Milwaukee Bucks fire coach Terry Porter

Posted 7:03AM on Thursday 23rd June 2005 ( 19 years ago )

ST. FRANCIS, WISCONSIN - Terry Porter won't get a chance to use the first pick in next week's NBA draft. Porter was fired as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, two months after the team finished its worst season in almost a decade. General manager Larry Harris said the move was necessary after the Bucks were 30-52 in 2004-05. They also were plagued by injuries. "Certainly for the direction of this franchise heading forward, we certainly need to make a move," Harris said. Last month, Harris said Porter would return. "I told him, `You know we're going to sink or swim together on this.'" Apparently not. And Harris said Wednesday he thought that was the right decision at the time, but "everybody's allowed to change their mind." Milwaukee was 41-41 in Porter's first season as coach, making the playoffs, but losing in the first round to Detroit. A native of the area, Porter played basketball at Milwaukee South Division High School and at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He played 17 seasons in the NBA. There were reports that Porter and Harris didn't agree on who the Bucks should take atop the draft, but Harris denied them. "We didn't have philosophical differences. He didn't want different guys than I did," Harris said. "I'm not happy with the way the situation went down," Porter told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "I'm disappointed, yeah, no doubt I'm disappointed." The Bucks are considering Utah center Andrew Bogut, an Australian who left college early, as their first pick. Porter was a standout guard for 17 season in the NBA, so if the Bucks choose one of the outstanding backcourt prospects such as Chris Paul or Raymond Felton, keeping Porter as coach would have made sense. On Sunday and Monday, Porter attended workouts for forward Marvin Williams and Bogut. Harris believes the vacant head coaching job will attract plenty of interest because of the team's young players and the top draft pick. Harris also gave Porter an endorsement for another position in the NBA. "Terry Porter will get another coaching job, there's no doubt about it," Harris said. In addition to the draft, the team's priority is signing star guard Michael Redd, then center Dan Gadzuric and forward Zaza Pachulia this summer.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/6/132386