Head Coaching Candidates - Finalists Nurse/Atkinson/Griffin - Another New Poll Added

[Matches Malone]

Atkinson would be interesting. I'd like to see what kind of new wrinkles he's learned under Kerr.

[GoldenAntlers]

Can't go with Lee, need a 100% fresh start.

I've always thought Cassell would be a good coach but I loved him as a player so I'm biased.

Same.

[Matches Malone]

Atkinson would be interesting. I'd like to see what kind of new wrinkles he's learned under Kerr.

Watch on YouTube

I started to grin at the 5:00 min mark. Bring that to Milwaukee, please.

[Ron Swanson]

FWIW I think there's a better than miniscule chance that Charles Lee gets promoted and gets the HC gig. Not saying it would be a smart move, but he's very well liked and respected by players and as we've seen in recent history, that's often a huge factor in today's superstar-driven league.

[BigO]

Gentlemen and Ladies,

Can't stay long, so this one post will be a little long. I'm doing as good as can be and want to add to the thanks to Bud on his tenure with the Bucks. I thought he was a top 10 coach with serious flaws, but watching the playoff replays just told me I was severely underestimating his rigidity. But enough about him-may the one size fits all schemes be a thing of the past and may Bobby Portis no longer sit on the bench while Grayson Allen gets prime playing time.

Here is my wish for what the Bucks should do:

1) Hire the first applicant that says his first priority is to insist that Giannis develop a mid range game. If you ever went early to a Bucks game or when the Bucks played the Sixers, you would see Lopez spend much of his time shooting those five to ten foot push shots with either hand. And Embiid working over and over on his 10 foot jumper. The new coach has to understand that it is paramount to talk to Giannis about it. He can't survive continually attacking the basket as his only arrow. Giannis will do it if his coach insists.

2) Make sure the new coach is not a defensive guru or offensive guru, but one who knows both sides and has shown it. It's important because the talent on a team should dictate your strength and the coach needs to know how to maximize it. Don't hire a coach like Nurse just because he knows defense. You have to know both (maybe he does).

3) The coach has to be a communicator, especially with the vets and especially with Giannis. A lot of people think Bud was a great communicator. I don't think he was at all. Don't mix up being a nice guy with being someone who can communicate and is open to various ideas and changes.

4) No rigidity- I think we all know what I mean. I don't want an ideologue. I want a coach who adapts to his roster and to the opposition's roster.

So who should they hire? Here's some ideas, but my knowledge is as good or bad as all of you:

1) Nick Nurse- there's no doubt in my mind that Nurse is a much better coach than Bud, but I have my reservations. He also seems rigid, but in a different way. He does use multiple defenses and is not afraid of change. But I'm not sure he fits my criteria of being a great communicator and open to other ideas, including his players. But it would be an improvement.

2) Kenny Atkinson-he's a Bud disciple, so I would be concerned about that.

3) Charles Lee- same as above.

4) Jay Wright- the number of college coaches failing vs. succeeding is about as one sided as you can get. He was a great evaluator of talent and got guys that weren't one and done so that they stayed for a few years. Have no idea about his coaching ability.

5) Frank Vogel-I'd be open to interviewing him.

6) I love the new coach at OKC, who was a Billy Donovan disciple and was successful in the G League. Finding a diamond in the rough would be fine with me, although the OKC roster is younger and not sure the Bucks would be open to that kind of guy.

7) Totally out of the box thought and never going to happen- I would be totally open to interviewing Shaka Smart. It goes against the history of college coaches in the NBA, but I am very impressed with what he has done. I was also impressed with an interview he gave a while back about his offensive philosophy and how it has developed in the last five years (lots of movement). He is close friends with the coach at OKC (Daigneault) and is open to new concepts and change. He is a master communicator and I think would be a great mentor to Giannis.

So that's it. May you all have a safe and happy summer. I may or may not be able to weigh in now and then.

And tell the ones you love how much you care about them. It matters.

[emunney]

w/r/t Wright, he's a great coach and ran my favorite program in college. It's just a very different proposition to coach a bunch of guys in a mutually selected situation vs. a hodge-podge of acquisitions with a Cheesecake Factory menu of motivations, on top of material differences in the college game that go beyond the level of competition. You can't deny though, that a ton of guys who came out of Villanova under Wright really know how to play the game. I think I wish he was still at Nova where we could draft his guys, rather than wishing he were coach of the Bucks. But yeah, I'd be pretty excited.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Atkinson would be interesting. I'd like to see what kind of new wrinkles he's learned under Kerr.

Watch on YouTube

I started to grin at the 5:00 min mark. Bring that to Milwaukee, please.

It was part of leading question, but talking about going to the post with a lot of movement. That would be great with Giannis,

[tydett]

6) I love the new coach at OKC, who was a Billy Donovan disciple and was successful in the G League. Finding a diamond in the rough would be fine with me, although the OKC roster is younger and not sure the Bucks would be open to that kind of guy.

I've thought to myself a little recently about Mark Daigneault - he's a guy we couldn't pry away from OKC as the org really loves him, but he seems to really GET IT as a coach. Perhaps it only works because he's working with a young team with not expectations, but he runs an impressive team. Wouldn't be opposed to finding that type of guy, even as a first time coach.

[Rstuedes24]

I really like the intrigue of Jordi Fernandez

[emunney]

6) I love the new coach at OKC, who was a Billy Donovan disciple and was successful in the G League. Finding a diamond in the rough would be fine with me, although the OKC roster is younger and not sure the Bucks would be open to that kind of guy.

I've thought to myself a little recently about Mark Daigneault - he's a guy we couldn't pry away from OKC as the org really loves him, but he seems to really GET IT as a coach. Perhaps it only works because he's working with a young team with not expectations, but he runs an impressive team. Wouldn't be opposed to finding that type of guy, even as a first time coach.

Chase Buford? Kind of spinning through names in my head and this is the first non-NBA HC that came to mind that made me do the Alonzo Mourning gif.

[MickeyDavis]

Giannis loved Bud so I could see Lee being promoted as appeasement. "We know you loved Bud but we're hiring Lee who you also love".

I really want someone from outside the current staff.

I still don't get the Atkinson love other than he's on the Warriors bench.

[tydett]

6) I love the new coach at OKC, who was a Billy Donovan disciple and was successful in the G League. Finding a diamond in the rough would be fine with me, although the OKC roster is younger and not sure the Bucks would be open to that kind of guy.

I've thought to myself a little recently about Mark Daigneault - he's a guy we couldn't pry away from OKC as the org really loves him, but he seems to really GET IT as a coach. Perhaps it only works because he's working with a young team with not expectations, but he runs an impressive team. Wouldn't be opposed to finding that type of guy, even as a first time coach.

Chase Buford? Kind of spinning through names in my head and this is the first non-NBA HC that came to mind that made me do the Alonzo Mourning gif.

See, this is the type of outside the box thinking I really like. Dude is familiar with the organization, obviously. He's won here with the Herd and now with the NBL. He's REALLY young, which you would think might count against him, but so is Mazzulla and he's doing pretty darn good with that team. I'm intrigued enough by the possibility.

[Ron Swanson]

Giannis loved Bud so I could see Lee being promoted as appeasement. "We know you loved Bud but we're hiring Lee who you also love".

I really want someone from outside the current staff.

I still don't get the Atkinson love other than he's on the Warriors bench.

Loved what he did with those scrappy Nets teams before Durant and Kyrie came in and torpedoed that locker room. Don't know how anyone could say he didn't get the most out of those rosters. He made D'Angelo Russell an "All-Star" like Bud did with Jeff Teague in Atlanta.

[chonestown]

Imagining Cassell can come on and do better than Bud is as dumb as the Nets hiring Nash.

im looking at stevenash 's coaching career and what wick of pedia says is he did not serve as any sorta coach before coaching the brooklyn (citation needed?) mets myabe hiring sam is dumb may be not but not as dumb as hiring steven ash case clothed

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Giannis loved Bud so I could see Lee being promoted as appeasement. "We know you loved Bud but we're hiring Lee who you also love".

I really want someone from outside the current staff.

I still don't get the Atkinson love other than he's on the Warriors bench.

Loved what he did with those scrappy Nets teams before Durant and Kyrie came in and torpedoed that locker room. Don't know how anyone could say he didn't get the most out of those rosters. He made D'Angelo Russell an "All-Star" like Bud did with Jeff Teague in Atlanta.

Yeah, he really built a great culture there that was torn down. Even though he is older than Bud, he just seems more energic/intense. Sometime the "take your vitamins" calmness helped our team and we definitely went about business with no drama, but I feel Bud lacked intensity when necessary. IDK its just so hard to judge HEAD coaches in todays game and even harder to judge a college coach.

Random thought, but watching all these inside the huddle stuff is kind of boring. It feels like the NFL is light years ahead of in-game analysis. It is just Ham say "Keep playing hard" over and over. Nothing deep at all. No "Curry is pushing too far out, you need to drop here" type stuff. Granted a guy like rodgers can just put on a cap after a bad drive and take five minutes to analyze the defense, but I don't think I've ever seen a tablet on the sideline or in the huddle. I think there is an opportunity to be on the leading edge of in-game coach and adjustments. You come out and you are handed a tablet by an assistant telling you where each defender was on the shots/passes you made.

[JayMKE]

If we hire a Bud guy I'll wonder why the hell we fired him in the first place, its gotta be outside the org and that coaching tree. This is a veteran team that needs a coach who can execute and adjust when needed, not some outside the box first time HC to grow with a young team but rather a pure mercenary brought in to win a championship with this core. What's Larry Brown up to? Too bad he isn't younger.

[bucksfansince88]

Gentlemen and Ladies,

Can't stay long, so this one post will be a little long. I'm doing as good as can be and want to add to the thanks to Bud on his tenure with the Bucks. I thought he was a top 10 coach with serious flaws, but watching the playoff replays just told me I was severely underestimating his rigidity. But enough about him-may the one size fits all schemes be a thing of the past and may Bobby Portis no longer sit on the bench while Grayson Allen gets prime playing time.

Here is my wish for what the Bucks should do:

1) Hire the first applicant that says his first priority is to insist that Giannis develop a mid range game. If you ever went early to a Bucks game or when the Bucks played the Sixers, you would see Lopez spend much of his time shooting those five to ten foot push shots with either hand. And Embiid working over and over on his 10 foot jumper. The new coach has to understand that it is paramount to talk to Giannis about it. He can't survive continually attacking the basket as his only arrow. Giannis will do it if his coach insists.

2) Make sure the new coach is not a defensive guru or offensive guru, but one who knows both sides and has shown it. It's important because the talent on a team should dictate your strength and the coach needs to know how to maximize it. Don't hire a coach like Nurse just because he knows defense. You have to know both (maybe he does).

3) The coach has to be a communicator, especially with the vets and especially with Giannis. A lot of people think Bud was a great communicator. I don't think he was at all. Don't mix up being a nice guy with being someone who can communicate and is open to various ideas and changes.

4) No rigidity- I think we all know what I mean. I don't want an ideologue. I want a coach who adapts to his roster and to the opposition's roster.

So who should they hire? Here's some ideas, but my knowledge is as good or bad as all of you:

1) Nick Nurse- there's no doubt in my mind that Nurse is a much better coach than Bud, but I have my reservations. He also seems rigid, but in a different way. He does use multiple defenses and is not afraid of change. But I'm not sure he fits my criteria of being a great communicator and open to other ideas, including his players. But it would be an improvement.

2) Kenny Atkinson-he's a Bud disciple, so I would be concerned about that.

3) Charles Lee- same as above.

4) Jay Wright- the number of college coaches failing vs. succeeding is about as one sided as you can get. He was a great evaluator of talent and got guys that weren't one and done so that they stayed for a few years. Have no idea about his coaching ability.

5) Frank Vogel-I'd be open to interviewing him.

6) I love the new coach at OKC, who was a Billy Donovan disciple and was successful in the G League. Finding a diamond in the rough would be fine with me, although the OKC roster is younger and not sure the Bucks would be open to that kind of guy.

7) Totally out of the box thought and never going to happen- I would be totally open to interviewing Shaka Smart. It goes against the history of college coaches in the NBA, but I am very impressed with what he has done. I was also impressed with an interview he gave a while back about his offensive philosophy and how it has developed in the last five years (lots of movement). He is close friends with the coach at OKC (Daigneault) and is open to new concepts and change. He is a master communicator and I think would be a great mentor to Giannis.

So that's it. May you all have a safe and happy summer. I may or may not be able to weigh in now and then.

And tell the ones you love how much you care about them. It matters.

Shaka would be a bold out of the ordinary move but I like it now that you mentioned him. My top 3 are Atkinson, Quinn, Nurse. Shaka or Sam Cassell would be my wildcard votes

[JonHeist]

I could talk myself into getting excited about just about anyone that's been mentioned (other than Lee)

But I'd drive Nurse to Milwaukee myself

pair him along with someone young and offensive-minded as lead-assistant

[MVP2110]

Nurse is my top choice unless Lue becomes available but it's worth noting Nurse certainly has flaws himself. His halfcourt offenses have typically struggled(especially since Kawhi left), his defenses give up the most open corner 3s basically every season, and he's not nearly as good of a player development guy as Bud is.

But this is also true of basically every coach, every coach has flaws, we are basically going to be replacing one really good coach with flaws for another really good head coach but with different flaws or with another coach who isn't as good.

[buckboy]

Offer Spoelstra $100,000,000 of Jimmy Haslam's money.

Otherwise Nurse I guess.