The Milwaukee Bucks (23-22) announced today the firing of head coach Jason Kidd. Assistant coach Joe Prunty, who is expected to be named the interim coach, will be in charge of the team tonight when they host the Phoenix Suns.
According to a statement from Bucks general manager Jon Horst, the team needs “a fresh approach and a change in leadership to continue elevating the team towards the next level.”
In that same statement, Horst insisted that this move will bring them closer to their goal of competing for championships and thanked Kidd for helping them keep the Bucks in Milwaukee and leading the team to a historic turnaround in his first season.
Despite the questions surrounding the firing of Kidd is safe to say that the Bucks’ decision is hardly condemnable because this is a team that has in one word, underachieved.
The Bucks have hardly shown any progress this year and the general feeling in Milwaukee is that right now this team has enough talent and weapons to be a lot better than they currently are.
Part of that is because they haven’t made huge impact moves and as a result, they don’t have much talent surrounding All-Star power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With Giannis growing and maturing into a league All-Star is safe to say that he is anxiously looking to start winning more and competing for a playoff spot on a regular basis. If the Bucks don’t start doing that he may opt to look around the league and choose to leave town next time his asked to sign a new extension.
This season they haven’t found their rhythm, and this probably is a consequence of Giannis lacking a team capable of helping him out on a constant basis.
On a season where the front office expected to see the team compete for one of the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference the results have instead been dismal.
They have failed to take a leap towards the next level and thus the general feeling was that they could not afford to wait any longer as they are instead struggling to stay in playoff contention and stand in eighth place in the Eastern Conference.
