While we’re still waiting for the Bucks to make it official, an ESPN report indicating that Taylor Jenkins will be their next head coach from last Thursday hasn’t been refuted anywhere, so we can count on it, I suppose. Zac weighed in on the hire over the weekend, which had been telegraphed going back a couple weeks, even before the regular season ended and Doc “stepped down.” There were precisely zero reports that they interviewed any other candidates, and only rumors that the franchise had interest
in their own assistant, Darvin Ham, and Pelicans interim coach James Borrego.
While that might rub some the wrong way, bear in mind that back in 2023, when they conducted a wide-ranging search that turned over many stones, they hired Adrian Griffin. A 30-13 record belied deep defensive issues and locker room dysfunction, so it wasn’t enough to save him, and he hasn’t worked in the NBA since. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a big-time search when the last one ended in disaster. Though to be fair, they honed in on Doc Rivers pretty quickly after firing Griffin—GM Jon Horst reportedly wanted Kenny Atkinson, but it’s unknown if he was actually interviewed—and that too was a failure. So maybe there’s no single great way to search for a head coach.
Regardless, Jenkins is back in Milwaukee after one season on Bud’s staff back in 2018–19, on the heels of a moderately successful five-plus years in Memphis. We’ll continue analyzing his fit with the as-yet unknown status of their roster this offseason, but it’s high time we get our readers’ opinions too. We’ll keep it mostly at a 30,000-foot view for now.
