The Bucks have reportedly made a decision on their next head coach, having landed on veteran assistant Adrian Griffin. That leaves four teams that are still looking for someone to fill their respective coaching vacancies: the Suns, Sixers, Raptors, and Pistons.
With Griffin apparently headed to Milwaukee, one more head coaching candidate is off the table for those four other teams, but that seems unlikely to have a significant impact on those searches.
Griffin hadn’t been linked to the openings in Phoenix or Philadelphia and wasn’t a finalist in Detroit. Toronto interviewed him, but it would have been a surprise if the Raptors took the exact approach they did during their last coaching search, promoting an assistant who worked under the coach they just fired.
The resolution of the Bucks’ hunt for a head coach could still have a domino effect on the remaining searches, however. Just before word broke that the team had chosen Griffin, a report indicated that Nick Nurse had removed his name from consideration.
Nurse is reportedly a finalist in Phoenix and has interviewed in Philadelphia as well. Did he pull out of the Bucks’ search because he knew he wasn’t their first choice or because he recognizes he has a legitimate chance to land one of those other jobs and wants to pursue it?
Besides Nurse, there are four other finalists for the Suns: Frank Vogel, Doc Rivers, Jordi Fernandez, and Kevin Young. Vogel has spoken to the Sixers, while Fernandez and Young are among the Raptors’ reported candidates.
The Pistons reportedly have three finalists: Kevin Ollie, Charles Lee, and Jarron Collins. However, the team has been eyeing that trio for weeks without any indication that a decision is imminent. Is Detroit simply satisfied to take its time and do as much homework as possible on its finalists, or could that search open up to more finalists before the club makes a call?
For what it’s worth, while Lee has interviewed for other jobs – including Toronto’s – Ollie and Collins don’t seem to be under serious consideration elsewhere.
With several searches linked in one way or the other, it will be interesting to see how many other teams follow the Bucks’ lead and make a decision in the coming days. In the meantime, we want to get your thoughts on how these coaching searches will resolve.
Who do you expect to become the next head coach in Phoenix, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Detroit? Is Nurse a lock for one of those jobs after pulling out of the Bucks’ search? Will we get any truly outside-the-box choices?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your predictions and thoughts.
Truthfully, the Sixers have to figure out the construction of their team and then hire a head coach
Or if the incoming coach has some ideas, there is a lot of flux in Philadelphia.
Doc Rivers to Toronto – he can be competitive with an awkward roster. Nurse to Phoenix – he can win with moody stars. Charles Lee to Detroit – the best of their candidates. Philly is hard to guess because it so much depends on whether they think Harden might stay. Maybe Scott Brooks has some good history with him.
Why did nurse pull out? Something up in milwaukt?
I’m thinking the job came down to those two and Nurse pulled out to help his friend get the position. Nurse knows he has other opportunities and maybe even a job lined up already whereas Adrian Griffin may not. That’s how I’m seeing it.
More like he didn’t want to lose the job in a contest with Griffin. If anyone else was interested, better he turn his focus there than lose a plum job to his recent assistant.
Maybe he learned Griffin was the favorite and was given the opportunity to back out. When was the last time an assistant was hired over his head coach? Sounds like the Bucks allowed him to save face.
I do not want Rivers. Seen enough of him with the Celtics and Sixers in the same division.
No way Masai would be dumb enough to hire Doc.
Doc rivers never been a good coach going after old veteran players and coaches that barely won championship or got lucky is done with …that’s why teams go after assistant coaches that know modern basketball and younger players that fit modern basketball
Nurse is going to Phoenix, I called this a month ago.
The teams with hiring energy:
PHX: Nurse.
DET: Lee.
The teams with pedantic leaders:
PHI: Vogel.
TOR: Rivers/Monty.
Toronto coach will depend upon What they choose to do. If Masai Ujiri decides this group can not win. He picks assistant who can work with young guys. If he brings back same team. He goes for experience. Nurse wants Phoenix. he does not want to deal with Embiid . Embiid takes all credit for good things. None of it for bad things.
You obviously know zilch about jojo. Always self depreciating,always self critical,always looking to improve.
Yeah, that’s just simply not the case with Embiid.
Wish my Blazers would sign Monty while he’s still available…