Monty Williams is believed to be the favorite to land the Bucks head coaching job left vacant when the team fired Jason Kidd on Monday. Williams has not coached a game since his last stop as an associate head coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Williams, once an assistant on the Spurs’ Greg Popovich bench, is now in a front office role with the team. According to Yahoo Sports, the Bucks front office believes this season, which derailed under Kidd, can be rescued.
Following from Chris Mannix,
Available coaches will line up to interview, but there may be an early favorite: Monty Williams. NBA coaching sources believe the widely respected Williams is the frontrunner to land the job, and his track record of working with high-level talent — Williams developed Anthony Davis into an All-Star in New Orleans and led the Pelicans to the playoffs before being fired in 2015 — will make him appealing. While it’s unclear when the Bucks will hire a permanent coach, Williams, currently working in the Spurs’ front office, could be available right away.
Milwaukee is 4-6 in its last ten games, and recent struggles have the team in eighth in the eastern conference. New general manager Jon Hurst is confident in his decision to fire Kidd after he held the head coaching position for three and a half seasons.
“We made this decision relatively quickly,” Horst told Yahoo. “Why now? We believe this gives our team the best opportunity to have the most success this season. The success we expect and going forward long term. You have short windows in the NBA to build towards contention, and actually contend, and we don’t want to waste time in doing that.”
The Bucks in the meantime, according to a report from Mitch Lawrence of Forbes.com, have already honed in candidates to take over from interim coach Joe Prunty.
Forbes reports that David Fizdale, formerly of the Memphis Grizzlies, ousted Louisville head coach Rick Pitino, Jeff Van Gundy, and G League coach Jerry Stackhouse are all potential coaches to land the coveted chance to coach the talented Giannis Antetokounmpo led Bucks.
