Fred VanVleet shouts out Adrian Griffin after Bucks hire Raptors coach

The Toronto Raptors are flipping their coaching staff upside down this offseason. Not only is Nick Nurse looking for his next gig after getting fired, but the Raptors will also lose top assistant Adrian Griffin. After being with Toronto since 2018, Griffin was named head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.

While this hire could throw a wrench into Toronto’s own coaching search, as Griffin was considered a legitimate contender to replace Nurse, the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo was so adamant about hiring Griffin shows how locked in Milwaukee was on the idea of hiring Griffin.

While some coaching candidates (looking at you, JJ Redick and Steve Nash) can move right into the premier coaching jobs without having cut their teeth as an assistant, Griffin has put in a ton of hard time on the bench. Fred VanVleet is very happy that his hard work managed to pay off.

VanVleet said that Griffin getting hired was “well deserved” when he gave the former Raptors assistant his congratulations on Twitter. It’s hard to land in a better situation as a first-time coach than Griffin did in Milwaukee, thanks to their star-laden complementary roster.

Raptors’ Fred VanVleet congratulated Adrian Griffin.

Griffin has been a coach non-stop since retiring as a player in 2008. After getting his start in Milwaukee, Griffin’s coaching career includes stops with Derrick Rose’s Bulls and Kevin Durant’s last few seasons with the Thunder. Griffin came to Toronto in 2018 under Dwane Casey.

Griffin was considered a candidate for the Great Danny Ainge Draft Pick Project down with the Utah Jazz, and the Detroit Pistons showed a degree of interest in him early in the process. Waiting for the right opportunity helped Griffin land a job coaching arguably the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Griffin will get to implement Nurse-adjacent schemes with some of the best personnel for the job. Giannis is obviously the main reason this job is desirable, but the 1-2 punch of Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton and names like Bobby Portis and Brook Lopez (potentially) supporting him is very enticing for a coach.

VanVleet knows as well as anyone that Griffin is worthy of being a coach in this league, and the Bucks are trying to see just how good of a coach he will be. It may not work, but he deserves his opportunity after being the second in command for so many years with so many teams.