{"id":50089,"date":"2023-05-05T00:55:51","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T04:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=50089"},"modified":"2023-05-05T00:55:51","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T04:55:51","slug":"mike-budenholzer-out-as-bucks-head-coach-who-could-replace-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/05\/05\/mike-budenholzer-out-as-bucks-head-coach-who-could-replace-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Budenholzer Is Out as the Bucks&#8217; Head Coach. Who Could Replace Him?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/bucks\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Milwaukee Bucks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> fired <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/budenmi99c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Mike Budenholzer<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on May 4th, per Adrian Wojnarowski.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: The Milwaukee Bucks dismissed coach Mike Budenholzer, sources tell ESPN. Budenholzer is out after the East\u2019s top-seed suffered a first-round loss to the Miami Heat. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wQp0Zk3lxi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/wQp0Zk3lxi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1654242113176104965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 4, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Budenholzer\u2019s coaching resume is unimpeachable. He spent 17 seasons on Gregg Popovich\u2019s staff with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/spurs\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">San Antonio Spurs<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Budenholzer spent five seasons as head coach of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/hawks\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Atlanta Hawks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, highlighted by leading Atlanta to 60 wins while winning <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/history\/awards\/_\/id\/34\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coach of the Year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2014-15.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/atlanta-hawks-mike-budenholzer-decide-part-ways\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he and the Hawks decided to part ways<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> after the 2017-18 season, he was immediately hired by Milwaukee. He was immediately named Coach of the Year again after leading the Bucks to 60 wins, while <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/10\/19\/top-nba-players-2022-23-1-giannis-antetokounmpo\/\" target=\"_self\"><b>Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> won his <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/history\/awards\/_\/id\/33\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">first of two MVP awards<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bucks lost to the eventual champion <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/raptors\/\" target=\"_self\"><b>Toronto Raptors<\/b><\/a> in the Eastern Conference Finals that season. After a second-round exit to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/heat\/\" target=\"_self\"><b>Miami Heat<\/b><\/a> in the 2020 Bubble, questions about his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/columnist\/jeff-zillgitt\/2020\/09\/02\/mike-budenholzer-coaching-adjustments-milwaukee-bucks\/5700452002\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lack of coaching adjustments<\/a> came to light. Leading the Bucks to a championship in 2021 did little to quell those concerns with Milwaukee\u2019s leadership, apparently. Milwaukee lost to a lower-seeded Heat team again. <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/10074171-nba-rumors-insiders-extremely-skeptical-mike-budenholzer-will-continue-as-bucks-hc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rumors about Budenholzer losing his job<\/a> swirled in the aftermath.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who could Milwaukee choose to replace Budenholzer? And where could Budenholzer end up?<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Mike Budenholzer Is Out as the Bucks&#8217; Head Coach. Who Could Replace Him?<\/h2>\n<h3><b>Who Makes the Decisions in Milwaukee?<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we can determine who will replace Budenholzer, we need to figure out who is making the decision. Antetokounmpo didn\u2019t seem to endorse major changes in his memorable speech about failure after the Bucks\u2019 playoff exit.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cMichael Jordan played 15 years, won 6 championships. The other 9 years were a failure?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>-Giannis&#39; passionate response to if he considers the Bucks&#39; season a failure <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/G5VtwnGXYq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/G5VtwnGXYq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBAonTNT\/status\/1651460734071750656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bucks ownership has gone through major changes recently as well. It\u2019s fair to wonder if those changes played a role in the Budenholzer firing. Wes Edens and Dee and Jimmy Haslem are controlling owners after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/news\/nba-board-of-governors-approve-bucks-ownership-share-purchase-by-haslam-sports-group\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Haslems purchased Marc Lasry\u2019s portion<\/a> of the team.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Edens and Lasry had a unique arrangement that saw them rotate decision-making power over the franchise every five years. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jsonline.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/bucks\/2023\/04\/19\/jimmy-haslam-wes-edens-address-haslams-bucks-ownership-plans\/70129802007\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Haslem and Edens confirmed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that the arrangement would continue, with Edens beginning his five-year period now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Edens was the main proponent of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/2716056-jon-horst-reportedly-will-be-named-bucks-gm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hiring current Bucks GM Jon Horst<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who, in turn, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/23524226\/mike-budenholzer-named-milwaukee-bucks-new-head-coach\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hired Budenholzer<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Milwaukee\u2019s Options to Replace Mike Budenholzer<\/b><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Nick Nurse<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/nurseni01c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Nick Nurse<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is likely the first person Milwaukee will call. His resume is nearly as impressive as Budenholzer\u2019s. He coached the Toronto team that beat Milwaukee in 2018-19 and went on to lead them to a title. He won Coach of the Year the following season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nurse is extremely willing to experiment. He notably instructed the Raptors to defend the Warriors with a box-and-one scheme in the 2019 Finals. It slowed the depleted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/warriors\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Golden State Warriors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2022\/10\/18\/top-nba-players-2022-23-2-stephen-curry\/\" target=\"_self\"><b>Stephen Curry<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and he continued to employ versatile and diverse defensive schemes with a team full of veterans in 2019-2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, there\u2019s a reason Masai Ujiri and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/04\/22\/toronto-raptors-fire-head-coach-nick-nurse-who-could-replace-him\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raptors chose to fire Nurse<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> earlier this offseason. He seemed to lose the locker room over the last couple of seasons as veterans (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gasolma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Marc Gasol<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ibakase01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Serge Ibaka<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lowryky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Kyle Lowry<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) were replaced by younger players (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barnesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Scottie Barnes<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/trentga02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Gary Trent Jr.<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/achiupr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Precious Achiuwa<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). The turmoil ended with Nurse telling Ujiri, \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/seanhalfcourt\/status\/1649439603009396738\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good luck with those guys<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d during his exit interview.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The veteran-laden Bucks (assuming they re-sign free agents <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lopezbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Brook Lopez<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/middlkh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Khris Middleton<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) should be more willing to embrace Nurse given his reputation, and perhaps his creativity can inject life into the Bucks\u2019 sometimes-stagnant offense.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Frank Vogel<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After winning the 2020 championship with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/lakers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/vogelfr99c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Frank Vogel<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> should be a top candidate for any coaching job. He <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1645145771015061506\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reportedly was a candidate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/rockets\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Houston Rockets<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 job before they hired <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/udokaim01c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ime Udoka<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Vogel started his career strong with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/pacers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indiana Pacers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0and helmed the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Paul George<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-led squad to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2014. He re-established his defensive credentials with the Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately for Vogel, he struggled during the years between 2014-2019. Then-Pacers GM Larry Bird wanted a more creative offensive coach and fired Vogel in 2016. He spent the two following seasons as head coach of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/magic\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Orlando Magic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and never won more than 29 games.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Becky Hammon<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/coaches\/hammobe01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Becky Hammon<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has long been mentioned in rumors for head coaching positions, most recently for the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espn\/status\/1651934058505543681\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Raptors\u2019 vacant position<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/36306643\/raptors-coaching-search-expected-broad-scope\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammon spent eight seasons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as an assistant with the Spurs. She became the head coach of the WNBA\u2019s Las Vegas Aces in 2022, taking over for Bill Laimbeer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammon modernized the Aces\u2019 previously-archaic offense. With <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/c\/cambael01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Liz Cambage<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> gone, Hammon moved star forward <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/w\/wilsoa01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>A\u2019ja Wilson<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to center and encouraged the roster to increase their three-point attempts. Wilson, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/p\/plumke01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Kelsey Plum<\/b><\/a>,<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/wnba\/players\/y\/youngja01w.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Jackie Young<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> thrived, winning awards for MVP, All-Star Game MVP, and Most Improved Player, respectively, as Hammon led the Aces to a WNBA title.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hammon has the chops to become the first female coach in NBA history. (Hat tip to Nancy Lieberman, who was a G-League head coach and a head coach in BIG3).<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Other Candidates to Replace Mike Budenholzer<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Horst and the Bucks will contact a number of assistants. Jarron Collins won three titles as an assistant with the Warriors. He\u2019s spent the past two seasons with Willie Green and the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/pelicans\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Orleans Pelicans<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, who have made two straight Play-In appearances despite injuries to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/willizi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Zion Williamson<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ingrabr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Brandon Ingram<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Golden State\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/atkinke01c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Kenny Atkinson<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has been linked to a number of rebuilding teams and was almost hired by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/hornets\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charlotte Hornets<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> before <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/bayarea\/warriors\/why-kenny-atkinson-turned-down-hornets-head-coach-job-stay-warriors\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">turning them down<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He has a reputation for player development but led the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/category\/nets\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brooklyn Nets<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the playoffs in 2019 and would presumably relish the opportunity to coach a ready-made contender.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miami\u2019s Chris Quinn is a candidate for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/36306643\/raptors-coaching-search-expected-broad-scope\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Raptors\u2019 job<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and has been mentioned for a number of other jobs as well. Milwaukee poaching an assistant from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/spoeler99c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Erik Spoelstra<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s staff is perhaps the most intriguing outcome, given their postseason failures against the Heat.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Last Word<\/b><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Folks out here firing championship coaches as soon as they don\u2019t win the chip \u2026<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Dame_Lillard\/status\/1654259567554093056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 4, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Milwaukee Bucks fired Mike Budenholzer on May 4th, per Adrian Wojnarowski. Budenholzer\u2019s coaching resume is unimpeachable. He spent 17 seasons on Gregg Popovich\u2019s staff with the San Antonio Spurs. Budenholzer spent five seasons as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, highlighted by leading Atlanta to 60 wins while winning Coach of the Year in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4175,"featured_media":50090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,15,62],"tags":[550,219,4774],"class_list":["post-50089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","category-bucks","category-nba","tag-mike-budenholzer","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-rumors"],"modified_by":"Reese Kunz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}