Behind every great coach is a staff of assistants tasked with vital roles to build successful habits for their team. The Milwaukee Bucks have been home to some of the best assistant coaches in basketball over the last decade, but it's reasonable for Bucks fans to feel some trepidation as the team builds its third new staff in as many seasons.
However, the early returns on new head coach Taylor Jenkins are largely positive. In the weeks since his hiring, people around the league have described Jenkins as the top head coaching candidate on the market, which explains why Milwaukee was so quick to put pen to paper. This also gives them an advantage over other teams as they effectively have free range of the market for assistant coaches.
According to Bucks insider Eric Nehm of The Athletic, they've already settled on three vital additions to Jenkins' staff, including one familiar face staying on from the last regime and several others who are sure to make a major difference.
Taylor Jenkins equips the Milwaukee Bucks with an elite staff of assistant coaches.
Per Nehm's article, Darvin Ham is expected to stay on with the Milwaukee Bucks on Jenkins' staff. He's well-established within the organization as an assistant and former player, whose invaluable relationships within the roster provide a layer of continuity that shouldn't go overlooked. Having someone to lean on during a time of transition will pay off in dividends for the players as they adapt to a new regime.
Before Jenkins was hired, sources told me that Ham would most likely be leaving Milwaukee for the head coaching vacancy in New Orleans, which he reportedly interviewed for. Ultimately, the firing of Jamahl Mosley in Orlando brought a new candidate to the field, pushing Ham out of the lead for that role and back to assistant coaching.
Having an assistant at the caliber of a head coach is an incredible advantage for the Bucks as they chart a new course for the future. On top of that, Jenkins also recruited two of the best assistant coaches he worked with in Memphis: Patrick St. Andrews and Joe Boylan.
Boylan has been an NBA coach since 2009, when he got his start with what was then the D-League affiliate of the Boston Celtics. He coached for the Celtics, Warriors, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Pelicans and Grizzlies organizations in various capacities since then. He's known best for being a fervent adopter of the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) of training, which simulates unique game situations and forces players to adapt to difficult scenarios to prepare them for live action.
St. Andrews, who has almost a decade of NBA coaching experience, is returning to Milwaukee as he and Jenkins worked together under Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta and later, in Milwaukee. Most recently, he was a crucial member of the Trail Blazers' staff under Tiago Splitter. Given his track record and expertise, he'll likely be a defensive coordinator of sorts for Milwaukee.
This is a strong foundation for Jenkins' staff, offering a unique combination of experience, fondness for each other, and individualized methods that should help the Milwaukee Bucks become a more organized franchise than we've seen since Bud was fired. By coaching standards, they are each relatively young, but all bring 10+ years of invaluable experience to their roles.
Innovation is the name of the game in today's NBA. Take the Western Conference Finals, for example, where two young coaches — Mitch Johnson and Mark Daigneault — are putting together a master class in both strategy and leadership. This appears to be the type of approach Milwaukee is aiming for, which signals a bright future ahead.
Add us as a preferred source on Google