Adrian Griffin will be in charge of coaching Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks next season in a move that was announced earlier today. His hiring comes after the organization considered several other candidates, including Nick Nurse, who had Griffin on his staff as an assistant this past season with the Toronto Raptors.
We may never know whether Griffin was Milwaukee’s top choice all along. The franchise may hype Griffin up as the candidate they were zeroed in on from the start, but Shams Charania suggests the process came down to two final candidates, between Griffin and Golden State’s Kenny Atkinson.
However, Charania points out that Nurse actually withdrew himself from the Bucks’ interview process. The NBA insider did not provide any reason as to why Nurse may have backed out. Yet, we can’t help but point out that there are several other NBA head coaching vacancies, with Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Toronto still searching for a new leader.
We know Nurse won’t be headed back to Toronto, so maybe he likes his chances of emerging with a gig elsewhere. Or maybe he caught wind of Griffin, an assistant who was on Nurse’s staff for all five seasons, being a finalist in Milwaukee, and wanted to make a gesture that helped Griffin land the gig by removing himself from the competition.
Again, there are no reports on why Nurse may have backed out, but with other teams coming closer to a resolution in their coaching search, maybe we’ll have our answer sooner than later.
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