
The Detroit Pistons’ search for their next head coach just took an interesting turn last night with some surprising news.
The Milwaukee Bucks announced that they had parted ways with head coach Mike Budenholzer, which immediately makes him one of the top candidates on the coaching market:
BREAKING: The Milwaukee Bucks dismissed coach Mike Budenholzer, sources tell ESPN. Budenholzer is out after the East’s top-seed suffered a first-round loss to the Miami Heat. pic.twitter.com/wQp0Zk3lxi
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2023
This wasn’t completely shocking, but it does come of a bit of a surprise even after the Bucks were bounced in the first round the playoffs by the Miami Heat.
To show you just how tough a business coaching in the NBA is, this a guy whose best player was out for most of the series and who lost his brother in a car accident DURING THE SERIES.
To act like those things had nothing to do with why the Bucks lost seems ignorant at best, but the Bucks must have felt they needed a new perspective, which might have been exasperated by the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo talked about the team’s lack of adjustments after the series loss.
I wrote about how the Bucks’ downfall in the playoffs could affect the Detroit Pistons and now we may see those scenarios play out in real life.
Detroit Pistons coach: The search gets a new name
The Detroit Pistons have mostly been focused on younger NBA assistants in their hunt for their next head coach, and Charles Lee (current associate head coach for the Bucks), Kevin Ollie and Jarron Collins have all been named as finalists.
Budenholzer’s firing may take Charles Lee out of the equation if the Bucks want to have some continuity, but if they are looking for a clean slate, he and the rest of the staff may be let go along with Budenholzer. The Bucks are obviously ready to win now and might prefer a proven head coach like Nick Nurse.
In fact, it wouldn’t be completely surprising if Budenholzer and Nurse ended up swapping jobs, with the former going to Toronto and the latter to Milwaukee.
But would Budenholzer be a good choice for the Detroit Pistons?