USA TODAY Sports
After spending many years as Gregg Popovich‘s understudy in San Antonio, Mike Budenholzer has come full circle. This season, he led his Atlanta Hawks to the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and a franchise-best 60 wins, positioning his team as a legitimate title contender along the way. He did it all by exemplifying what has become known as “Spurs ball” in the space-and-pace era of the NBA, with an emphasis on ball movement within motion offenses and teamwork over individual accolades.
But getting singled out for recognition was all but inevitable for Budenholzer after his team’s success this season, and that was the Coach of the Year award that he won today, a distinction that’s well deserved for a man who’s only in his second season as a head coach. What made it even more special was where he learned the news: from his former boss and long-time mentor Coach Pop.
The Hawks organization, upon finding out from NBA about the award, called Popovich to ask him if he wanted to break the news to Bud. He did.
— Jaryd Wilson (@JarydWilson) April 21, 2015
Budenholzer spent 18 years with the San Antonio Spurs organization, first as a video coordinator and then as an assistant coach under Popovich for 16 seasons before getting the Hawks job in 2013. Popovich – someone who truly doesn’t care about individual awards – was also in the running for Coach of the Year, ultimately finishing fifth in voting.
But it was yet another six-degrees-of-separation from Popovich in terms of who Budenholzer narrowly edged out for the award – first-year coach Steve Kerr of the also-red-hot Golden State Warriors. Kerr, of course, won two championships as a member of the Spurs in 1999 and 2003.
The Hawks won Game 1 of their opening round series against the Brooklyn Nets Sunday. They’ll play Game 2 in Atlanta Wednesday.
(h/t to Spurs Nation)
