MILWAUKEE — While early indications suggested the Milwaukee Bucks would take their time finding their next head coach, five different candidates have already been reported including several assistants on other teams.
On May 10, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Bucks received permission to interview Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson for their head coaching vacancy. Atkinson was notoriously responsible for helping to rebuild the Brooklyn Nets’ culture before the team let him go in favor of Steve Nash.
The 55-year-old was also an assistant under Milwaukee’s former head coach, Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta. Atkinson spent one season with the Clippers and the last several as an assistant for the Golden State Warriors.
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In that same report, Wojnarowski named former Hornets coach James Borrego — another member of the Gregg Popovich coaching tree — and Bucks’ Associate Head Coach, Charles Lee as other candidates expected to speak with Milwaukee’s leadership.
On May 11, Wojnarowski reported that the Bucks received permission to interview two more assistants: Portland Trail Blazers assistant Scott Brooks and Adrian Griffin, top assistant for the Toronto Raptors.
Brooks, a 10-year NBA veteran who won a championship with Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets in 1994, is best known for his stint as head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2009 to 2015.
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Griffin, a 9-year NBA veteran himself, began his coaching career with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2008. He’s been an assistant with four other teams since including his current role with the Toronto Raptors, where he won a championship in 2019.
So what can we learn about the Milwaukee Bucks’ ideal candidate based on the five names reported? Clearly, the Bucks’ brass are looking for coaches with plenty of experience who can relate to their players on a fundamental level.
Atkinson, Borrego and Lee come from player development backgrounds while Brooks and Griffin lean on the relatability of being former players to inform the way they harbor relationships with players. Each of these individuals has some level of experience working with star players and elevating role players to some extent, and while many of them would be first-time head coaches, they all bring a least a decade of experience.
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