This is still considered a “report,” which is journalist-speak for a “strong rumor,” but the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting that the Bucks are on the verge of naming Scott Skiles as their new head coach.
Continuing to make significant progress in their negotiations, the Milwaukee Bucks might be ready to name Scott Skiles their new coach in the next day or two.
The Bucks initially considered a number of coaches from an available pool of candidates that includes former NBA coaches Rick Carlisle, Larry Brown, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Fratello but indications are that the Bucks have zeroed in on Skiles, who was fired in December as coach of the Chicago Bulls.
“The search is continuing,” [Bucks GM John] Hammond said Sunday. “We’re making progress and our goal, as stated before, is to react quickly.”
Asked if the Bucks had decided that Skiles is their man, Hammond said, “We will not discuss individual names of candidates at this time.”
Skiles is a highly coveted commodity who has been linked to coaching vacancies in New York and Memphis as well. It has also been rumored that Skiles might bide his time to see if Miami Heat coach and President Pat Riley stepped aside as coach to pursue Skiles as the new Heat coach.
Regular readers know I’m a Bucks fan, so getting this hire right is especially important to me. Part of me would love to see Larry Brown get the job, but he’s pretty flaky and there’s a good chance that he wouldn’t be around very long. On the other hand, it’s conceivable that Skiles would be the strong leader that the franchise so desperately needs.
The Bucks were one of the league’s worst defensive teams and Skiles is known for his commitment to that end of the floor. The main knock on him is that he’s not widely considered a “player’s coach” because he rubs players the wrong way. But most good coaches do. The worry is that, this season, the Bulls started to tune him out. Still, he went to management and said that the team needed a new voice, so he prompted the change.
The Bucks don’t really have a player that is bigger than the team, so it’s worth the risk if Skiles can whip this team into shape. Milwaukee is currently building around Andrew Bogut, Michael Redd and Mo Williams, who are all good character guys, even if they don’t always pull the team in the same direction.
But that’ll be Skiles’ job, won’t it?
I predict if Skiles does in fact take the job, the Bucks will be playoff-bound next season.
