Joe Prunty will remain the Bucks’ head coach for the remainder of the 2017-18 season. The team’s announcement makes official the presumption that the veteran assistant who replaced Jason Kidd, fired in Milwaukee on Monday, would have the opportunity to demonstrate his coaching ability, mitigating – for now – further organizational upheaval.
Prunty’s staff includes assistants Greg Foster, Sean Sweeney, Stacy Augmon, Josh Broghamer and, the Bucks revealed on Friday, new coach Vin Baker, who had been working as a broadcaster.
"We believe that Joe is the right person to lead our team and help us achieve our goals," general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. "He has the knowledge and experience, along with the respect of our players and staff, to get the job done.
"Joe and his staff will be evaluated and considered as part of our widespread off-season search for our next head coach."
Prunty has been with Milwaukee for four seasons, after serving as an assistant coach under Kidd in Brooklyn during the 2013-14 campaign. Currently in his 22nd year in the NBA, Prunty has also coached with Cleveland (2010-13), Portland (2008-10), Dallas (2005-08) and San Antonio (1996-2005), where he was a member of three NBA championship teams. He was also the head coach of Great Britain’s men’s national team.
The 8th overall pick by the Bucks in the 1993 NBA Draft, Baker was a 13-year NBA veteran and a four-time All-Star who averaged 15.0 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 791 career games. Along with Milwaukee, Baker also played with Seattle, Boston, New York, Houston and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Last season, Baker worked as an assistant coach with the NBA G League’s Texas Legends. Most recently, he was the pre- and post-game analyst for Bucks telecasts on FOX Sports Wisconsin, and he also served as a volunteer coaching assistant with the Bucks.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
