Milwaukee Bucks dismiss three assistant coaches
During his first press conference as the Milwaukee Bucks head coach on Jan. 27, Doc Rivers made it clear he was going to have to get comfortable in his new role – and that would include finding synergy with the people with whom he would working most closely with.
So, Rivers immediately hired Dave Joerger, Rex Kalamian and Pete Dominguez as assistants to join the eight assistant coaches who were brought on by Adrian Griffin in the summer of 2023. But even then, Rivers acknowledged 11 assistants were a lot to have.
At the all-star break, Rivers relieved assistant coach Nate Mitchell but retained the rest of the staff. Following further evaluation over the last week, the Journal Sentinel confirmed the Bucks dismissed assistant coaches Josh Oppenheimer, Sidney Dobner and DJ Bakker.
Oppenheimer was re-hired by the Bucks and former head coach Mike Budenholzer in 2020 after an initial stint with the team from 2013-16. As a player development coach under Larry Drew, Oppenheimer spent a lot of time working with rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Oppenheimer, along with Vin Baker, were retained by Adrian Griffin at the start of the 2023-24 season.
Griffin promoted Sidney Dobner to a full-time assistant coaching role to begin the season, making her the first female coach in franchise history.
Dobner was promoted to head video coordinator in 2022-23 under Budenholzer. She began her full-time career with the Bucks in 2020-21 after working as an intern in 2019-20. She was part of the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ G League affiliate, in 2018-19.
Bakker spent one season with the Bucks as he was hired by Griffin in the summer after spending the last two seasons as the head coach of the Motor City Cruise, Detroit’s G League affiliate. He was an assistant and player development coach with the Pistons from 2018-21.
Bleacher Report initially reported the coaching moves.
Griffin also hired Joe Prunty, Patrick Mutombo and Trevor Gleeson. Prunty acted as the interim head coach between Adrian Griffin's dismissal on Jan. 23 and Rivers' arrival on the bench on Jan. 29, is still on the staff. Mutombo sat on the front of the bench along with Rivers and Joerger for a time until late in the season when Kalamian assumed that third position. Gleeson was Griffin's final hire, joining the team on Dec. 27.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks dismiss three assistant coaches
