The Pelicans fired head coach Alvin Gentry Saturday and the team's Executive Vice President of basketball operations stressed that New Orleans' performance in the NBA's Bubble was not the reason for his dismissal.
The Pelicans went 2-6 during play at the NBA's campus in Orlando and suffered a few tough losses as they were eliminated from playoff contention.
"I don't think it's safe to say that that would have changed anything about this decision, ultimately," Griffin said."I think if you look at my history as a general manager, the immediacy of what's happening in a given situation, in terms of results, is less important than the process to us.
"...frankly had we been more successful in the bubble this could have still been the decision we made no we will not be quick with this at all there."
Griffin said that the team will not be in a rush to find Gentry's replacement.
"We have a job that we believe is going to be the most attractive in the NBA, quite frankly, and with all of the candidates still in the bubble for the most part,I mean, obviously there are some that may not be, but for the most part all of the candidates that you may want to talk to or still with teams," he said. "So I would say that the virus itself is going to dictate some of our timeline. This isn't going to be done solely via Zoom. So depending upon when we're able to sit down and really get to know one another will have more updates from then on."
Griffin added that he expects the team to try and retain some of its assistant coaches.
"We feel strongly about the quality of staff that we had," Griffin said. "Some of those individuals potentially will be head coaching candidates elsewhere. Chris Finch certainly among them and we feel strongly about Chris.He'll be part of our conversation moving forward and it's our intention that many of our staffers here will continue with the next regime at some point."