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

[paulpressey25]

Phoenix is the pressure cooker job. You don't have much to work with there, considering Paul and Durant might get injured on the next play. And then you have to justify literally every decision to Mat Ishbia and his sidekick Isiah Thomas.

The Isiah Thomas as Ishbia's advisor doesn't get enough play here.

[MVP2110]

I definitely feel like Phoenix would be the least desirable job. You have an old and oft injured cp3, an aging KD, Ayton who wants out, and Booker. With no discernable assets to do anything of substance. Milwaukee & Philly are more equal imo and really depends on what happens with Harden & Middleton

[Ayt]

It’s pros and cons to either open job. I think the bucks have as good a chance as any to land nurse but I don’t think it’s the easy choice. We have Giannis for two years and then a whole bunch of question marks and very high expectations. If I was nurse and could pick any job, the bucks wouldn’t be at the top.

Who would be? The Suns are ancient with no depth, and Philly might lose Harden on top of their other issues. A new coach could step in and get the Bucks back to the Finals next season with the exact same roster and no one would be surprised.

[mubucks00]

Tend to think maybe PHX is slightly easier path to a championship next year if you are Nurse, but maybe it's close enough the better fit will win out.

Interesting twist now is if the heat dismantle the Celtics, I don't think they can bring Mazulla back. If they lock up Brown, that's a tough duo to say no to.

[tedbrogen]

Any chance the Bucks could get Stevens as a coach if they also let him take the roster construction away from Horst?

[0BobLobLaw0]

Any chance the Bucks could get Stevens as a coach if they also let him take the roster construction away from Horst?

Stevens doesn't want to coach. That's why he is in Boston's front office

[GoldenAntlers]

The Bucks HC position also comes with the most pressure to win, though. I wonder how that factors in to the next HC's decision.

Right. Only one of these franchises just fired a coach that won a championship for them in the last 5 years. I don't know how much that factors into these decisions given how short lived almost all coaching jobs seem to last these days, but it's probably worth consideration.

I imagine coaches of this level understand that Bud had it coming with his inadequacy, recent championship or not.

[BroncoBuck]

The Bucks HC position also comes with the most pressure to win, though. I wonder how that factors in to the next HC's decision.

Right. Only one of these franchises just fired a coach that won a championship for them in the last 5 years. I don't know how much that factors into these decisions given how short lived almost all coaching jobs seem to last these days, but it's probably worth consideration.

I imagine coaches of this level understand that Bud had it coming with his inadequacy, recent championship or not.

Ah, the inadequacy of your star players being injured.

[TroyD92]

Right. Only one of these franchises just fired a coach that won a championship for them in the last 5 years. I don't know how much that factors into these decisions given how short lived almost all coaching jobs seem to last these days, but it's probably worth consideration.

I imagine coaches of this level understand that Bud had it coming with his inadequacy, recent championship or not.

Ah, the inadequacy of your star players being injured.

Lol the copium is unreal

[GoldenAntlers]

I imagine coaches of this level understand that Bud had it coming with his inadequacy, recent championship or not.

Ah, the inadequacy of your star players being injured.

Lol the copium is unreal

Giannis being injured is the main reason the Bucks lost, but that doesn't excuse Bud from terrible decision making, game planning, and lack of meaningful adjustments. Both can be true. As time goes on, I've joined the 'Bucks won a chip in spite of Bud, not because of him' club. Still my favorite Bucks coach, but there is a limit to his effectiveness and this team has reached that limit.

[TroyD92]

Ah, the inadequacy of your star players being injured.

Lol the copium is unreal

Giannis being injured is the main reason the Bucks lost, but that doesn't excuse Bud from terrible decision making, game planning, and lack of meaningful adjustments. Both can be true. As time goes on, I've joined the 'Bucks won a chip in spite of Bud, not because of him' club. Still my favorite Bucks coach, but there is a limit to his effectiveness and this team has reached that limit.

You aren’t coping. I think your take is relatively rational. Saying that we lost solely because Giannis was injured is absolute copium. I don’t think looking at that series that the Bucks win with Giannis fully healthy.

[Neuromancer56]

My vote for coach is Jimmy Buckets.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Phoenix is the pressure cooker job. You don't have much to work with there, considering Paul and Durant might get injured on the next play. And then you have to justify literally every decision to Mat Ishbia and his sidekick Isiah Thomas.

The Isiah Thomas as Ishbia's advisor doesn't get enough play here.

I basically think it's a better version of the LAL job. I always thought it was a great decision by Ham. It might not work but if things go right you are a coach with a ring. I mean rivers is still getting job interviews off of one ring. Chances are it doesn't work out but at least your name is out there. Chances are it doesn't work in Detroit either and there you are irrelevant and people won't remember you in two years after being fired. It don't think it's as good as the Bucks but way better than some of the few jobs out there

[paulpressey25]

Ah, the inadequacy of your star players being injured.

It’s a strange situation. Bud struggled to game manage, but probably no other coach at his level who had his two stars miss so many games in key playoff series. I’m too lazy to go back in playoff history, but wondering if Pop had Manu go down for an entire series and saw Duncan miss multiple key playoff games over a four year stretch.

[emunney]

Right. Only one of these franchises just fired a coach that won a championship for them in the last 5 years. I don't know how much that factors into these decisions given how short lived almost all coaching jobs seem to last these days, but it's probably worth consideration.

I imagine coaches of this level understand that Bud had it coming with his inadequacy, recent championship or not.

Ah, the inadequacy of your star players being injured.

Have to point out that the Heat lost multiple players for the year in our series.

[emunney]

Ah, the inadequacy of your star players being injured.

It’s a strange situation. Bud struggled to game manage, but probably no other coach at his level who had his two stars miss so many games in key playoff series. I’m too lazy to go back in playoff history, but wondering if Pop had Manu go down for an entire series and saw Duncan miss multiple key playoff games over a four year stretch.

Lue.

[BUCKnation]

I think phx and philly arent great jobs, esp if philly loses harden. There isnt much of a path to get much better for either. Bias aside i think milwaukee is easily the best job available and maybe the best job in the league currently outside of maybe denver or boston.

[Profound23]

I hope everyone is smart enough to see we didn't just fire Bud because of the Miami series. He rarely learned from his own mistakes, the only time he seemed to get it was when PJ put him in his place. Even the Miami series where we swept Miami we were literally shooting lights out. I mean two of those games even Brynn Forbes couldn't miss.

We always looked horrible in game 1's under Bud which put us behind the 8-ball for every series. Even the Miami series that I just mentioned we sucked that game and got a last second win in OT. We ran the same defense and refused to put Giannis on the other team's best defender in crunch time. Many of us stated the year we won the title that Bud should have been fired then, but we all knew it wasn't going to happen.

Even if Miami sweeps the ECF and finals Bud had to go.

[MVP2110]

I hope everyone is smart enough to see we didn't just fire Bud because of the Miami series. He rarely learned from his own mistakes, the only time he seemed to get it was when PJ put him in his place. Even the Miami series where we swept Miami we were literally shooting lights out. I mean two of those games even Brynn Forbes couldn't miss.

We always looked horrible in game 1's under Bud which put us behind the 8-ball for every series. Even the Miami series that I just mentioned we sucked that game and got a last second win in OT. We ran the same defense and refused to put Giannis on the other team's best defender in crunch time. Many of us stated the year we won the title that Bud should have been fired then, but we all knew it wasn't going to happen.

Even if Miami sweeps the ECF and finals Bud had to go.

It's weird to talk about how Bud couldn't adjust yet you brought up how we struggled early in series. In series where we lost game 1 under Bud we were 5-2 in those series, so clearly he adjusted

[Matches Malone]

Bud had a playoff run where he did make adjustments from game to game (with the help of PJ Tucker having to scream it into his head) but he was still awful at in-game adjustments. If the gameplan for that night wasn't going to work, there was no deviation, it was just move on to the next game.