The relationship between Terry Stotts and Adrian Griffin was “tenuous,” sources tell Shams Charania and Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
Stotts abruptly stepped down as assistant coach of the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
“It caught all of us off guard, of course, but again, you just support him,” Griffin said. “He was a terrific guy. I learned a lot from him in a very short time. He was really good at what he does. He made a decision – a personal decision – and we just have to respect that.”
Stotts and Griffin had an incident during Tuesday’s shootaround in Oklahoma City. When Griffin wrapped up the shootaround, he informed the coaches he wanted to have a separate huddle with them once they wrapped up with the players. When the players and coaches broke the huddle, Stotts went in the opposite direction and walked toward players to discuss the offense. Stotts attempted to start a conversation with Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Griffin called Stotts to join the coaching huddle and then yelled at Stotts when he asked for some time with the players.
“It kind of came out of nowhere,” Lillard said. “I’ve been in this league long enough to know that these types of things happen. Everything continues, so you’ve got to kind of process things like this and other things that may come up and continue to move forward. For me, knowing Terry as long as I’ve known him – playing for him for nine years and him also making this transition for me easier just having a familiar face be such a huge part of it – was a good thing. I think now that I’m settled in, to see him go is unfortunate. It’s sad to see him go, but like I said, everything is still moving forward.”