In a bold and shocking decision, the Milwaukee Bucks decided to fire head coach Mike Budenholzer on Thursday.
The move comes days after the Bucks lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Miami Heat in five games, one of the rare occasions in which a top seed was eliminated by the eighth seed.
NBA writer Kevin O’Connor feels the Bucks should go out and hire Nick Nurse to be their next coach.
"Out of respect, you gotta let the coach make that adjustment."
This is Giannis' mindset. Right or wrong, he's not the type to overrule. Bucks should hire a coach who will micromanage and make those decisions on the fly.
The biggest name that fits the description is Nick Nurse. https://t.co/5Ymk5aX7fl
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) May 4, 2023
Like Budenholzer, Nurse was just fired after his Toronto Raptors lost in the play-in tournament to the Chicago Bulls.
Also like Budenholzer, Nurse had coached his team to an NBA championship not too long ago.
Nurse will surely be highly sought after in the weeks to come, but perhaps the Bucks will be the best situation for him, as they have a ready-made championship-caliber roster just looking to be revitalized.
They won it all just two years ago, only to fall in seven games in the second round of last year’s playoffs to the Boston Celtics after losing Khris Middleton to an MCL injury.
In the 2018-19 season, Milwaukee had the best record in basketball and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals versus Nurse’s Raptors, and after they took a 2-0 series lead, they lost the next four games after Nurse found a defensive strategy that neutralized Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee had the NBA’s best record this season and three times in the last five years but failed to reach the NBA Finals all three times, which surely led to Budenholzer’s departure.
NEXT: Fans React To Today's Mike Budenholzer News