The Milwaukee Bucks are in the midst of a coaching hunt after firing Mike Budenholzer. This comes after five seasons of regular-season success followed by postseason struggles. You can point to his lack of adjustments, his refusal to call timeouts, or his strict adherence to systems that have proven ineffective on the court. Whatever you choose to focus on, it’s clear change is needed in Milwaukee’s coaching staff.
The Bucks have narrowed their list of candidates to three names: Adrian Griffin, Kenny Atkinson, and Nick Nurse.
There are a lot of considerations here for a team with win-now aspirations. Griffin is a former NBA player who has been an assistant coach in the league for over a decade. Atkinson is a former NBA head coach who had a prosperous yet ultimately unfulfilled run with the Brooklyn Nets. And Nurse just exited the Toronto Raptors after leading them to their first NBA championship in their franchise history but eventually floundering sans their superstar.
Let’s dissect what each coach might bring to the table, and what their potential flaws might be. Here is a ranking of the three candidates based on their merits and coaching history thus far.
Ranking the Milwaukee Bucks’ rumored head coaching candidates: No. 3 – Adrian Griffin
NBA insider Marc Stein (Subscription required) recently reported that Giannis Antetokounmpo is intrigued by the prospect of being coached by Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin. Giannis’ seal of approval is something that weighs heavily on the front office, so it’s one thing to look out for.
Griffin played for the Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, and New Jersey Nets during his NBA career. He averaged 8.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in his career and was a two-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection.
After retiring from playing, Griffin began a career as a coach. He’s been an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, along with the Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic, and Oklahoma City Thunder, before eventually joining the Raptors in 2018. There, Griffin emerged as an instrumental part of the organization’s success in recent years, helping them win the NBA championship in 2019. He’s been around the league for a while and isn’t just some no-name run-of-the-mill coaching hopeful.
Working under the tutelage of winning head coaches like Nurse and Donovan, Griffin should also be a relatively knowledgeable coach with a good understanding of the game. If his mentorship through the years is any indication, he is also no doubt a student of the game down to the Xs and Os of it all.
Griffin is known for being a players’ coach who is able to get the best out of his players. He is able to relate to them on a personal level and build relationships with them. This allows him to get the most out of their talents.
Being a player’s coach was also a significant factor in the Raptors’ development of players through the years. As part of Toronto’s coaching staff, Griffin has been noted for his ability to identify the roster’s strengths and weaknesses and help them improve in areas where they need it. This allowed the team to be successful in the long run, even in the post-Kawhi Leonard era.
Griffin has a record of 5-3 when he has filled in as head coach during his years as an assistant coach. He has filled in for Nick Nurse of the Toronto Raptors twice, once in the 2020 NBA Bubble and again this past season. In the Bubble, Griffin led the Raptors to a 4-0 record, while this past season, he led them to a 1-3 record. Griffin also filled in for Tom Thibodeau of the Chicago Bulls once, leading them to a 1-1 record in those games.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that Griffin’s ex-wife, Audrey Sterling, publicly accused him of domestic abuse in August 2020. The Toronto Raptors didn’t take any action or conduct any investigation into the allegations. Griffin filed a libel suit against Sterling a year later, but he eventually dropped it. Given the Milwaukee Bucks’ well-documented preference for uncontroversial, high-character guys, this might also be something to take into consideration.
As with all career assistant coaches, Griffin’s main weakness is his lack of experience as a head coach and his lack of experience in the playoffs. He has never been a head coach in the NBA and has only been to the playoffs a handful of times as an assistant coach. These things could be a detriment to him if he is ever given a head coaching job. He will need to learn how to handle all of the responsibilities that come with being a head coach, such as dealing with the media, managing the roster, and making in-game decisions, among other things.
The reality is that the Bucks don’t have the time to get a new coach acclimated to the way they do things on the court. At this point in their core’s timeline, going with a promising but relatively unproven coach is a high-risk, high-reward move — with a risk that might be too high for most fans. He’s absolutely a fine coach, but the Milwaukee Bucks can do better in their search.
Ranking the Milwaukee Bucks’ rumored head coaching candidates: No. 2 – Kenny Atkinson
Kenny Atkinson has always been a bit of a rising star in the coaching ranks after he spent four seasons with the Brooklyn Nets. In that time, he compiled a 118-190 win-loss record, but those numbers do little to tell the whole story of just how much he turned their franchise around.
Comparing the before and after of Atkinson’s arrival is night and day. Before Atkinson came on board, the Nets consistently registered a losing record in each of the four seasons before Atkinson was hired. They had not made the playoffs since 2015.
In just a few seasons, the Nets had a winning record in each of the three seasons after Atkinson was hired. Then they made the playoffs in 2019. Then they future-proofed themselves by developing a young roster that included D’Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, and Spencer Dinwiddie. Their gains were steady, and the future was bright.
Atkinson, at that time, implemented a fast-paced and 3-point-heavy offensive system predicated on ball movement and player movement. Considering the youth on that squad at the time, that system was just perfect for maximizing the collective talents of the Nets’ roster. The Nets were one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the league during Atkinson’s tenure, and his system helped the Nets to become one of the most efficient offenses in the league.
Atkinson’s arrival in Brooklyn coincided with a significant turnaround for the franchise. He helped to develop a young roster and foster a positive culture. As a result, the Nets went from being one of the worst teams in the league to a playoff team.
Besides turning around the organization’s culture and overall trajectory, Atkinson was also largely credited for developing their young players. He was the force that galvanized the All-Star emergences of D’Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, and Jarrett Allen. Part of that was also his ability to create a positive team culture. The Nets were one of the most fun and exciting teams to watch during his tenure.
Atkinson did have some well-documented flaws as the Nets’ head coach. In the past, he’s been criticized for his rotations owing to his frequent changes to his lineups. Atkinson has also been criticized for his in-game decision-making. He has also been known to make questionable calls, such as not calling timeouts or not playing his best players in crunch time.
Another interesting angle to him, though, is that Atkinson is part of the Steve Kerr coaching tree. We’ve seen how well Mike Brown, another former Golden State assistant, has fared as a head coach. It’s not unreasonable to think Kerr, one of the best coaches in the league, would have mentored Atkinson the same way. In the two seasons that Atkinson was assistant coach, the Warriors put together an impressive 97-67 record.
Ultimately, he’s also still a relatively inexperienced head coach. He only had four seasons of experience before he left the Nets in 2020. The front office had just signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the off-season, and they wanted to hire a win-now coach who had more experience in the playoffs.
Though there’s no questioning his ability to turn a franchise around, there’s really no evidence that he can take a team all the way to a title. The Bucks are not where the Brooklyn Nets were all those years ago. Their winning culture is set, and what they need is a proven coach to take them over the hump.
At the same time, it’s also a fair point that the firing of Mike Budenholzer was not so much meant to give way for an upgrade. It was simply time for something to change, as Bud’s coaching had grown stagnant. It’s for this reason that Atkinson is still second on this list. Hiring him will no doubt bring positive change to the Milwaukee Bucks organization, even if it’s still unclear how far he can take them.
Ranking the Milwaukee Bucks’ rumored head coaching candidates: No. 1 – Nick Nurse
At this point, it’s really not a surprise, is it?
Nick Nurse was the head coach of the Toronto Raptors from 2018 to 2023. He was hired after the Raptors fired Dwane Casey following a disappointing playoff exit. Nurse had previously served as an assistant coach under Casey for five seasons.
In his first season as head coach, Nurse led the Raptors to an NBA championship. They defeated the Golden State Warriors in six games, becoming the first Canadian team to win the title. Nurse was named the NBA Coach of the Year for his efforts.
The Raptors fired Nurse after the 2022-23 season. He finished with a record of 277-163 in five seasons with the team, a tenure in which he led the Raptors to an NBA championship, two Atlantic Division titles, and one Eastern Conference title. To put it simply, the Raptors won a lot, and they did so in a convincing fashion.
More than anyone else on this list, Nurse is a proven winner. As mentioned, Nurse led the Raptors to an NBA championship in 2019. Even after Kawhi Leonard opted to take his talents to Los Angeles, the Toronto Raptors surprised the league by rolling out an offense designed around the talents of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and OG Anunoby. Most nights, they just looked like a cohesive and well-oiled unit that made do with what they had despite the lack of star power. And it worked. They won, and won, and won.
As for his coaching skill, his track record speaks for itself. Nurse just has that uncanny ability to get the most out of his players on the defensive end. He is a creative play-caller who is always looking for ways to create advantages for his team. The year they won the chip, the Raptors were consistently up there with the Milwaukee Bucks in defensive rating.
Perhaps the greatest strength of Nick Nurse is that he is an innovative defensive coach and possibly one of the best in the league to this day. Who could forget the basketball ingenuity that led to the vaunted Giannis Wall? That one adjustment likely tipped the scale in the Eastern Conference as a whole and set the Raptors past the Bucks after going down 0-2. It’s also a strategy that teams continue to attempt to mimic to this day in an attempt to stop the Greek Freak.
Later in that same postseason, it was also Nurse who pulled out the box-and-one to stop Stephen Curry in the finals. It’s clear he’s not afraid to try new things — especially little-known schemes — to try and put his teams in a position to succeed. They don’t always lead to success — just look at their sweep at the hands of Philadelphia last year — but there is certainly something to be said about his schematic creativity.
Nurse is a strong leader who is able to get the best out of his players. He is also a good communicator who is able to connect with his players on a personal level. The Bucks have a young roster, and Nurse would be able to help them develop into a championship team. Just look at the development of guys like Precious Achiuwa and Yuta Watanabe into bona fide shooters thanks to Nurse’s “shooting school.” It’s one well-documented feel-good storyline that has not gone under the radar in this league, and it’s clear Nurse is a very hands-on coach when it comes to individual player development, which should bode well for guys like MarJon Beauchamp and A.J. Green if Nurse does get the coaching job.
To be clear, Nurse still does have his flaws — some of which look a lot like Budenholzer’s. Ask any Raptors fan: Nurse has a certain willingness to stick to his guns, even when it’s not working. This can sometimes lead to him making the same mistakes over and over again. He also has a tendency to rely too much on his star players, even when they’re not having a good game.
In the 2020-21 NBA season, the Raptors were the only team with three players in the top 20 in the league in terms of minutes played per game. On top of the additional risk of injury, this can sometimes lead to his team becoming stagnant and predictable. It also means fewer developmental minutes for some of the Milwaukee Bucks’ younger pieces.
In 2023, the top-heavy Raptors missed the playoffs for the first time under Nurse, and the Raptors organization decided to let him go. Detractors point to his poor showings throughout that season as evidence of his decline, though it could also be argued that his roster in that final year just wasn’t the most talented.
For all his shortcomings, Nick Nurse is the only free agent coach remaining today that you can look at and say, “That’s our guy. He’s the one who can win us a championship.” Flaws and everything, Nick Nurse has the most proven track record with the on-court prowess to show for it. And it’s for these reasons that Nurse ranks number one for us in this list.
After the heartbreaks of the past five years, perhaps it’s time for a Nurse to heal the Milwaukee Bucks’ wounds.
Ranking the Milwaukee Bucks’ rumored head coaching candidates: Wildcard: Monty Williams
Albeit much earlier than the report that the Bucks had narrowed their coaching search to three names, insider information from Shams Charania also indicated the Milwaukee Bucks would “aggressively pursue” former Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams for the position. It’s unclear if that pursuit continues to this day, but it’s an interesting idea considering the Milwaukee Bucks beat Williams’ Suns en route to the 2021 NBA championship.
There are a number of pros to hiring Williams as the Milwaukee Bucks’ next head coach. To a degree, he is a proven winner in the regular season. He has a winning record in both the regular season and the playoffs, and he has led his team to the NBA Finals.
The talent available on the Suns’ roster was certainly a factor, but by and large, Monty Williams was able to coach the Suns into one of the most balanced units in the league, and they dominated the opposition with their steady play on both ends of the floor. In 2022-23, the Suns finished seventh in defensive rating (112.3) and fifth in offensive rating (116.1), according to NBA.com/stats.
However, there are also some cons to hiring Williams as the Bucks’ next head coach. For instance, there are valid concerns regarding his ability to adjust in the playoffs. The Suns, in the past few years, have floundered to significantly lesser opponents in the Western Conference playoffs. It’s not that they lost: it’s how. The Suns have dropped multiple must-win games due to poor showings up and down the roster, including the 2-0 lead they gave up to the Bucks in 2021. Because of this, they’ve been criticized as being mentally weak.
Williams is also a bit of a defensive-minded coach in the mold of Mike Budenholzer. That’s not necessarily a con, but the Bucks’ front office has to consider that they haven’t been one of the best offensive teams in the NBA in recent years, especially in the playoffs. Milwaukee’s defense has always been schematically sound, but their offense has historically gone stagnant when up against equally-stout defensive units. After years of cultivating their defense-first culture and system, they might be looking for a coach who can help them take their offense to the next level this time around.
Monty Williams is also not as experienced as some of the other candidates who have been mentioned for the job, and as a result, he’s also been outcoached by Budenholzer in the past. The Bucks will need to weigh these things carefully if they are actually willing to take a chance on him.
Ultimately, the decision of who to hire as the next head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks will be up to the team’s front office. However, all three of these candidates would be good choices and would give the Bucks a chance to compete for a championship.
Only time will tell which one of these candidates will eventually make it to the position of Milwaukee’s next head coach. But one thing’s for sure; if any of these names are the sure pick, then the future is bright for this next era of Bucks basketball.
Stay tuned for more updates and analysis as the Milwaukee Bucks search for their next head coach continues.