Bobby Portis on new coach Adrian Griffin: 'I just hope he lets us be us, and be the player-driven team'

The grandson of Milwaukee Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin died over the weekend in Urbana, Illinois. Two-and-a-half-year-old Jayce Griffin was found unresponsive in a home Saturday. His mother is grieving. Adrian Griffin called the death an “agonizing tragedy.” In a statement, the Champaign County coroner said preliminary results from the autopsy “revealed no evidence of trauma nor foul play,” and “the death of Jayce Griffin appears to be from natural causes.” Monday afternoon, Jasmine Riggs, Jayce’s mother, told us Jayce was pronounced dead Saturday. She said a doctor told her they found fluid in his lungs. -via CBS58 / July 25, 2023

The coroner said in a statement that preliminary results from the autopsy “revealed no evidence of trauma nor foul play,” and “the death of Jayce Griffin appears to be from natural causes.” -via CBS58 / July 25, 2023

Jamal Collier: Jabari Parker will be apart of the Bucks 2023 summer league roster. Wild times. New head coach Adrian Griffin will also coach the summer league squad pic.twitter.com/jmfzPqZ38i -via Twitter @JamalCollier / June 30, 2023

You pretty much bet on yourself. Speaking about Milwaukee, you signed short-term deals with them, and finally got a bit of a longer deal last season (four-year, $49 million). Do you feel that sort of validates what you’ve been through the years? Bobby Portis: I mean, yeah, but every year is a prove-it year, man. Just because you got a deal doesn’t mean you got to stop working and keep building brick by brick. Keep chopping wood and carrying water, that’s the motto. Can’t get complacent, can’t get comfortable in the league. There are 40, 50, 60 guys that want to have a guaranteed spot every year on a new team. And there’s gonna be 40, 50, 60 guys that are going to get pushed out. So gotta keep getting better each and every year. Can’t be satisfied with whatever you need to be. Whether it is $20 million, $100 million, $200 million. Gotta keep going. Gotta keep chopping wood and getting better. So with me, all I know how to do is work. Let the dominoes fall where they fall. -via HoopsHype / August 16, 2023

Giannis seems like a funny guy and you’ve been around him for a couple years now. What’s one of the funniest things he’s done? Bobby Portis: BP: Yeah, that’s my boy. Man, it’s hard to tell because every day is something new. But, he’s always messing with somebody each and every day. In our training room, he kind of acts like a big kid. We have all these Nerf guns, shooting each other. And so, people come in and it’s definitely funny, early in the morning time people just wake up at nine in the morning and they get shot in the face. That’d be funny. -via HoopsHype / August 16, 2023

“I think most of our bonding has been in the gym,” Bobby Portis said. “Getting up shots, talking with guys. I think some guys have bonded off the court, you know we got a lot of Villanova guys, so those guys hang out a lot, but we’ve just been chillin’ for real. “When you’ve got a team full of selfless guys, guys who want to sacrifice for the betterment of the team, you can’t help it but better,” Portis continued. -via The Athletic / August 14, 2023