"It's tough to see that happen" - Darvin Ham reacts on the firing of Adrian Griffin

Darvin says Griffin getting fired was unfortunate.

Jonas Panerio | Jan 25, 2024

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Milwaukee Bucks

Former Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham could only sympathize with Adrian Griffin, who was fired 43 games into his coaching career.

“It’s tough to see that happen, especially to one of your colleagues. A guy that I know personally, he’s a good dude, always great to me,” said Ham, who served as an assistant coach in Milwaukee before he was recruited to coach the Los Angeles Lakers.

I asked Darvin Ham about his former employe, the Milwaukee Bucks and Adrian Griffin pic.twitter.com/zKUhuzVLYA
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) January 24, 2024

Ham believes Griffin did a good job

Ham said Adrian knew what he got into when he accepted the job to coach the Bucks. As far as Ham is concerned, Griffin did his best as the coach of Milwaukee.

“He’s worked his ass off to be in that seat and also knowing the type of standard that that’s been set with that franchise in terms of what they’re striving for year in and year out and the type of moves they made to put themselves in the position to be considered a legit contender,” Ham said.

"There's been signals all throughout this four-month tenure...that led to this point." @ChrisBHaynes with the latest on the Bucks firing of Adrian Griffin pic.twitter.com/yRGLOA9SNz
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 24, 2024

Second place was not good enough

In what turned out to be a short-lived coaching stint, Griffin steered the Bucks to a 30-13 start, good for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Griffin getting fired despite what other people see as a good start for Milwaukee was just unfortunate, said Ham.

“Having said all that, my grandma always told me “when your plate is full don’t look at others”. It’s an unfortunate situation. I wish..you know it’s..continuity matters and communication matters as well and so communication, collaboration create continuity,” said Ham.

People can only speculate what really happened within the Milwaukee organization that led to Griffin’s dismissal and Ham is hoping that Griffin and the Bucks can move on quickly from this episode.

“I wasn’t there. I have no idea what transpired but they made the move they felt they had to make and I wish both parties well,” Ham ended.