Mike Budenholzer: 98 Wins in Two Years
Below the radar is a way of life for Mike Budenholzer and his NBA career that began in the video room. Before two years ago, his was a name few knew outside of Texas, his face one of those unremarkable images that is instantly forgotten. Until his sleepy eyes and somber expression circled the internet and newsfeed circles, then Mike Buldenhozer was infamous.
The way these sort of media barrages go, they sap every bit of sensationalistic luridness that can be squeezed into two days. Mike Budenholzer’s life was dissected for entertainment and journalistic purposes and in certain quarters he was the punchline to a joke. Everyone had an opinion on Mike Budenholzer, the man, and to a lesser extent, Danny Ferry, the boss, who hired Budenholzer to coach the Atlanta Hawks.
It is a testament to both men that Mike Budenholzer was named Coach of the Year. To attribute Buldenhozer’s success to his Spurs roots, a tree that has soaked the NBA in competence ever since Greg Popovich took over, makes a lot of sense. But, Budenholzer had to take those lessons and apply them to a different group of players, absent of a superstar, in a city whose allegiance to their basketball team has wavered wildly over the years.
This is true. 19 wins in a row, 60 wins overall, the best home record in the Eastern Conference, the best road record in the Eastern Conference, the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. It was the culmination of effort, trust, faith and leadership. It was also a moral of a story Mike Budenholzer lived: when something terrible (and embarrassing) happens, like getting arrested right after you were hired for a new job, somewhere down the line you will be redeemed.
Mar 28, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer reacts to a call during the first half against the Charlotte Hornets at Time Warner Cable Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
The amazing thing about it all is that in 20 months Coach Bud has resurrected his reputation from the ashes, taken an 8th seed to a grueling tough, seven game series, coached the All-Star team, won 60 games, and as of today, is celebrated as Coach of the Year.
Greg Popovich likes to joke that he gave Mike Budenholzer a job as video coordinator with instructions: don’t talk to me. Budenholzer was with the Spurs for all of their glory years and for a lot of their tragic moments. He was there when the Spurs were the #1 seed and lost to the #8 seeded Memphis Grizzlies.
He was there when Derek Fisher beat the Spurs with .04 seconds on the clock, a blow the Spurs couldn’t overcome. He was there when the Spurs won the first two games of a playoff series and then lost the last four to the Oklahoma City Thunder, erasing the Spurs chance at another NBA Finals trip. And he was there when a Chris Bosh rebound and Ray Allen three pointer, robbed the Spurs of a NBA Championship.
Three months after that brutal, heartbreaking, devastatingly public defeat by the Miami Heat, Mike Budenholzer was pulled over by the Georgia State Patrol DUI Task Force. He had a broken tailight. The cop who stopped him suspected drinking and when Buldenhozer asked to speak to an attorney, he was immediately arrested. Budenholzer admitted to a glass of wine before driving but for all intents and purposes what he said didn’t matter once it hit the national news that the Atlanta Hawks new coach, Greg Popovich’s top lieutenant, had been arrested.
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Mike Budenholzer was the son of a coach who grew up in Arizona. He played basketball overseas before landing the video coordinating job by Popovich where he became Popovich’s most trusted assistant responsible for 4 NBA titles. Had he stayed in San Antonio where he was beloved, Budenholzer would have been the successor once the Popovich/Duncan era ended.
But, the Hawks job became available. The move reunited Budenholzer with Danny Ferry and it took Budenholzer out of the tough Western Conference and into the east to a team that had been to the playoffs every single year since the drafting of Florida center, Al Horford. Jeff Teague would allow Budenholzer’s Spurs centric offense to thrive in a way that was similar to Tony Parker as head of the snake, all the while being a little more complex.
In his first year in Atlanta, the Hawks were second in assists but nearly last in rebounding. They played small but it wasn’t small ball. The Hawks didn’t hum to the beat of a fast tempo, rather they passed the ball creating mismatches and spacing and uncontested shots. They were 25-21 and then went on a particularly broken campaign. They lost 14 out of 15 games as their most trusted player, Al Horford, was out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle.
Feb 4, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer argues a call by referee Tony Brown (6) in the first quarter of their game against the Washington Wizards at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Trying to save their season, the Hawks won 5 games in a row against mostly bad teams and then went back to their swoon, losing 7 out of the next ten and limping into the playoffs as the 8th seed.
Seven months later, in November, when the Atlanta Hawks lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, done in by an aging Kobe Bryant, the regurgitated whispers of the Hawks inability to beat a team with an iconic player, not to mention a bad team with average talent, ratcheted up the pessimists. Expecting the same thing as they always expect, competitiveness but zero conviction, heart but no soul, fighting but little inspiration, the NBA gurus pushed the Hawks and their coach, Mike Budenholzer aside.
No one expected what happened next.
You don’t win Coach of the Year without good players and without escaping injuries and without a special season graced with luck here and there and without a very good staff of assistant coaches. After the Lakers loss, the Hawks went on an historic run for glory. They had been 5-5. Suddenly they were 40-8.
For Mike Budenholzer, the award is more than another Atlanta first in this record breaking year: first Coach of the Year for Atlanta since Lenny Wilkins in 1993-94. But, Buldenhozer’s achievement fits a particular context absent of his contemporaries. It is the everlasting narrative of not believing what you think you see.
Buldenhozer doesn’t have the swag of a Pat Riley or the recalcitrance of a Greg Popivich or the arrogance of a Phil Jackson or the youthful genius of a Eric Spoelstra. So much of his ability and skill is overlooked and abandoned because it isn’t framed within a cool factor that highlights our social media age. He is not someone made for the Internet or Instagram or ESPN cutaway shots that are endlessly retweeted to followers.
These days, teams are defined by how well they overcome adversity. How tough are you, is a persistent cry. In a twist of fate, that is exactly the story of the 2015 Coach of the Year, Mike Budenholzer.
Two years ago, nearing the end of summer, he had his worst moment on his worst day and because of it suffered the consequences. But, when it was all said and done, his coaching ability, his talent in making his players believe in unselfishness and group think, his ball movement philosophy, his cooperative nature, all of it was redeemed and not because he won Coach of the Year, but because this very special team in this very wonderful year believed in him enough to trust him.
There is still a lot of skepticism and doubts about the Atlanta Hawks and what they can ultimately accomplish in the playoffs with their lack of rebounding and size. But no one can say that Coach Bud is not the exact coach Danny Ferry expected when he hired him in 2013.
Ferry expected a winner and that was what Coach Budenholzer delivered. In two years, he has won 98 games.