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

[ReasonablySober]

Was Khris around when Griffin was on Skiles staff? I’d imagine he’d be the only remaining player with even remotely close to a tenure long enough to have been here still??

Griffin's last stop in Milwaukee was 2010, Khris's first season here was '13-'14.

[Badgerlander]

I picked Griffin in the last poll. I feel like I should win something.

Skiles admiration?

[greekbuck34]

The only thing I'm worried is that the tweet came from Woj who probably has zero sources inside the Bucks. I just hope we sign Nurse before the Celtics enter the game.

[tydett]

Spoiler:

The silence was deafening re: Nurse.

Again, organization has to do right by Budenholzer and can't name his replacement 2 days after he's fired, especially in the wake of the news of the loss of his brother getting out.

Bring in a lot of people, make it seem like you really felt you had to explore all options to replace the best coach this franchise has ever had (sorry, Nelly), meanwhile Nurse doesn't get mentioned for anything because he's taking some time to "think about his future" - all while you're negotiating a contract and setting up meetings with franchise cornerstones so that you can get the ball moving quickly once the appropriate amount of time has passed. Gives Nurse a few extra weeks off and he can still get wined and dined, and the org gets cover for not negotiating behind a dude's back while he goes through the grieving process.

yeah, i guess that's one possible scenario. but it's extremely bucks centric. Nurse has to know he is the belle of the ball here, right? easily, he has the most shine of anyone out there. so why wouldn't he take all the time he can to let the playoffs resolve, let more teams get involved in his courtship, and create a very serious bidding war. Phoenix, Philly, Milwaukee, and now Boston are all going to be looking for coaches.

it's blind homerism to assume that he would just pick Milwaukee because of Giannis. Let's face it, that's the only thing we have going for us right now. No assets to work with, aging flawed players, **** climate.

or he can go to Phoenix and live in a modern, upscale city where it doesn't get cold and he can coach two of the top, what, 8 players in the game?

or he can go to Boston, with all that history, and be the thing that a mostly young finals ready team needs to begin a serious run of real dominance.

or he can go to Philly.. well, he aint going to Philly.

Spoiler:

I dont think we got him. i think maybe we do something clever to make it look like we picked one of those other two guys over him but really he was never fully in.

Understand your concern - I think Wisconsin sports fans have a kind of inherited learned helplessness. But in regards to what you have posted about the other jobs, I think you have it framed incorrectly.

Phoenix - honestly, the worst situation imo - they actually have no assets left because they just traded EVERYTHING for KD, who can't be relied on the be healthy all season and has had pretty subpar flameouts in the past two years' playoffs. Paul is either too old or gone to also be a significant factor, and Ayton is broken. You basically have Booker end of list.

Boston - they have a lot of depth now - but this team is pretty broken. they might not fire Mazzulla (they probably should), but if they do, you are locked into Tatum and Brown... and not much else. Horford is showing his age, and already relied on a miraculous fountain of youth for the past year and a half; Marcus Smart seems like an obvious fall guy of players, so he'll probably be gone; Derrick White and Brogdon played really well, but are also role players who could be prone to a fallback season (esp. Brogdon who didn't have one of his nearly-annual 20-game injuries). I trust Middleton to dribble and playmake better than Brown (a huge indictment on a guy who's going to get a $300 million contract), and Tatum can be brilliant or just totally invisible, also about to be on a $320 million contract. Plus their pseudo-Kyrie is the president of the PA that just negotiated a deal that will make it harder for that team to improve so that they could get weed and gambling endorsement money.

Comparatively, you have Giannis who is a top 2 player (sorry, Jokic is better than him right now until Giannis can take it back), an ecosystem that has been built entirely around his talents that just needs a little bit of tinkering based on situation, an ownership group with deep pockets willing to spend, and a media environment that will mostly just shrug when Nurse inevitably whines to them about something, and they might not even report on it because it's only 3 months until the NFL Draft. It's a pretty easy situation to envision a top coach wanting, especially in comparison to the two you've identified as being better (all respect due to Philly, who also has a soft superstar problem that they have to contend with on top of the uncertain future of James Harden).

[Frank Nova]

Was Khris around when Griffin was on Skiles staff? I’d imagine he’d be the only remaining player with even remotely close to a tenure long enough to have been here still??

Griffin's last stop in Milwaukee was 2010, Khris's first season here was '13-'14.

Time flies when you’re having fun I guess.

[El Pooch Grande]

So our RealGM board money has to be on Nurse right now, right?

[M-C-G]

Why would Atkinson be a totally different coach after a couple years as an assistant? Like he finally figured out rotations and how to manage timeouts? He took some good drugs out in California and has a different more open minded personality now?

Maybe Atkinson should be Nurse's assistant.

While I am typically a fan of your takes, this one doesn't work for me. 'Why would a coach, coaching with a new coach under a different style learn anything?'

Coaches learn to coach better and cross pollinating them with other successful coaches is absolutely a good thing.

I’m sure he added a few ideas to his basic philosophy but to me when the pressure is turned up people show their true colors and for the most part they don’t change

I've coached youth sports my entire adulthood and there is a ton that I see that I like and re-use. While the egos might be bigger in pro sports, I still think if you have the 'coach mindset' you are always looking for things that can make your team better UNLESS you are just caught up too much in ego.

[aboveAverage]

I don’t think Nurse locked up at all. How could he be when there are so many great choices? It’s going to be a bidding war.

[buckboy]

So our RealGM board money has to be on Nurse right now, right?

Mine always was. No reason to move it now.

[JayMKE]

Make Nurse the highest paid coach in the league, our billionaires need to get it done.

[MVP2110]

Make Nurse the highest paid coach in the league, our billionaires need to get it done.

Yep, Nurse or bust

[LittleRooster]

I’ve wanted Nurse but I don't see how this interview wouldn't give someone pause: https://www.libertyballers.com/2023/5/19/23729873/nick-nurse-sixers-head-coach-search-interview-doc-rivers-daryl-morey-james-harden-joel-embiid

Specifically this: “Lastly, the Raptors have been atrocious in the halfcourt offense for about four years now. While some of that is personnel-driven, there isn’t a lot of creativity in Nurse’s offensive schemes. When the 76ers went on that 6-minute scoring drought in Game 6, it gave me Raptors flashbacks, because it seemed like every damn game this season had an extended scoring drought.”


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[MikeIsGood]

I'm pretty sure someone had an 'it's going to be Nick Nurse but the entire board will freak out for the next month anyways' post. Need to find that.

[stillgotgame]

My only concern with Nurse is his inability to stretch out rotations during the regular season. He played 4 guys 36-38 minutes a night, regardless of back to backs, until they broke down. That seems like a bad strategy for a team with 3 established vets that really don't need/can't do all those regular season minutes. Zero chance Mids doesn't fall apart physically.

[sidney lanier]

I think the only reason to leak finalists as though this were The Bachelor and we're dying to see who gets the rose is political cover.

If our choice among the perfectly coiffed and distressingly airheaded hotties were the expected one, there is no reason to name finalists. Just give her the damn rose.

But if we're expecting criticism for not picking the fave, then it makes sense to show that the fave was considered.

If that's the game, it won't be Nurse.

[buckboy]

I’ve wanted Nurse but I don't see how this interview wouldn't give someone pause: https://www.libertyballers.com/2023/5/19/23729873/nick-nurse-sixers-head-coach-search-interview-doc-rivers-daryl-morey-james-harden-joel-embiid

Specifically this: “Lastly, the Raptors have been atrocious in the halfcourt offense for about four years now. While some of that is personnel-driven, there isn’t a lot of creativity in Nurse’s offensive schemes. When the 76ers went on that 6-minute scoring drought in Game 6, it gave me Raptors flashbacks, because it seemed like every damn game this season had an extended scoring drought.”


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Definitely worthy of concern, however Masai has a type when drafting. And it's not offense.

[BroncoBuck]

Kerr is one of the biggest “trust the system and don’t deviate from it” guys in the league. Where are people coming up with this great in game adjustment guy? His GM just drafted all these high lottery picks that Kerr doesn’t play because they don’t fit his system.

[MVP2110]

My only concern with Nurse is his inability to stretch out rotations during the regular season. He played 4 guys 36-38 minutes a night, regardless of back to backs, until they broke down. That seems like a bad strategy for a team with 3 established vets that really don't need/can't do all those regular season minutes. Zero chance Mids doesn't fall apart physically.

I'd be really curious how this would go with our medical staff. Our medical staff has to be one of the most conservative staffs in the game so seeing how they and Nurse mixed together would be fascinating

[MVP2110]

Kerr is one of the biggest “trust the system and don’t deviate from it” guys in the league. Where are people coming up with this great in game adjustment guy? His GM just drafted all these high lottery picks that Kerr doesn’t play because they don’t fit his system.

This. Kerr is not same great in game adjustment guy. He's not Lue or Nurse or Spo. He puts in a great system with great players and let's them run it

[JayMKE]

My only concern with Nurse is his inability to stretch out rotations during the regular season. He played 4 guys 36-38 minutes a night, regardless of back to backs, until they broke down. That seems like a bad strategy for a team with 3 established vets that really don't need/can't do all those regular season minutes. Zero chance Mids doesn't fall apart physically.

He's not opposed to load managing tho as evidence by Kawhi's time there, I think it's more an issue of personnel why he played those guys so many minutes and I doubt the Bucks are changing medical staff either.