#thisleague UNCUT: What really happened in Milwaukee

year coach Adrian Griffin. It took them another day roughly to hash out a deal with Doc Rivers to take over as the Bucks' new coach. We've talked a ton about the Bucks this season, but we really got to get into this now because this one was again a pretty seismic story in the NBA. We've since seen another coaching change. On Thursday, Washington announced that Wes Unsel Junior is going to be moving into a front office role.

Brian Keith has been handed the interim coaching title with the Wizards, But the first coaching change of the season happens with a team that was thirty and thirteen at the time of the move, only the Cleveland Cavaliers with

David Blatt eight years and a day earlier. Who will forget the Cavaliers ousting David Blatt and replacing him with Tearan Lu halfway through a season that saw the Cavaliers go all the way to the championship and from three to one down in the finals, erase the Cleveland curse that had lasted more than fifty years, the Cavs coming from three to one down under Tylu to win the first and only championship in franchise history in twenty sixteen.

Chris Haynes, you know the Bucks as well as anyone, So gotta get your reaction, your insight here, because look, we've talked about it a bazillion times on this show. We've been talking about it since October, since Terry Stotts abruptly left the coaching staff before we even got to opening night. But even with all the tumult and as often as we've talked about the Bucks and what they've been going through this season, there was still a huge part of me that I didn't think we were going

to see an in season coaching changed. Maybe I was too naive. Tell me where I misread.

I think he has a few years left on his deal, you know, then Adrian Griffin's salary. Then I was like, they will, they would, they would hire I was thinking to myself, they would hire another head coach, because I was thinking like, if they did hire another head coach, it would have to be a high profile coach. You're not making a I'm not gonna say a mistake, but you're not going in that same direction of hiring a

someone who's probably inexperience to high level players. So it had to be another a high profile coach, and then you have to pay him a high profile salary. So I'm like, they would pay three head coaches at the same time. I just didn't think that would happen. Well, it happened, and what I was being told and all the signs I would hear turned out to be accurate. So I say all that to say this is that it was explained to me because I didn't understand the move.

It was explained to me that when they hire Adrian Griffin Stein, you can tell me what you heard as well. When they hire Adrine Griffin. They didn't know at the time. Remember that was a higher in June of twenty twenty three. They did not know if they were going to bring back Chris Middleton. He was going to be a free agent, he had that option. They didn't know if brook Lopez was going to resign. They didn't know what Giannis was gonna do, you know, he they didn't know if he

was going to sign an extension. And then he remember Gianni's making you know, he had some comments and certain articles out there about you know, I could win here, I could win elsewhere. It's like you just didn't know where he was leaning towards, pretending to his future. So they felt very comfortable at the time hiring asan Griffin, somebody who hadn't been a head coach yet in the NBA.

And then when they had the opportunity to trade for Dame and they did, they that you know, that changed things now, so that That's the explanation that was told to me. Things changed and they got Dame, and throughout this four month's tenure that Griffin had as actually being as actually coaching, there was just there was disconnect. There was you know, I did go as far as to say that I believe he lost the locker room at one point. I think Griffin would be a really good coach.

He didn't sign up for. What he signed up for is not what he had at the latter ends of his tenure here with the Bucks, and so bestides hear me out. So I told you how it was explained to me as far as the rationale and what happened along the way. But you can make the argument that even if you didn't know what was going to happen with all those players, you know, you still got Yiannis locked up for a few years, and if you still

got Jans, you still got jew Holliday. You're still expected to compete for a championship, right, So I get that the team is probably a little bit more high profile now, the expections are a little bit higher, but you're still expected to compete for a championship. I'm just telling everybody, how was explained to me as far as the rationale of why they hired him, hired him and why they fired them, and you can read it to it how you feel. What's your tam, sir.

said it. It doesn't matter if they didn't know Middleton was resigning, if they didn't know brook Lopez was resigning, if janis Antetokumpo is on the roster, you know, oh, your season is judged as championship or bust, no matter what. And you know it's funny you talked about the kind of rumbles you've been hearing the last couple of weeks. The same thing happened to me and I wrote about this on my sub stack the other day one of my most trusted NBA informants. I always believe this person

when they tell me something too. I look back in my notes two weeks exactly before the Bucks announced that Adrian Griffin was being dismissed, My informant said Terry Stotts would be coaching this team right now if he was still there. And I said, yep, I took it on board.

But I just thought to my you know, nah, I mean the Bucks, they're not going to fire Adrian Griffin halfway through the season after they hired him, after you fire Mike Budenholzer in the wake of five re successful seasons and a championship, and they're only gonna give Adrian Griffin half a season. And I was proven right, But there ain't no victory lap because I was right by all of two games Game forty three. Two games passed the midpoint, and the Bucks went through and did it

and validated all this noise. And you know, again, like as I kind of talked about at the top on this show, we've we've talked about Terry Stotts leaving the staff before opening night, we talked about Jannis being clearly upset, subbed out of a game against Boston, a national TV

game and basically checked back in. I remember there was a reporter named Chris Haynes who reported about how Bucks players went to Adrian Griffin and urged him to receive store more of last season's defensive coverages because they didn't like the coverages that Adrian Griffin wanted to bring in. And I remember also that reporter, a certain Chris Haynes telling us after the end season tournament about how Bobby Portis registered some challenges to the first year coach after

the Bucks lost in the IST semifinals. It's been one, two, three, four. It's just been one thing after another since this thing, since since the season has started, really, and it just it is clear that he struggled. Adrian Griffin struggled to get buy in from this group as a first year coach. And it's been happening really from the jump.

head coach in this league. I couldn't have asked for a better roster. I got to coach Giannis Dame Chris Brooke. That's a dream come true. Hopefully I get another shot at it, but overall, I'm just thankful that was Adrian Griffin.

You know, the Indiana Patriers seemed that I've had their number this season. But what I want to say is after that n season tournament, I wrote about it that story for Bleacher Report, Griff called a meeting, a meeting

with Jannis, Dame, Brooke, and Chris Middleton. And the way it was told to me, Griff was challenging all of them, no hols, bar challenging them, telling them, you know, one of the challenges I can say is like getting on Dame for making the right reads, Giet giving up the ball early, getting on Janni's for not finding guys, taking on three guys at a time and transitioning and guys being open on the perimeter like he was, Like Griffin was calling guys out, challenging them, and that that session

like it was, it was allowed to Well what that session was, it was just an air and out session. Say what's wrong, Say what's wrong with me, Say what's wrong with your teammates. Let's get it all out clear, Let's get it out now. And I was told that that session lasts for about a few hours and it

was pretty productive. And you know, again the way it was explained to me is Griff was really going at him, like going out his star players, his core guys, those four and after that nd season tournament loss when they had that air and out session right after, they went on to win seven in a row, and to extend that a little bit further, they went on to win nine of their last ten. So it was a very productive session. Everybody got you know, it seemed like everybody

was buying in. But then it kind of went back downhill from there. And so I give Griff and a lot of credit. Man, he tried his best and you know, I believe he believes that he needed more time. You know, this is a new team. It takes time to to get everybody on the same page to jail. Giannis has never played with somebody like Dame. Dame's never played with somebody like Giannis. He felt like he did a good job considering all the factors that were in play.

report last Friday? You reported that the Bucks were trying to make their way into the trade chase for de Jonte Murray. And my takeaway from that is, look, the Bucks do not have many trade assets left after going out and getting Dame. But to me, the big takeaway from Milwaukee's interest in Dejonte Murray is just the desperation, just the pressure that They clearly feel that they have to make another move, even after bringing in Dame, because

of the defensive deficiencies that we've seen all season. This team's been in the bottom third of the league defensively and not again, realistically, can they trade for de Jontey Murray. It's gonna be really hard for them to trade for de Jontay Murray. But just the fact that they want to give it a try shows you they realize that things are not going the way they mapped it out. And then when they make such an abrupt coaching change, it slams home the idea that they realize this is

their big move. Realistically, they're not gonna be able to make a major trade. We know they're gonna try to do something. You've I know you've been characterizing the Bucks as they're gonna be aggressive and trying to find anything they can do, anything they can do before the deadline. But this is the move they knew they could make, as uncomfortable as it would be to make a coaching change now, and they did it.

exactly how urgent they are right now. And then again there's a window, be honest with dame, they have a window. This is a three four year window, that's about it. So you got to maximize that. And so again I wish I wish coach Adrian Griffin all the best. I

hope he can get another job, I really do. That's that's just a it's a sad situation to have to wait that long and go through the coaching process that many times before getting your first head job, and then you get a prime gig and and then you're out midway through a four year deal. That's pretty unpressed in it's tin and yeahpe hopefully he could get another shot, all right.

Janis on Tetokumpo. So the fact that Jannis liked the idea of Milwaukee hiring Griffin, there were a lot of people around the league at the time in late May

asking why, how where did this relationship come from? Well, in the months since and as things have kind of been rocky here in Milwaukee, the way it was described to me was that it was really more that Yannis did not want the Bucks to go in the direction of hiring Nick Nurse, who was very available after he left Toronto, and that rather than urged the Bucks to

hire Nick Nurse, Jannis began championing Adrian Griffin. The word that was circulating at the time was he wanted a former player, and Adrian Griffin was the most notable former player who made the latter stages of the Bucks coaching search. I think Kenny Atkinson from the Warriors was also in there. But look, this is something, this is a storyline that I don't think will be going away because Philadelphia remains in contention for the Eastern Conference crown along with Milwaukee

and Miami and of course Boston. But the Bucks really had the first lane toward hiring Nick Nurse and did not. And Nick Nurse has since gone on to Philadelphia, and you've seen the impact he's had on the Sixers as a whole, but really on Joel Embiid, who's probably playing the best basketball of his life. And this week, at the time of the firing, the Sixers were in the top five in both offense and defense, and the Bucks, while number two in offense, have again they've been twenty

one twenty two range in defensive ratings. So look, hiring Doc Rivers. Now, however they got there, does create the possibility that the Bucks can fix this. Maybe now they have the coach they feel is the right coach who can steer this team into championship contention. And look, Doc Rivers has no shortage of critics around the league because of his player of shortcomings over the past decade plus.

But look, I think Doc Rivers is going to very quickly get player buy in in Milwaukee, the player buy in that Adrian Griffin did not get. But I mean, this story just has so many layers. And like I said, we've been going now for a good fifteen minutes maybe more, and we've barely even talked about Doc.

when I mean a bunch, I'll say it handful. So about five players star players. They called me and they asked me about Doc Rivers and they were like, man like, Doc, get these jobs. And my response to him or to them was who else would you hire? Because you have to understand what this Bucks team they are. It is desperation, it is urgent of the highest degree. You have to hire.

They just let go of Ad and Griffin, and I think a large reason why was due to inexperience, regardless of why they hired them in the first place, whatever, But you have to bring in somebody with some cache, with some experience, who's with some experience, who has spent time coaching superstars, handling egos, handling personalities, handling depth because when you when you're handling depth like that's why you

got to give ty Lou credit. Not only is he one of the best exit and os coaches, but he understands how to handle depth because then you're you're dealing with personalities, You're dealing with egos because you're limiting their minute distribution, and you have to you have to work through all of that. So who else is out there? Like? And that's why you know, and nobody could come up with a name. And this is what I was told. The Bucks were looking at, Doc Rivers, Jeff Van Gundy,

Nate McMillan. It was a very short list, very short list. And if you're talking about those names, I know people hate hearing about recycled coaches, But who else is out there that's available with that experience that can come in to the locker room from day one and command the respect of these players? You know, you can talk about it, but you could talk about not liking the move or Doc's getting all these opportunities, But okay, who else is

out there? Nobody can give me a name? How do you feel about that stund how you feel about like? Who else is out look?

was the obvious choice. If you're going to do something like this, I'm with you. I think he was really the only choice at this point, because, look, he can't change that personnel. The Bucks are still going to have defensive issues with the roster they have. But can he run more pick and roll with Giannis and Dame, something we have not seen as much of as some pundits anticipated. Can he, first of all, just get that group on the same page. I think he can, and I think

he will. One more thing about the Bucks, at least for now. We will underline for now, because I don't think we're going to be done talking Bucks for a while here as Doc Rivers gets settled in there. Certainly the microscope will stay trained on the Bucks and how

they react to this coaching change. But Milwaukee as a franchise has faced some additional criticism this week because it's been reported that in the month or so before Adrian Griffin's dismissal, the Bucks reached out to Doc Rivers to ask him to serve as a coaching consultant to Adrian Griffin,

and that has certainly raised eyebrows. It has led to suggestions that Doc was angling for this job before it was open, and my issue with that is, I mean, I I've heard repeatedly since the season started how much Doc was enjoying the TV life, the media life. I really don't think he was desperate to get back into

coaching this season. I felt like the consistent rumbles out there were that, you know, Doc, of course he was gonna come back and take a job eventually, but that a year off to do TV, to play golf and get some respite from the daily madness was not an idea of it. He didn't love the sound of I think he did love the sound of that, and now he is back in the hot seat again. What's been your take on all that chatter.

the bucks new coach. You know, we've John Horst held a press conference on Wednesday after the Adrian Griffin dismissal and Joe Prunty coaching the Bucks as the interim coach. But we still have to hear from Doc Rivers, and again we will rest assured. We are not done talking about the Bucks of Milwaukee. They will remain very much in the news, and as you've been saying, they will. You know, they're a team that still wants to try

to do something at this deadline. So let's see if they can still make a move of some sort to try to spruce up the roster as well. All Right, We're gonna move on now to some All Star discussion because the All Star starters were announced on this Thursday night. As Chris and I record, and look, we can go in a zillion different directions. We've now officially passed the midpoint of the twenty twenty three to twenty four regular season.

We will most certainly be getting back to trade season, just under three weeks away from the trade buzzer promise that upcoming episodes will have lots of trade talk and almost anniversary time for US. January thirtieth, twenty twenty three was the date of the first edition of this league, uncut, and so we are getting very close to our one year anniversary, which is a stunning development in itself that we made it this far. But let's talk all stars.

All joking aside, let's talk all stars. The starters were announced tonight. I mean, I wasn't terribly surprised by the results, but I guess it to on how you want to look at things in the Eastern Conference, zero surprise in the East front court, janas Antetokumpo, Joe l Embiid Jason Tatum are your three East starters. The backcourt Tyrese Halliburton

for the hometown Indiana Pacers hosts of the event. And then I guess this is where the surprise element such as it was, came in Damian Lillard, yanas Antokumpo's teammate from the Milwaukee Bucks, he gets the other starting spot in the East, ahead of New York's Jalen Brunson. I'm sure Brunson is disappointed, but I think without question Brunson will be selected by East coaches next week for his

first All Star appearance. And amazingly, for Damian Lillard, I believe this will be the first time he ever starts in the All Star YEP, which that did catch me a bit off guard. In the West, your starters in the front court Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant and a certain thirty nine year old named Lebron James. And then in the backcourt. Again, I'm not shocked by this because remember voting is now fifty percent fans, but also twenty five percent media and twenty five percent players. For the All Stars.

Shay Gilgis Alexander joins Luka Doncic as a starter in the West backcourt, which means Stephan Curry is not a starter, and that's mostly down to the fact that Steph slipped to number four in the media vote. But again I'm not hugely surprised there because Golden State struggles at nineteen and twenty two. Entering Thursday night's play again, not a massive surprise to me at least that he would slip some among media voters and open the door for SGA

to barge into the starting lineup. But you've heard me prattle on enough. Chris Haynes, what was your reaction to the East and West starters?

to the current time, I didn't see it. I still felt like, yes, when you're talking about the players in the media, they're largely going to vote for who's playing well that that season. You can bank on them. Media more so probably could bank on them to kind of get it right. Fan voting is fan voting. But I still thought what the popular is Steph is popular among his peers. I still thought Steph could get in via the fan excuse me, via the player vote. I didn't

think media would. So as I look through this, excuse me, I'm in the East right now. So as I look through this, oh, you already said yes, Steph got and player ranking. Player vote he was third, and media he was fourth.

that's going to theoretically give Brunson an advantage. But I think it speaks to the fact that Damian Lillard, no matter what jersey he's wearing, Portland, Milwaukee, whatever, Damian Lillard is still a very very popular player. And the fan vote clearly proved that.

he only let me see fan voting he was? Why is why was he fifth in fan voting in the New York market? Why is that? Does market size mean anything?

should get to see who they want to see. And so I what, you know, I'm always you know, supporting various changes in tweaks to the NBA system and they should change this, and they should change that, and they said they should fix this, but you know, all stars starters.

To me, the fact that it is now fifty percent fan vote instead of one hundred percent fan vote, Like, that's not one that I was really clamoring for, just speaking purely for myself, because to me, you know, the fans want to see who they want to see, and I don't typically tend to quibble with that. But because it is fifty twenty five twenty five now instead of just one hundred percent fan vote, we're able to dissect these results even more and really put them under the

microscope and try to figure out what it all means. Yeah, I mean, I'm you know again, neither one of these floored me. But you would have thought if Brunson only needed a higher fan vote placing to get that starting spot, that he probably would have.

We're not looking at who is the who whose game we like the best. It's about who's happened the best season that particular year. And then you have the players and put now Stein Ben Simmons has two votes by the players, Josh Hart has four votes. I can go on and on. I would encourage everybody to go look at the results, look at.

next week. And there's a lot like look at this list. These votes are spread throughout the league of guys who haven't played, guys that's not in the rotation. God, you know, what I'm saying. So it's like, I know players talk about having input in and listen, you can say it's a small sample size because they still have you know, they still had the right guys that overall they had

the right guys in as starters. But there's a lot of votes just spread out and that you're just throwing them away in which those votes could be difference makers. And so I'm like, man, if y'all not gonna take it seriously, ah, I don't know. I don't know, am I making too big of a deal of.

respective All Star ballots as starters. And to me, that looks like pretty smart analysis by the media as a whole to recognize guys who played at a really, really, really elite level. Obviously, the media is choosing starters, or is theoretically at least choosing starters based on who they think is playing the best and most impactful basketball in the league. So yeah, you know, the media is constantly branded as not the best judge of talent in these circumstances.

And I think when you see the voting results and we get these various player names, various guys getting All Star votes that clearly should not, it lets you know why the league keeps asking the media to vote on so many things, because nobody's going to do it perfect. Whoever is voting, people are going to take issue with it. If it was one hundred percent at fan vote, people would sit here and complain about player A, B or C being left off. When the coaches pick the reserves,

we're going to have a huge discussion about snubs. It's the way it always is, no matter who's doing the voting. But I think history shows that the media as a collective is quite responsible and tries to bring the most objective lens to this as you can, and of course I'm saying it as biased as you possibly can as a member of the media, but again, look at the results. I think Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson do have very strong cases to be All Star starters.

But year after year with the players voting, we see some wild votes cast let's.

I have not yet been apprized of Chris Haynes's travel schedule for next week, whether he's working one or two games on the TNT sidelines, but we're gonna work around whatever travel is thrown his way to bring you two episodes.

of this league uncut. We will wait till after you cover that Bucks at Blazers game, because I know your notebook will be bursting after that trip to the Pacific Northwest.

back with you next week with two more editions. Cannot believe this humble little enterprise is turning two years old. Thank you producer Ryan, Thank you mister Haynes for carrying me. We'll all be back with you. Very soon, and that'll do it for us.