Bucks Notes: Coaching Search, Giannis, Middleton, Lopez

Despite the Bucks‘ regular season success in recent years, their playoff runs – with the exception of their 2021 championship – haven’t ended the way they wanted or expected, general manager Jon Horst told reporters on Friday in explaining why the team felt the need to move on from Mike Budenholzer.

As Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relays, Horst said on Friday that the Bucks’ next head coach won’t necessarily need to have championship experience – or even NBA head coaching experience – since he doesn’t yet want to “put any boxes around” what sort of candidate the team is looking for.

“That could change. This is obviously very early in what will be a thorough process. Very early in terms of time after the decision’s been made,” Horst said. “… As we dive into the process and it evolves, obviously it becomes more narrow, but at this point, everything is and should be on the table. We’re very much in a phase of gathering and collecting and who’s interested and what that very large candidate pool can be and then we’ll work from there.

Horst, who said he’ll be seeking someone with many of the same traits as Budenholzer who can unlock more of the roster’s potential, added that he likes the idea of getting feedback from Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks’ other core players before officially hiring a new head coach.

“When it comes to our guys, I really hope and expect them to have a role and a voice in the process,” he said, per Owczarski. “Their opinion matters to me. I know it matters to our ownership group. It’s something that I trust and value. So as we go through the process, I think at the right time we’ll make sure that a group of our players weigh in and partake in this in the right way and the right time.”

Here’s more on the Bucks:

• Faced with a new CBA that will introduce more restrictive measures for teams well above the tax line, the Bucks are in a difficult position as they weigh what to do with Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez, two important players who are in their 30s and are up for new contracts, Brian Windhorst said during a TV appearance on ESPN’s Get Up (Twitter video link). Windhorst suggests that Marc Lasry‘s decision to sell his stake in the team this year was likely related to the cap-related “quagmire” Milwaukee will face in the coming years.
• In a subscriber-only story for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jim Owczarski examines whether the new CBA will shorten the Bucks’ championship window and digs into what the market will look like for Middleton and Lopez this offseason, assuming Middleton opts out. While rival teams will covet both players and neither will come cheap, sources tell Owczarski that Middleton won’t command a maximum-salary deal and Lopez’s age and 2021 back surgery will work against him.
• Elsewhere at The Journal Sentinel, Owczarski identifies some head coaching candidates the Bucks could consider and breaks down contract details for every player on the roster.