Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin will be adding a couple of veteran assistants to his staff, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). The new hires are Joe Prunty and Patrick Mutombo, who were with the Hawks and Suns this past season, respectively.
It will be Prunty’s second stint in Milwaukee, as he previously spent four seasons with the organization (2014-18), serving as interim head coach in 2017/18. He had a brief stint as interim coach of the Hawks in ’22/23 as well before they hired Quin Snyder. Prunty has been an NBA assistant for over 20 years, getting his start with San Antonio.
A former assistant with the Nuggets and Raptors, Mutombo was also head coach of the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate, before heading to Phoenix to join Monty Williams‘ staff. Williams was fired after the season ended (he was recently hired by Detroit), leaving Mutombo to find a new opportunity. He previously worked with Griffin in Toronto.
Here’s more from the Central:
- Bucks wing MarJon Beauchamp, who just completed his rookie season, said he had plans to travel to Greece on Wednesday to train with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, writes Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I’m excited – I don’t know what to expect,” Beauchamp said with a big smile. He also intends to play in Summer League next month, according to Nickel. The 2022 first-round pick was attending Griffin’s introductory press conference when he relayed the information.
- K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago weighs the pros and cons of the Bulls possibly pursuing Chris Paul if he ends up getting waived by the Suns. While Paul could help the Bulls, Johnson considers it a “long-shot scenario” at the moment, noting that signing him while retaining some of the team’s own free agents could push Chicago into the luxury tax.
- If Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller, Scoot Henderson and Amen Thompson are the first four names called during the upcoming draft, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic believes the most likely scenario for the Pistons at No. 5 is selecting Villanova wing Cam Whitmore. In the event that Whitmore is taken No. 4, Edwards predicts Detroit will take Houston forward Jarace Walker instead of either of the Thompson twins. He also explores a “very, very, very unlikely” but “non-zero” scenario in which Miller falls to No. 5.
Chris Paul to Bulls pros: unlike Lonzo, he is still capable of playing point guard in the NBA. Cons: if he wants more than the vet min, he is costing them more than they can afford.
That said, with the way AKME has boxed the tram into a corner, they do not have many alternatives, and would have to overpay to get Paul to agree anyway.
Cheapskate Jerry Reinsdorf acting like he can’t pay the luxury tax. Sell the team already. Isn’t there an intern somewhere he was handsy with? Only way to get rid of him. Or maybe he said something racist on tape.
Thay seems to be the way to go, if you really want to get rid of one of the owners; otherwise, it is pretty much impossible.
Which, honestly, I can’t say I blame him or any other owner for staying put as long as possible, I wouldn’t want to get rid of a team that was consistently bringing me in millions of dollars. That goes especially for a team like the Bulls that still has high turnouts even though the owner has refused to pay the tax repeatedly throughout the years…
The only way you get guys like Reinsdorf to change is to negatively impact their wallets, but since I highly doubt fans will stop going to games, he’ll happily continue on avoiding the tax.
Paul would be an excellent option to run the Bulls offense, but he would likely only continue to hurt their already porous defense.
That is what was so good about having Lonzo. He was a solid 3pt shooter, he could run the offense, he excelled at getting the team out on fast breaks, and most importantly, he also provided the Bulls with some very solid perimeter defense…
Barring some miracle and Lonzo gets healthy again, which isn’t happening, it is highly unlikely the Bulls are going to be able to find the pieces they need to get over just being a mediocre team…That is especially with Reinsdorf refusing to go into the tax..
Paul would not have to play D if Caruso was on the court; Williams also is improving. Beverley could take a lot of minutes at pg as well if they resign him.
Chris is going to the Pelicans.
Signing Chris Paul is a terrible idea for the Bulls. Forget about all the ‘over the hill’ players such as Paul, D Rose and Beverley. The Bulls would be better off just going with guys they already have at guard White, Dosunmu, Caruso, LaVine. DeRozan brings the ball up the court a lot. Am sure the Bulls can find someone better, younger and much cheaper than Paul.
Any self respecting player that wants to win is not coming to Chicago sadly, not with the way the Bulls org is run.