Milwaukee Bucks: Joe Prunty finding success as interim head coach

The Milwaukee Bucks have rebounded since firing head coach Jason Kidd. With Joe Prunty as interim coach, this team is winning basketball games.

When the Milwaukee Bucks made the decision to fire head coach Jason Kidd, the season was in relative disarray. Despite an MVP-caliber season from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks had a mediocre defense and a record good for just eighth in the Eastern Conference.

Under interim head coach Joe Prunty the ship has swung around, and the Bucks are once more trending upwards. Going 9-3 since the coaching change, the Bucks have gone from barely in the playoff bracket to one game out of fourth in the East — the sweet spot both to host a playoff series and avoid LeBron James until the conference finals.

A lifelong basketball player, coach and fan, Joe Prunty has worked his way around the league as an assistant coach. Four times he watched confetti fall from the ceiling in the NBA Finals, three times in victory with the San Antonio Spurs and once in defeat with the Dallas Mavericks.

Milwaukee was his sixth stop thus far, where he has served as assistant coach since 2014. When Kidd missed time during the 2015-16 season for hip surgery, Prunty served as interim head coach and reinvigorated a lifeless Bucks team. While they ultimately fell short of the postseason, Prunty and Kidd together were instrumental in the development of Antetokounmpo as a primary ball-handler and scoring machine.

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Interestingly, his tenure two seasons ago saw the Bucks’ offense take a leap forward, while the defense took a small step back from bad to slightly worse. The effect of Prunty on the Bucks this time around has been the complete opposite.

At the time of Kidd’s firing, the Bucks ranked 25th in defense, an indefensible reality of a team stocked with long, athletic players with strong defensive chops. A team with Eric Bledsoe, Tony Snell, Khris Middleton and Antetokounmpo swarming around the half court should stymie any opposing offense.

Under Prunty’s guidance, they have done just that. The Bucks have had the league’s second-best defense over the past 12 games, better than every team but the invincible Utah Jazz. Take out the Bucks’ last game against a Denver Nuggets team that couldn’t miss from long range, and Milwaukee ranked first in defensive rating over that span.

That defensive improvement is part schedule and part adjustment. Under Kidd, the Bucks were famous for their hyper-aggressive defensive scheme, trapping on the pick-and-roll and jamming down into the paint on the weak side.

Prunty has dialed back the scheme, leaning on the length and speed of his defenders to guard one-on-one instead of racing around the court just asking to make a mistake. If a player is trying to take Antetokounmpo or Middleton one-on-one, they should be allowed to simply try.

Milwaukee has benefited from a soft schedule as well, with eight of their nine wins under Prunty coming against teams unlikely to make the playoffs. Those are still wins, however, and the Bucks under Kidd struggled to win games against inferior foes all too often. Good teams win the “easy” games, and the Bucks have been winning.

Offensively the team has stayed flat, with an offensive rating of 108.1 in the last 12 games compared to a 107.3 rating for the season overall. Prunty has put the ball at the top of the key more often, running traditional pick-and-rolls for Bledsoe and Antetokounmpo with shooters spaced around.

As Jabari Parker shakes off the rust, and the team begins to get back injured players such as Malcolm Brogdon and Matthew Dellavedova, the offense should take a step forward as well. Players such as Jason Terry and Sean Kilpatrick have proven they have something to offer, but the Bucks’ bench needs the higher ceiling that Brogdon and Dellavedova provide.

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In fact, for every article and video clip pointing to the weak schedule the Bucks have played in downplaying their 9-3 run — a fair critique based in reality — there should be one discussing their myriad of injuries.

During that 12-game run, the Bucks have missed a number of rotation players: Brogdon (missed nine games), Dellavedova (five), John Henson (four), Parker (six) and Mirza Teletovic (12) have all missed time. Antetokounmpo himself sat out the first win of the Joe Prunty era nursing an injury.

When Milwaukee can approach something resembling fully healthy, then this team can truly show its mettle. The schedule ramps up the difficulty soon, beginning with a game in Toronto Friday night. The Bucks will play their next eight games against teams in playoff contention, an obvious testing ground.

While the Bucks are playing for a second consecutive playoff berth, a feat they have not accomplished with this current core, Joe Prunty is playing for his job. If the longtime assistant wants to parlay his three-month audition into a full-time gig, a 9-3 stretch with smothering defense was the best way to do start.

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The grueling stretch ahead could unravel some of the optimism, but it cannot take away from what Prunty has already accomplished. He pulled the Bucks back from the edge and set them facing in the right direction. Now the question is, how far can they go?