The Milwaukee Bucks are reportedly meeting with Mike Budenholzer and Ettore Messina in New York on Tuesday for the second round of their head coach interview process.
The Milwaukee Bucks seem to be taking a significant step forward in the process of hiring their new head coach.
According to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the team’s ownership are meeting with former Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer and current San Antonio Spurs assistant Ettore Messina in New York on Tuesday.
Milwaukee Bucks ownership meeting with Mike Budenholzer and San Antonio assistant Ettore Messina on head coaching job in New York today, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 15, 2018
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With general manager Jon Horst and his front office team having completed an extensive first round of interviews that included Budenholzer, Messina, Becky Hammon, Steve Clifford, Monty Williams, David Blatt, Joe Prunty and Jay Larranaga at a minimum, the Bucks’ plan was said to be centered around the owners then meeting with finalists in the second round of interviews.
Budenholzer’s inclusion in this stage of the project is certainly not a surprise. On Monday, Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the Bucks were planning to meet with Budenholzer again on Tuesday, while Wojnarowski had also highlighted the 48-year-old as the focus of coaching searches for both the Bucks and Raptors in a previous report too.
As for Messina, this is the first report to indicate the veteran Italian coach is among the final candidates under consideration from the Bucks.
With a prior report from Velazquez indicating the team’s plan was to have three or four candidates advance to this point, it’s possible the Bucks have another coach or two under consideration at this final stage.
Saying that, it’s equally possible that Budenholzer and Messina could be the final two candidates, and one of them could be the team’s next head coach.
What can be parsed from that is a preference for an experienced head coach. Budenholzer has been an NBA head coach for five seasons, and while Messina has yet to coach permanently from the top seat in the US, he’s one of the most decorated head coaches in EuroLeague history.
Also worth noting is the connection both men have with the San Antonio Spurs. While Messina is a current assistant on Gregg Popovoch’s bench, Budenholzer was a stalwart of his staff before making the jump to head coaching in Atlanta.
Hammon, Williams, Prunty, and James Borrego, who was hired by Charlotte before getting to interview with the Bucks, all boasted San Antonio links too, indicating the Bucks are extremely interested in grabbing their own slice of the NBA’s most consistent franchise over the past 20 years.
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Having reached the point where owners are now involved in the process, it seems as if a final decision on the identity of the new head coach may be in the very near future for the Bucks.