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Bucks new coach: Adrian Griffin hired, introduced to fans
The Milwaukee Bucks announced on Monday, June 5 the team has hired Adrian Griffin as head coach.
MILWAUKEE - The Milwaukee Bucks completed the assistant coaching staff behind new head coach Adrian Griffin, the team announced Wednesday.
The Bucks hired Terry Stotts, Joe Prunty, Patrick Mutombo, DJ Bakker and Nate Mitchell, retained Vin Baker and Josh Oppenheimer, and promoted Sidney Dobner – who becomes the first female assistant coach in franchise history. Get to know each member of the staff below.
"We’ve assembled a coaching staff that’s complete with high character, competence, and creativity," Griffin said in a news release. "I’m excited to bring the experienced and talented duo of Terry and Joe back to Milwaukee, and to welcome Patrick, DJ and Nate onto our staff. Additionally, I’m really pleased that Vin and Josh are returning, and thrilled to reward Sidney with this opportunity. She’s earned it."
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Terry Stotts
Stotts has 13 seasons of experience as an NBA head coach and 13 seasons as an assistant coach. He returns to Milwaukee after serving as the Bucks head coach for parts of two seasons from 2005-07 and as an assistant coach from 1998-02. Most recently, Stotts spent nine seasons as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers from 2012-21 where he led the team to eight consecutive postseason berths, including the franchise’s first trip to the Western Conference Finals in 19 years in 2019, and a 402-318 (.558) regular season record.
Terry Stotts with the Portland Trail Blazers in February 2020. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
A native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Stotts was also head coach of the Atlanta Hawks from 2002-04 and owns a 517-486 (.515) regular season record as an NBA head coach. His assistant coach experience includes stops with Seattle (1993-98), Atlanta (2002), Golden State (2004-05) and Dallas (2008-12), in addition to his four seasons as an assistant with Milwaukee. In his 26 seasons as a coach in the NBA, Stotts has been part of teams that made the playoffs 21 times, including nine times as a head coach, while reaching the NBA Finals twice and winning an NBA Championship with Dallas in 2011.
A four-year starter at the University of Oklahoma, Stotts played professionally in the CBA, Italy, Spain and France before beginning his coaching career in the CBA in 1990.
Joe Prunty
Prunty also returns to the Bucks after spending four seasons with the team. He was an assistant coach from 2014-18, including 37 games as head coach during the 2017-18 season. After the 2017-18 season, Prunty served as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns in 2018-19 before spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks.
The Sunnyvale, California native began his NBA coaching career with San Antonio. Prunty spent nine seasons with the Spurs from 1996-05 where he won three championships (1999, 2003, 2005). Prunty then served as an assistant coach with Dallas from 2005-08, making the NBA Finals in 2006, before continuing his career as an assistant with Portland (2008-10), Cleveland (2010-13) and Brooklyn (2013-14). He also has extensive international coaching experience, spending five years as head coach of Great Britain’s men’s national team from 2013-17, and as acting head coach and as an assistant coach with the USA AmeriCup qualifying teams in both 2020 and 2021.
Joe Prunty with the Atlanta Hawks in February 2023. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Patrick Mutombo
Mutombo joins Griffin’s staff after spending last season as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. Prior to that, Mutombo served two seasons as the head coach of the Toronto Raptors’ G League affiliate, Raptors 905, where he led the team to the G League’s best regular season record in both seasons, compiling a 36-11 combined record, while finishing as the runner-up for G League Coach of the Year each season.
Before leading Raptors 905, Mutombo was an assistant coach with Toronto where he was part of the staff that won the 2019 NBA Championship. His coaching experience also includes stops in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets, in the G League with the Austin Spurs and with his alma mater, Metropolitan State University of Denver, where he began his coaching career as an assistant coach in 2011. As a player, Mutombo won two NCAA Division II National Championships at MSU Denver in 2000 and 2002, before embarking on a professional playing career in Italy, Greece and with the G League’s Bakersfield Jam.
DJ Bakker
Bakker comes to Milwaukee after spending the last five seasons in the Detroit Pistons organization, including the last two seasons as the first head coach of the Pistons’ G League affiliate, the Motor City Cruise. As head coach of the Cruise, Bakker amassed more than 50 wins and led the team to the playoffs in its inaugural season in 2021-22. Before joining Motor City, Bakker spent the previous three seasons as an assistant and player development coach with the Pistons from 2018-21.
A graduate of Trinity Christian College, where he started his coaching career working with renowned trainer Tim Grover, Bakker’s NBA experience also includes time as a player development coach and video coordinator with the Raptors, as a player development assistant with the Mavericks, as an advance scout with the Magic and as a video assistant with the Bulls.
Nate Mitchell
Mitchell spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach with the Raptors. Prior to joining Toronto’s coaching staff, Mitchell was an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets from 2018-21. He also has spent time as an assistant coach in the NBA G League with Raptors 905 (2015-18) and the Maine Red Claws (2014-15). The Toronto native has been on the team staff of the Canadian men’s national team since 2016, including as the current head coach of the Canadian U23 team. Mitchell began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Fresno State men’s basketball team in 2013-14.
Vin Baker
Baker, an NBA All-Star and former Buck, returns for his seventh season as an assistant coach with Milwaukee. The Lake Wales, Florida native got his start as an assistant coach with the Bucks in January of the 2017-18 season after beginning the season as a television analyst for Bucks games. Baker began his coaching career with the Texas Legends of the NBA D League in 2016-17.
The four-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA honoree played the first four seasons of his 13-year NBA career with the Bucks after being drafted by the franchise with the eighth overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft. He appeared in 324 games with Milwaukee, averaging 18.3 points per game, and totaled 791 appearances in his career with Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston, New York, Houston and the Los Angeles Clippers. Baker also won gold medal with the United States men’s national team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He remains the all-time leading scorer at his alma mater, the University of Hartford, where he played from 1989-93.
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Josh Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer enters his seventh season as an assistant coach with the Bucks. After previously spending three seasons as an assistant coach with Milwaukee from 2013-16, Oppenheimer returned to the Bucks as an assistant coach prior to the 2020-21 season. His NBA coaching experience also includes stints as an assistant coach with Houston (2016-17) and Brooklyn (2017-18). Oppenheimer started his coaching career in the collegiate ranks as an assistant coach with Duquesne University and has also worked with the University of Delaware, DePaul University, Kent State University and James Madison University. He played collegiately at the University of Rhode Island and Northern Arizona University before playing professionally for 12 years, including 11 seasons in the Israeli Basketball Premier League.
Sidney Dobner
Dobner is entering her sixth season in the Bucks organization. She was promoted to head video coordinator prior to the start of the 2022-23 season after spending the 2021-22 season as an assistant video coordinator. After a collegiate and professional playing career, the Newbury Park, California native got her start with the organization as a video assistant/coaching associate with the Wisconsin Herd in 2018. Dobner then joined the Bucks as a basketball operations intern for the 2019-20 season before transitioning to a video and player development assistant for the 2020-21 season.
Video staff update
The Bucks have also hired Jordan Walker as head video coordinator. A University of Houston graduate, Walker spent the last three seasons in the Raptors’ video room after getting his start in the NBA with the Heat during the 2019-20 season. Jack Herum, who is entering his fifth season with the organization, has also been retained as an assistant video coordinator/player development.