Bobby Portis speaks on new head coach Taylor Jenkins.
The Milwaukee Bucks have already undergone a big offseason change, replacing Doc Rivers with Taylor Jenkins.
Rivers had a disappointing tenure with the Bucks, capped off by the past season where he went 32-50 and failed to make the playoffs. In his previous two seasons, the Bucks were eliminated in the first round in the playoffs.
Rivers took over for Adrian Griffin in 2023-24 despite Griffin leading the Bucks to a 30-13 record before he was fired. Rivers went 17-19 and suffered the first of his two first round exits with the team.
In 200 games with Milwaukee, Rivers went 97-103 in the regular season, the only team he has a regular season losing record with, and 3-8 in the playoffs.
Enter Taylor Jenkins
The Bucks didn't take long to name a new head coach.
Rivers reigned on April 13, and Jenkins was hired on April 30. Jenkins did not coach in the 2025-26 season after he was fired by the Memphis Grizzlies at the end of the 2025 season.
Jenkins was fired with just nine games remaining in the regular season. Memphis was 44-29 at the time. They went 4-5 in the final nine games and were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs.
In his six seasons with the Grizzlies, Jenkins went 250-214 in the regular season and 9-14 in the playoffs. He took over a Memphis team that went 33-49 in 2018-19, the year before he arrived, and coached them up to second in the West in 2021-22.
Bobby Portis Speaks
Bobby Portis has played six seasons with the Bucks, making him one of the longest tenured players on the team, given all of the changeover they've had over the past few seasons.
Speaking on FanDuel's Run It Back, Portis commented on his new head coach.
"I see a lot of Coach Bud in Taylor Jenkins...they cut from the same cloth. ... I like his attitude and demeanor. He got this nasty, confident swag," he said.
Mike Budenholzer was the coach of the Bucks from 2018 to 2023, leading the Bucks to the NBA championship in 2021. He went 271-120 during his five seasons with the team and 65-39 in the playoffs.
Unlike Jenkins, Budenholzer took over a team that was up and coming, while Jenkins is set to take over a team that is likely to rebuild as all signs point to them trading franchise superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason.
