Former Grizzlies coach David Fizdale is considered the early favorite to get the Bucks job after this season but there are some other viable candidates, according to Hoops Hype’s Bryan Kalbrosky.
Milwaukee fired Jason Kidd on Monday and replaced him on an interim basis with lead assistant Joe Prunty. Fizdale was fired in late November, in part because of a strained relationship with the team’s star, Marc Gasol.
Former Pelicans coach Monty Williams, Raptors G-League coach Jerry Stackhouse, Hawks assistant Darvin Ham, Thunder assistant Adrian Griffin, Clippers assistant Sam Cassell and Spurs assistants Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka are some of the other candidates that Milwaukee may consider, Kalbrosky adds.
Here are some nuggets regarding Kidd and the Bucks job:
- Bucks franchise player Giannis Antetokounmpo offered to help Kidd save his job, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tweets. Kidd and the All-Star starter spoke 15 minutes before Kidd was officially notified he’d been fired, Shelburne adds.
- Milwaukee’s front office had been mulling over a coaching change for at least two weeks, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today reports.
- Williams, who has been working in the Spurs’ front office, has been patiently waiting for another opportunity and is a name to remember, Sam Amick of USA Today tweets.
- Kidd leaves with no regrets and added “we took an organization that was in a bad place and shined a light on it,” according to another Shelburne tweet.
- Tensions between Kidd and the front office had been building for months, according to the Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps. There was friction between Kidd and forward Jabari Parker, Bontemps continues. Kidd also rubbed management the wrong way by lobbying for roster changes and harping on the lack on experience among the front office staff, Bontemps adds.
- Jeff Van Gundy and Rick Pitino are two other candidates the Bucks might consider, Forbes’ Mitch Lawrence reports. However, the organization does not have a stellar reputation and potential replacements for Kidd will likely want to know who’s calling the shots on personnel, Lawrence adds.
I was kind of shocked about this!
Soon to be Tyron Lue.
if your best player is willing to go to bat for the head coach, that might be a reason not to can him
I think people are getting WAY ahead of themselves with the Bucks –
they’re about as good as they should be right now. When your second
best shooter is Tony Snell, you’re going to struggle to win games. I
think Giannis will be a multiple MVP during his career, and I love the
kid – but right now he’s Deandre Jordan with a handle and an IQ. He can’t shoot, at all. It’ll come, but at the moment their offense is giving it to
him and letting him try to Euro Step five defenders packed into the
key against him…
They’re SO thin at the 4/5 spot, both figuratively and literally. Thon was drafted high, but is a quandry for a coach: barely play him, and who else do you have? Play him a bunch and get beaten up inside but accelerate his growth?
Your back up PG – Obama’s brother – has been starting at the 2, and your third PG, Delly hasn’t hit a shot in the Bucks games I’ve watched (37% FG)
They have NO shooting outside of Middleton, and… yep… Tony Snell.
I think everyone should have sat tight until Jabari came back, he could board and shoot the three… Bled, Khris, El Greco, Jabari and Henson should start. Kilpatrick, Pres, Snell, Thon and ? second unit. They NEED a scoring big. Trade Delly and Jet for Moose Monroe! (joke)
(Why a Manu move became known as Euro Step, I’ll never know –
dude’s Argentinian)
As a bucks fan, we needed Kidd gone. His defensive schemes were just awful. Yes, our shooting isn’t there but our biggest issue is a center. If we could somehow swindle Lou Williams and DeAndre Jordan, that would be amazing. But I dream… I dream
Ding dong the witch is dead