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NBA ALL-STAR 2020February 14, 2020Adrian GriffinPhil HandyChicago, Illinois - Rising Stars USA 151 - World 131 Q. Griff, you've had a lot of different experiences in this building. What was it like being here tonight? Did you ever have kind of a moment where you stepped back and thought about -- ADRIAN GRIFFIN: It was awesome. A lot of memories here obviously - five years coaching, three years playing, D. Rose MVP year. All that stuff comes back when I walk in this building. It always feels like home. I raised my children here. So it's just a special place, and it's just a great city, the fans and the community. That's what I miss the most. Q. It looked like you could still suit up a little bit over there. Looked like you were going to put your shoes on and play a little basketball. How proud are you of just seeing your players out there doing great and executing the game plan that you asked of them this morning? ADRIAN GRIFFIN: Well, first, for your first comment, I think it's the black suit that makes you -- it takes like 15 pounds off you, but I appreciate you saying that. It was fun. I thought that they were awesome. In the third quarter, I thought we hit a drought. I told them that I wanted them to shoot 50 threes, and we got close, but I should have added that we've got to make them too. So we shot them, but we should have mixed in a couple more. Take your hat off to the Team USA. They put us on it in the third quarter, and we just couldn't get back in the game. Q. Coach Handy, earlier today after the practice, you kind of worked with Collin Sexton after the practice. Can you talk about that a little bit? That's kind of interesting to see during All-Star Weekend. PHIL HANDY: Practice was over, and Collin asked if he could just get a quick workout in. Funny enough, I left Cleveland right before Collin came in, and I had some dialogue with him when he got drafted. And then I ended up going to Toronto working with this man next to me, and we hadn't really had a chance to build a relationship. So practice was over. He wanted to get a quick workout in. So we just spent ten minutes getting up some quick shots, just a quick little sweat. That kid is an incredible worker, man. Any time anybody wants to work, I'm in the gym. That's easy. Q. Griff, at one point, a couple points, you had the four Canadians on. What did you see from them? Were you trying to prep Nick for Canada this summer? ADRIAN GRIFFIN: No, it's just something really cool to have four Canadians on the floor at one time. I've been in this league for 20 years. I remember there was a time where you would play Toronto, and you would pencil in a "W." It got to the point where it's like you're not going to win. You go to Toronto, it's going to be hard to win there. So it's awesome just to see how the league is changing, how teams are just getting better, and the players are fantastic now. I don't know if I could play in today's age. You've got to be able to shoot, so that might cross me out right there. But it was special to see those four guys on the floor all at one time. Q. Coach, you got a chance to work with RJ Barrett. Can you talk about what that was, and did he maybe surprise you at all, or did you learn something new about him that you didn't know before? ADRIAN GRIFFIN: What I did like is I thought he came to compete tonight. I think, if we would have kept it rolling, he would have been in that MVP conversation. He was one of the guys that, when I looked at his eyes, like he wanted to go after it. That says a lot. I think any time that you could step on the floor and have an opportunity to compete, you should compete to win, and I thought he had that mentality. Q. I know it wasn't a full-speed game tonight, but what was it like to work with and coach Luka, and what did you kind of learn about him out there? ADRIAN GRIFFIN: It's awesome to be around that type of talent. For the coaches, we're fans too. Even though we're competing against each other, and you've got to marvel at his skill level for such a young player. He's really just -- he's almost like a seasoned veteran the way he plays, and you don't see that every day. Just playing against him and being able to be in the locker room and just kind of joke with him. I drew up a timeout play for him, and the first part was for a lob, and he just stopped me and said, hey, you need to draw that up for someone else. I was like, wait a minute. Let me finish now. This is going to get you a corner three. So he said, okay, all right. He had a great sense of humor. Probably could have used a couple more threes from him, but it was fun. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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