The Phoenix Suns are set to hire Mike Budenholzer as the team’s new head coach, moving quickly following the firing of Frank Vogel, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Friday.
The deal is expected to bring in eight-figure sums per year, Charania adds.
Vogel was fired Thursday and former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Budenholzer was immediately identified as someone who would play a significant role in the search, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Arizona Sports John Gambadoro went on to report that this would be an accelerated head coaching search for the Suns, narrowed down to just one to three candidates and expected to be completed by the end of the following week. Budenholzer has been mentioned as the favorite for the position.
Budenholzer, 54, took his first break as an NBA coach last season, before 1996, when he first joined the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff under Gregg Popovich . This follows two seasons as video coordinator. He held this assistant position for 17 years before being hired as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.
Atlanta had tremendous success with Budenholzer, winning 60 games in his second season when he was named Coach of the Year.
After Budenholzer took the Hawks to the playoffs in year one with a 38-44 record, Atlanta reached the Eastern Conference Finals, where they were swept by LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. It would happen again the following year after 48 victories, this time in the second round.
A 43-39 campaign in the 2016-17 season came with another first-round elimination, and by then most of the team’s core was on its way out. Atlanta’s rebuild began the following year, going 24-58.
Two weeks later, the Bucks hired Budenholzer in 2018, where he played a high-profile role to unlock Giannis Antetokounmpo’s full potential and win a championship with one of the NBA’s next superstars, like his predecessor Jason Kidd. couldn’t do it.
Budenholzer succeeded. The Bucks won 60 games during the 2018-19 season, returning to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001.
Budenholzer won his second Coach of the Year award and Antetokounmpo received his first Most Valuable Player award. The bubble wasn’t very kind to the Bucks, as despite going 56-17, they were defeated in six games by the Miami Heat in the second round.
It was in the third year that everything fell into place. Milwaukee acquired Jrue Holiday, a perfect fit on any basketball team, making the Bucks the preseason favorites to win the Eastern Conference. They did, overcoming their best competition in the Brooklyn Nets through a seven-game second-round thriller that ended with Kevin Durant’s infamous “toe on the line” shot that could have changed a lot of things not only for the Bucks and Nets. but so do the Suns.
Milwaukee then faced the Suns in the NBA Finals, a terrific six-game series that saw the Bucks come out on top.
The Bucks were certainly expected to be back in the mix and won 51 games before losing in the second round to the Boston Celtics in seven games.
Buzz from the fan base being skeptical of Budenholzer dating back to before the championship resumed, and even though it was another solid 58 win streak in the 2022-23 season, a Huge upset by the Heat in the first round led to Budenholzer. dismissal. It was also reported that his relationship with Antetokounmpo was strained.
Budenholzer is originally from Arizona. He grew up in Holbrook in northern Arizona, where his father Vince won 10 regional titles and a state championship as a high school basketball coach. Vince is a member of the Arizona High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame.
Mike Budenholzer’s aforementioned regular season track record speaks for itself and is a coach known for his specialty on offense, where his implementation of a system will be an upgrade after Phoenix under Vogel was difficult to identify any the season.
Vogel was fired after the Suns were swept in the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves. They went 49-33 during a regular season littered with warning signs of a team unable to connect with each other and the coaching staff.
News Source : arizonasports.com
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