Jake Fischer, Yahoo Sports Senior NBA Reporter

First things first. Jake, how you doing, man? You good? I'm hanging in, man. Catching my breath before a birthday dinner for my lady. So, happy to check in with you before all that. What's going on? Beautiful. I appreciate that.

And happy birthday to her. With so much going on. No doubt about it. With so much going on in the NBA today. Why the hell did Adrian Griffin get the boot? You know, this is a much longer story than what I can say in the next minute and a half or so that I plan to write tomorrow for Yahoo Sports, so stay tuned for that. But I think ultimately the Bucks went on a risk here back in this offseason hiring a first-time head coach, Adrian Griffin, who Giannis Antetokounmpo essentially hand-picked. And that was influence he was afforded and, you know, is a glimpse at the type of pressure that I think Milwaukee feels about trying to build a winner in a small market such as that situation in Wisconsin where you have a generation of players already won one title and is craving winning more. So, the fact that that didn't work out and defensive schemes have led to a lot of confusion from the players and the defensive production has declined precipitously from the years under Mike Budenholzer. The timing seems a little bit off if you look at their 30 and 13 record, but they're just 6 and 5 in January. The defense has continued to get worse and the Bucks really feel like they don't have the time to waste to get things back on track when even in extension this fall as we see in today's NBA, these players are very, very liable to request out at any point in time. Jake Fisher is joining us here, the JR sport re-show on CBS Sports Radio.

We're going to hear this over the next couple of days, couple of weeks. Did Giannis quote-unquote push the eject button on Mr. Griffin? No, I don't know enough yet to say that, but I think there were many people inside the organization that had been for a long time now, you know, you go back to the beginning of this training before the season even began. Terry Stotz left very unceremoniously, was supposed to be the lead assistant under Adrian Griffin, like the Bucks hired. The assistance under him didn't give him the influence, but like it didn't work out. The veterans felt very disrespected the way Griffin was operating things. And then you saw Brook Lopez complaining about not coverage anymore and Bobby Portis had a whole thing in the postgame locker room tournament after their loss to Indiana.

It just kind of seems like overall there was a lot and dissatisfaction, dissatisfaction, I should say, with a lot of the main actors involved. Jake Fisher's joining us from Yahoo Sports, NBA reporter. Doc Rivers' name has been bandied about as a potential candidate for full-time. Who are some of the other names that could potentially hold this down on a full-time basis while Joe Pruncy is keeping the seat warm? You know, this situation is not one for a first-time coach as we just, so that automatically limits Milwaukee to previous head coaches who are actually available for the job right now.

It would be Kenny Atkinson, who was a finalist along with Nick Nurse this summer, following to Adrian Griffin, I guess, in that competition. I don't know exactly if he's really on the table, though, right now, being that this does seem like it's Doc Rivers' job, and Doc Rivers' job alone needs someone that I think fits a lot of checkmarks. You know, one reason why Giannis purportedly felt connected to Adrian Griffin was the fact that he was a former player, and he is one of the only coaches out there to win a championship, and that is the goal of what this organization holds. So I think, by all accounts, and what the early word has been pretty strongly here, that this is Doc Rivers' job.

Okay. Jake Fisher joining us, NBA reporter for Yahoo Sports. So much has gone on in the NBA outside of the Adrian Griffin firing today. We learned earlier in the morning that Terry Rozier was going to be moving on from the Charlotte Hornets to the Miami Heat. At the same time, the Charlotte Hornets get their hands at least temporarily on Kyle Lowry.

We know Rozier is going to be out there shooting. How will he fit in on that squad and that team with Hero and Jimmy Butler whenever he decides to play? Yeah, they need better point guard play, and that was pretty evident dating back to last season when they put Kyle Lowry to the bench for Gabe Vincent, and then Gabe Vincent, of course, left the summer for agency with nothing, you know, leaving nothing in return for Miami.

So they'll be a ball handler and a creator. They're going to also need him to be a point of attack defender, too, which was something he was better at in Boston back in the younger days than when he was in Charlotte. So I do think Miami is hoping that he will be able to take a much stronger role on that side of the ball as opposed to what he was doing in Charlotte.

It's been a winning situation for many, many years. I mean, just be candid, like that move to Charlotte when it was a sign and trade with Gordon Hayward going back with Rozier chasing his best payday as any professional wants to do. This is going to be his first time back in a real playoff environment since he was on that rookie deal in Boston. So I think the Heat are bullish that he'll be able to lock in on both sides of the ball. Well, Jake, we know Kyle Lowry, whatever is left of him, is likely to sign somewhere else to maybe get a couple more minutes on a contender. What are some other potential moves that you've heard that we might see take place between now and the trade deadline?

The Hawks continue to be one of the biggest talking points of the league. They've got De'Jaunte Murray available. I'd say he's probably the most marquee player that's left on the board of guys who are in this trade cycle. A lot of Kyle Kuzma stuff pop up, although the Wizards are setting a firm asking price based off my conversations of two first round picks. And unless they get that from someone, I don't think they're going to move him.

There are plenty of other players and teams that have asking prices that I think will come down. The Portland Trailblazers right now want a first round pick for Malcolm Brodman. If their best offer is only two second rounders, I could see the Blazers doing that. The Raptors want a first round pick for Bruce Brown, but with his contract being considered a bit of an overpay and that being a team option next year, I'm not so certain one team is going to be willing to put that first on the table for Bruce.

Do they end up dropping their asking price? The Wizards and Kuzma, that second round picks up is holding firm, so I'm not necessarily expecting he'll be on the move. Jake Fisher here with us from Yahoo Sports as we start to wrap things up. One team that's always involved in the trade talks, whether it happens to be a De'Jaunte Murray or an always-heard Zach LaVine. What do you foresee the Los Angeles Lakers potentially doing or not doing? They're going to be one of the more aggressive buyers on the market and they have a 20-29 first round pick that they're willing to put on the table. There's an additional pick swap that they're willing to include.

I don't have the year perfectly off top of mine. I believe it's 20-27, but don't hold me to that. They have a swap in that 20-29 first pick and then De'Angelo Russell's salary. It's just right now to find a team that actually wants to take his salary back as a real trade chip for the filler that it would take to get a De'Jaunte Murray or Zach LaVine. If the Hawks were to take that, find a third team to take that Russell, which I don't think that third team is going to be supplying the actual players that Atlanta wants at this juncture, but we'll see. The Hawks, they value Quinton Grimes to my knowledge. Is there an opportunity to make New York that third team in that equation? I'm not certain at this point, but the Lakers are hamstrung right now by that element that De'Angelo Russell, they signed this summer to a two-year deal.

They made him waive the no trade cost that would have been part of that with the idea of potentially moving him and right now doesn't seem to be much of a market for him at this juncture. We know that the Lakers will always be ridiculously aggressive. We've got a whole lot of other teams that are, quite frankly, going to be looking to, let's just say, tank and try to get some assets for the rest of the season. Please tell us about the book that you published, Built to Lose, how the NBA's tanking era changed the league forever. Yeah, it's why Charlotte is in the position they're in today, trading terrors here and looking to trade more veterans and get back draft capital. If you have a real goal of competing for a championship, the analysis shows time and again that teams that have won the title typically have at least two players who are legitimate top 10, top 20 caliber players at minimum. The most common way and the most direct way for any team, you don't have to be in New York or Miami or LA to have a bad record and get top draft picks where most of the time that's the most direct path for any franchise to get. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, I mean, Victor Villanueva and Zion Williams haven't done that yet, but those are the types of talents that teams are willing to tank and throw away multiple years of competing in order to acquire. So the book really highlights how the league really became prominent with tanking from 2013 to 2016 when Sam Henke took over Philly and Ryan McDonough took over Phoenix and Pete D'Alessandro was in Sacramento and the Celtics traded off of KG and Paul Pierce and Orlando traded off of Dwight Howard. There's 300 interviews of inside information and back channel dealing and private meetings all throughout that book that I think any fan would really love.

We're going to see, I guess over the next several months, how the tanking could potentially work out for a team like the Sixers when their giant center is dropping 70 points on any given night. Hey Jake, I want to thank you for taking the time to hop on. Where can people follow you and also pick up the book?

Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, I'm on Twitter at Jake L. Fisher, F-I-S-C-H-E-R, bringing multiple stories a week at Yahoo Sports. Our podcast, Ball Don't Lie, has four shows a week for myself, Vinny Goodwill and Dan Devine, and the book, Built to Lose, how the NBA's tanking era changed the league forever. It's out anywhere books are sold.

Amazon, Bookshop.org, my publisher, Triumph. It's a full moving product, so I'd appreciate anyone else who's still interested getting a copy. Thank you so much for coming through and providing the insight, Jake. You guys have a wonderful dinner, okay? Thank you, appreciate that, man. Take care.