the bigger picture my job is to be the best version of myself to lead

The um this team out there and help win games and their job is to you know create the best team uh possible and the best Atmos around the team possible I know that they believe that he can give give us a better chance to win a championship

Um but yeah I do I do think it was it was a surprise yeah it’s another triple double tonight you’ve kind of been racking them up lately how would you kind of assess your playmaking is it do you think you’ve made improvements lately or is it just guys knocking down shots taking

Advantage of the spacing um I think I don’t I don’t know I think I think it’s a mixture of both I think um I’ve been willing to pass the ball uh more and try to find my teammates and guys have been knocking down shots like pad knock down um Jay Malik chis like

Everybody was knocking down shots so uh I think it’s a combination of both but at the end of the day like in order for you to be successful there’s got to be a mixture of both like I got got I got to be aggressive but when guys are open I got

To deliver the ball to them the same way because vice versa you know like when they coming down and I’m running next to them in the transition they got to you know pass me the ball to playm or try to throw foul get in the pain because both

Ways we got to got to trust one another out there and uh I feel like lately I’ve been I’ve understand that you know you we need everybody to be great in order for us to win we need to knock down shots in order for us to win and

Um I’ve been more I think more willing lately to you know make the right pass and they’ll be KN down shots for sure this is more of a personal question and it might be too soon but I wondered if you learned anything out of this or if you’re re-evaluating anything because

This was the first time I think you were involved at the interview process with coach and whether it’s accurate to this degree or not a lot of people think that this was your hire um and I don’t know to what degree but sometimes players say

I don’t want to get involved with the GM side I don’t want to give feedback other times players say this is my team I’m very invested have you had a chance to even think about that or is that maybe a long term um this is this is the thing

That I don’t like about the NBA like uh it’s it’s it’s a crazy business you know yesterday coach Griff was a head coach today he’s not you know and we walk in there and um it’s like he was never here like I don’t like that about

N NBA and I’ll you know speak openly about it uh but I understand it’s it’s you know it’s business you know people being traded people being waved you know uh people have to change their whole life just like that um and out there people creating a narrative that’s not accurate but I’m a

Person that I really try not to follow and try I refuse to fall into the bubble of oh this is accurate this is not accurate and because always there’s going to be something out there about me about the team you know oh uh he didn’t had a good relationship with Griff uh

False I love the guy I invited him to my wedding you know uh I talked with him I was coached by him and we did very very very well um in in in a position like that you have to understand that when somebody’s being hired um at times the G might come

And ask like what do you think about that what do you think about this or whatever you you like not just me my players people that he trust the the advice uh uh but at times they they make it seem like it’s the players are making the decision that this guy got traded

Because this he wanted him and he like no you know I have a job like my job is to be the best version that I can be and try to lead this team to win games that’s like that’s why I get paid I don’t get paid to change people’s life and make people

People are comfortable I get paid to defend black sh like you you then I try to stick to that as much as as much as I can because I understand like I don’t like that aspect of it um and there’s people that get paid a lot of money to

Make those decisions and those decisions are hard are hard you know and I got to respect also you know uh John because he it’s it’s hard it’s not it’s not easy um but again I mean personally I don’t want to be involved in that I don’t like

That uh you know have I been in a position to be asked what do you think about that or what you think about this yeah many times uh but I was not involved in the you know hiring of coach Griff you know I felt it was a you know attack

With him the same way I attack with Coach bad but nobody said I was involved in you know hiring coach bad because I was a kid but of course they of course they ask what do you think about this guy I think he’s a great guy he looks

Like a good guy to me you know what you think was Co everybody are good people but ultimate I don’t I don’t make that decision lordy don’t get me wrong I wish I did you know I wish I did but I don’t don’t I I I I really I really don’t I

Just try to stick with basketball hey yanis just obviously you’ve walked us through all the emotions and everybody else has about through the last 24 hours or so but just what can you say about the team’s ability to come together and focus against a tough opponent in Cleveland

And get the job done tonight and then how can you how do you view that as a momentum um moving forward Cleveland great team they’ve been playing very very well lately uh a week ago the BS by 40 uh we played them again on

Friday uh at the end of the day with all the news that happened yesterday I think like the guys came in and on like we have to we have to be one we have to become one and there was a lot of people that you know spoke up and say either

This going to tear us apart and we just going to like oh okay we’re going to make excuses this happened that happened and this is taking place uh and for us not to do what we are what we are here to do or we’re going to come together

And we we going to try to be better from this and I feel like guys did that you know from the start of the game especially against Cleveland like when Cleveland starts games they start really really hard really really fast they move the ball attack you shoot threes you

Know they did it in Cleveland I did in the first game they did against Orlando like that’s what they do like once they feel like or um TP T into the game they will take advantage of that and I feel like everybody urgency was up uh we

Played I think very a very very solid game everybody moved the ball Dame was being aggressive stick with it through throughout throughout the whole game you know we were defending um I think everybody played played a solid game we came together and I hope we can we can keep on on this

Pace on Friday

Giannis speaks to media following Wednesday’s game.

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