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

[ABucksFan]

Kerr also has some really smart guys to utilize his "system". We don't have that hence we need a really smart coach

[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.

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

Look at FVV last year in back to backs:

October 21-22: 38,39 minutes
Nov 6-7: 39.34 minutes
Dec 2-3: 41,37 minutes
Dec 18-19: 35,41 minutes
January 16-17: 45,37 minutes
January 27-28: 40,41 minutes and more
https://www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/2991230/fred-vanvleet

More than just the minutes, Nurse doesn't appear to know how to adjust.

[MickeyDavis]

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 did play guys a lot of minutes. But his team didn't have 3 30+ starters and another one with chronic knee pain. I can't imagine he'd be dumb enough to play those guys 36+.

[skbucks1985]

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.

Interesting perspective. I'd go the opposite way, if they were going to go with Griffin or Atkinson then I think you don't interview Nurse. I think you got less criticism if you just don't interview him rather than say he's one of the finalists and then go in a different direction.

[Ron Swanson]

Way less concerned with Nurse's war criminal record in regards to minutes load (he'll adapt to a more veteran team) and more concerned with the fact that he's never been able to get much of anything out of his offenses outside of the one year where he had an insanely stacked roster of offensive talent (Kawhi, Lowry, Siakam, FVV, Powell, Gasol, Ibaka).

[tedbrogen]

I think we have to look at the Raptors minutes this season through the lens of there was clearly a playoffs or bust mentality from the owner and/or GM.

It’s the only reason they wouldn’t have been sellers at the trade deadline.

They had almost zero bench so Nurse either had to ride the horses he had or sink fast.

[Prez]

*If* Nurse is the guy, I’m positive there’ll be conversations between him, Horst, the medical staff, etc and he won’t just tell everyone to **** off and play all the top guys 37mpg.

My guess is minute management just wasn’t as big an emphasis in the Raptors org and Nurse stretched that to his advantage when Masai and that front office kept giving him less and less depth of talent to work with but still put pressure on him to win as much as possible.

[skbucks1985]

In his year in Toronto, Kawhi played 60 games and averaged 34 minutes a night. I don't remember if he had an injury during the season that kept him out for an extended period of time, but that minutes number is pretty in line with his minutes with the Clippers.

[Dick Tate]

If "It's always been Nurse", then are the 6'rs and Suns just playing along?

[buckboy]

In his year in Toronto, Kawhi played 60 games and averaged 34 minutes a night. I don't remember if he had an injury during the season that kept him out for an extended period of time, but that minutes number is pretty in line with his minutes with the Clippers.

Based on the game log, it looks like it was all routine maintenance. They mostly rested him against bad teams and won most of those games in blowouts (17-5 in those 22).

Longest streak was 4 games during that season.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/leonaka01/gamelog/2019

[buckboy]

If "It's always been Nurse", then are the 6'rs and Suns just playing along?

I think he's always been their first choice.

[Prez]

I do wonder if Nurse holds out to see what’s up with Boston. They would probably be the #1 destination. I’d put us at #2 given the age/durability issues of KD, and Harden probably leaving Philly.

[SirChurros]

Is there any way Boston would extend Mazzula’s interim tag? I don’t think he’s great, but this season could have been a much bigger disaster for Boston given what happened with Udoka. It’s pretty impressive they’re in the conference finals if we’re being honest.

[rayallenscalves]

Journal-Sentinel had a nice recap of all the players who developed into really nice players under Nurse's watch, including Pascal, FVV, OG and Norm, as well as Lowry when Nurse was an assistant. Player development was always supposed to be a one of the benefits of Bud, but we never really saw him mold a young player into a valuable piece. Hopefully Nurse could be that guy.

[Matches Malone]

Is there any way Boston would extend Mazzula’s interim tag? I don’t think he’s great, but this season could have been a much bigger disaster for Boston given what happened with Udoka. It’s pretty impressive they’re in the conference finals if we’re being honest.

They already extended him during all-star weekend.

[SirChurros]

Is there any way Boston would extend Mazzula’s interim tag? I don’t think he’s great, but this season could have been a much bigger disaster for Boston given what happened with Udoka. It’s pretty impressive they’re in the conference finals if we’re being honest.

They already extended him during all-star weekend.

Shows how much I pay attention.

[jschligs]

I do wonder if Nurse holds out to see what’s up with Boston. They would probably be the #1 destination. I’d put us at #2 given the age/durability issues of KD, and Harden probably leaving Philly.

I don't necessarily think BOS is that much more enticing than us. I think Brown is going to want out at some point, they have an aging Al Horford, and even if Brown stays they are about to have $500m tied up between two guys.

We may be an older team, but we have one of the top 2-3 players in the world.

[Matches Malone]

Is there any way Boston would extend Mazzula’s interim tag? I don’t think he’s great, but this season could have been a much bigger disaster for Boston given what happened with Udoka. It’s pretty impressive they’re in the conference finals if we’re being honest.

They already extended him during all-star weekend.

Shows how much I pay attention.

No worries. I think if they get swept, there could be a scenario where they just eat that extension and fire him anyways, which would be wild.

[lessthannick11]

Journal-Sentinel had a nice recap of all the players who developed into really nice players under Nurse's watch, including Pascal, FVV, OG and Norm, as well as Lowry when Nurse was an assistant. Player development was always supposed to be a one of the benefits of Bud, but we never really saw him mold a young player into a valuable piece. Hopefully Nurse could be that guy.

Bobby and Pat turned out ok, they just werent as young

[pilprin]

JSO
Nick Nurse, Kenny Atkinson, and Adrian Griffin move to next step in Milwaukee #Bucks head coaching search

Other candidates may still be in play, per a league source.
https://jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2023/05/22/nick-nurse-kenny-atkinson-adrian-griffin-move-to-next-step-in-milwaukee-bucks-head-coaching-search/70244290007/ via
@JimOwczarski