{"id":63427,"date":"2018-04-18T07:04:08","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T07:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63427"},"modified":"2018-04-18T07:04:08","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T07:04:08","slug":"once-a-beer-salesman-interim-coach-joe-prunty-now-trying-to-get-bucks-to-the-second-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/once-a-beer-salesman-interim-coach-joe-prunty-now-trying-to-get-bucks-to-the-second-round.html","title":{"rendered":"Once a beer salesman, interim coach Joe Prunty now trying to get Bucks to the second round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once a beer salesman, interim coach Joe Prunty now trying to get Bucks to the second round<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Veteran basketball coach Hank Egan helped get Milwaukee Bucks interim coach Joe Prunty a job twice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first one: hawking Anheuser-Busch products in San Diego after Prunty finished college.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second: a job on Gregg Popovich\u2019s San Antonio staff as an assistant video coordinator.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first job had its perks. “I started out in merchandising and moved into sales,” Prunty said of his first job after college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. “The one thing I enjoyed about that job more than anything was similar to the NBA: relationships. I liked working with people to help them move product to customers.”<\/span><\/p>\n

While working that job, which started early and ended early, he began coaching basketball at the high school level. Los Angeles Lakers coach Luke Walton and former Chicago Cubs pitcher Mark Prior were on his teams at the University of San Diego High School.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second job Egan helped Prunty led to a 20-year career in the NBA. It includes stints as an assistant coach\/video coordinator on three Spurs championship teams; an assistant on Dallas\u2019 2006 Western Conference championship team; a role in coaching Dirk Nowitzki and Tim Duncan in their MVP seasons; coaching Duncan, Kyrie Irving and Malcolm Brogdon in their rookie of the year seasons; and being on the bench during coach of the year seasons for Popovich and Avery Johnson.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to work with a group of people like that,\u201d said the 49-year-old Prunty, who has also had a hand in Bucks All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo’s development.<\/span><\/p>\n

More NBA<\/span><\/p>\n

LaMarcus Aldridge plays valiantly in loss, prefers to avoid polarizing Kawhi topic<\/span>
\nDwyane Wade torches 76ers, passes Larry Bird on all-time postseason scoring list<\/span>
\nNow, Prunty, who joined the Bucks as Jason Kidd\u2019s lead assistant in 2014 and took over as interim coach when the Bucks dismissed Kidd in January, is trying to get the Bucks out of the first round for the first time since 2001. They went six games with Toronto last season after taking a 2-1 series lead and lost to Chicago in six games in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bucks trail Boston 1-0 after taking the Celtics to overtime in the series-opener. Game 2 is Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, TNT)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s been amazing is how good we can be. We\u2019ve had some very good wins and some tough losses,\u201d Prunty said. \u201cThis team has the opportunity to do good things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/2018\/04\/17\/bucks-interim-coach-joe-prunty-playoffs-selling-beer\/524423002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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