After losing in five humiliating games to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs, the Bucks need a revamp. Everything about them is stale—their offense has grown predictable, their defense exploitable. With coach Mike Budenholzer kicked to the curb, now is the chance for the Bucks to reinvent and reimagine who they are and what kind of team they want to be as the threat of Giannis Antetokounmpo's free agency in 2025 looms in the middle distance. The new Bucks, it turns outs, might look distressingly like the old Bucks as the team has requested permission to interview Portland Trail Blazers assistant Scott Brooks.
Like Budenholzer, Brooks has a reputation as a popular, if uninventive coach. During his 12 years with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards, Brooks amassed an impressive 55.7 percent winning percentage, a better mark than legendary coaches like Larry Brown, Don Nelson, Red Holzman and Lenny Wilkins. Still, Brooks is considered a safe, boring coach who never gets the most out of his personnel. He has coached Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, John Wall and Bradley Beal—of course he should have a good record.
Outside of Scott Brooks, the Bucks are also rumored to be interested in litany of former head coaches, most notably Kenny Atkinson (former Nets coach, current Warriors assistant) and James Borrego (former Hornets coach). To wit, Charles Lee, the team's current associate head coach, is one of the hottest young coaches and is one of the finalists for the outstanding Raptors and Pistons jobs, but would probably want to stay in Milwaukee to coach a contender if given the chance.
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