![]() “If we’re playing on a Monday, I’m usually working on next Monday’s opponent,” he said. He travels with the team and typically prepares video clips of future opponents for the coaching staff. The Nuggets didn’t learn their Finals opponents until Miami handled Boston in Game 7 on Monday, but the players and staff have been busy preparing for Thursday’s opening game. Everyone cares for each other – same thing I felt at Gonzaga and UW.”ĭenver has had a lengthy break since ending the Lakers’ season on May 22. It was truly a brotherhood and if you ask any of the guys here, it’s brothers with the players, coaching and support staff. “We had the talent at Gonzaga to make it to the Elite Eight, but it was the bonds off the floor and those things that stood out to me. Last year we lost to the (Golden State) Warriors (in the first round). Gonzaga won the WCC, lost in the round of 32 (in 2014). “The same kind of path at all three and the first year at each wasn’t a bad season. “It’s kind of cool to reflect on the experience now and specifically to Washington and Gonzaga,” Griffin said. Griffin then rejoined Romar at Pepperdine for three seasons as a graduate assistant and video coordinator before landing his job with Denver. Griffin finished up at NAIA Vanguard (California) University the ensuing season and averaged 16.1 points and 6.9 rebounds while earning All-Golden State Athletic Conference honors. Griffin knew he wanted to use his final year of eligibility playing hoops, so he joined the Lorenzo Romar-coached UW basketball team as a practice player. ![]() The Huskies reached college football’s final four the following season before losing to Alabama. Griffin left GU to walk on to the University of Washington’s football team, making his only career catch in the 2015 Heart of Dallas Bowl. In the bouncy, 6-foot-4 wing’s second season as a Zag in 2015, Gonzaga reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 1999 before falling to eventual national champ Duke. Those close to the Lake Oswego, Oregon, native know great things happened in Year 2 during Griffin’s playing career. This is Griffin’s second season with the Nuggets. Well, Griffin, for one, and pretty much everyone in an organization that has been trending toward a title run with the do-it-all Jokic, savvy drafts and a plan orchestrated by eighth-year coach Michael Malone. “Who would have thought I’d be the last one standing?” Griffin asked. If you thought the Zags’ presence in the playoffs ended when Rui Hachimura and the Lakers bowed out, think again. “They were keying in on him, so that’s how I was in the picture,” said Griffin, the former Gonzaga walk-on whose meandering career path has led him to the NBA Finals as the Nuggets’ video coordinator/player development coach. Within minutes, pictures of the moment began flooding the phone of Connor Griffin – the lesser-known half of the embrace. ESPN cameras zeroed in on Nikola Jokic shortly after the Denver Nuggets swept the Los Angeles Lakers, at one point catching the superstar center hugging a staff member.
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