Larry Drew was hired as an assistant by Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt. The Bucks were 15-67 under Drew last season. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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Larry Drew said he was "blindsided" by the way he lost his job as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Commenting at length for the first time since he was fired by the Bucks' new ownership June 30, Drew said his firing was "definitely mystifying."

The veteran coach lasted just one season in Milwaukee and was replaced by former Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd.

Even as Drew was taking part in draft preparations with the Bucks management staff in late June, team owners Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry were starting their talks with Kidd.

Word leaked out that the Nets had given permission to Milwaukee to speak to Kidd, without the knowledge of either Bucks general manager John Hammond or Drew. Kidd was signed to a three-year, $15 million contract a few days later.

"From their (the owners') standpoint, there's no set time for these type of things," Drew said in an interview with the Journal Sentinel.

"It caught me in a position when I least expected it. But I know how these things work. I don't have any hard feelings, any grudges against anybody.

"Marc (Lasry) called me and I just wished him luck. I've got to keep moving forward."

Maybe the most embarrassing snub Drew suffered was having to sit at the introductory news conference with No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker at the Milwaukee Public Market on the day after the draft, even though the owners already had talked to Kidd by that time.

"The whole Jabari thing, putting me in that position, I don't think it was very professional," Drew said. "I wish it wouldn't have happened that way, but it did.

"If I had been a new coach, I might have reacted differently (to the firing). But because I've been in this so long and I've had friends who have had these type things happen to them, I was OK.

"This is the life we choose and sometimes you have to expect the unexpected."

Last week, Drew was hired as an assistant by Cleveland Cavaliers coach David Blatt. The Bucks will continue to pay Drew for the next two seasons and that compensation will be offset by whatever pay he is receiving from the Cavaliers.

Drew said he met Blatt about three years ago and spent some time in Israel watching his Maccabi Tel Aviv team.

"He and I just kind of hit it off," Drew said. "Lo and behold he gets the (Cleveland) job and he called me up to find out what I was going to do.

"I have been doing this for 33 straight years (the NBA life as a player and coach), and I very strongly considered sitting out a year, taking a break to recharge my battery a little bit.

"But these opportunities don't come by too often. All of the LeBron talk was something I had to think about."

LeBron James made the league's biggest news of the summer when he left the Miami Heat and signed as a free agent to return to Cleveland. Suddenly, the Cavaliers were a prime contender again and squarely in the league spotlight.

It should be a much different NBA experience for Drew in Cleveland next season than the strange one he encountered in his lone season in Milwaukee.

"The city is just buzzing about the return of LeBron and the other pieces put in place," Drew said of Cleveland. "I'm looking forward to working with him."

The Bucks went a league-worst 15-67 under Drew, who had led Atlanta to three straight postseason appearances in the previous three seasons.

"To be honest, it was one thing after another," Drew said. "If you look at the makeup of the team, it was a huge hill to climb up, even at the very beginning.

"It's just unfortunate it turned out the way it did. Certainly in looking back, I gave it my all and so did my coaching staff. I enjoyed working with these guys."

Larry Sanders and O.J. Mayo were absent for long stretches of the season, two players the Bucks had counted on to be key figures. Both were major disappointments.

Power forward Ersan Ilyasova was bothered all season by an ankle injury, limiting his effectiveness, and veteran Carlos Delfino never played at all due to a right foot surgery.

"We never would have guessed we wouldn't have Carlos Delfino," Drew said. "We had him factored in as the starting 3 (small forward)."

Caron Butler stepped in at small forward early in the season before eventually moving on to contending Oklahoma City in February.

Drew wound up emphasizing the team's young players and giving big minutes to rookies Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nate Wolters. Second-year player Khris Middleton moved in as the starter at small forward and 22-year-old point guard Brandon Knight led the team in scoring.

Drew does believe the 19-year-old Antetokounmpo will benefit in the long run from playing so much as a rookie.

Can he reach an all-star level?

"To be an all-star, you've got to be really good," Drew said. "If he continues to work hard, he can be a really good player in our league."