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We’re going 10 deep
Having inherited a large coaching staff when he took over from Adrian Griffin, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers had made allusions to a need to trim the group a bit this offseason. It appears he has now finalized his support staff prior to the 2024-2025 season:
#Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has finalized his coaching staff. Along with adding Darvin Ham, Greg Buckner and Jason Love this offseason he has hired Spencer Rivers as well (former Detroit asst.)
Joe Prunty and Vin Baker remain from last season’s staff.
— Jim Owczarski (@JimOwczarski) July 2, 2024
Doing some quick and fast searching and cross-checking against the Bucks website, this is the group Rivers will likely take with him into the coming campaign:
- Doc Rivers (head coach)
- Darvin Ham (lead assistant – new hire)
- Greg Buckner (new hire)
- Jason Love (new hire)
- Spencer Rivers (new hire)
- David Joerger (hired last season)
- Rex Kalamian (hired last season)
- Pete Dominguez (hired last season)
- Joe Prunty (Griffin holdover)
- Vin Baker (is eternal)
Small staffs are for squares.
The non-Baker Bud Era holdovers had already been let go in May, and the remaining Griffin staffers (Gleeson and Mutombo) have either already left the team or could be on their way out. Of the remaining group, I find it most interesting that Prunty will be sticking around. He’s a survivor who clearly shows enough on whichever staffs he joins to make keeping him seen as a value-add for head coaches.
Rivers’s group will have in a mix of guys who have been with the players since the Before Times (Baker), coaches with limited roster experience gained while firefighting in the middle of last season, and the new group who are fresh to the scene. Their main task will, naturally, be guiding the team to a title in 2024-2025, but they’ll also be responsible for continuing the development of the growing group of younger players on the back end of the roster, including draft picks AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith.
We wish the coaching staff luck and hope they have a fruitful summer coming up with ideas to implement to help the Bucks take the next step.