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Jusuf Nurkic: “Right after arriving at camp, he was extremely negative toward everyone. It didn’t matter whether it was me, Booker, or anyone else. Every practice was full of criticism — ‘you are not good enough’, ‘you should not be playing basketball’. Nobody really took his words seriously at first. We couldn’t understand that at one point he had lost his compass, that he didn’t care how anyone felt, and that is the most important thing in such a team environment. It was no longer about anything. We had a video meeting, 15–18 of us, all the coaches, and Budenholzer was showing clips of how everyone was performing. Booker tried to say something, he listened to him, and then told him, ‘Please do not speak anymore in these meetings so my assistants can talk.’
Jusuf Nurkic: After that meeting, nobody cared anymore about what he was showing. He was explaining to Kevin Durant how to make a basket… explaining to him how to score is like teaching a pilot how to fly a plane. It was absurd. In the end, he had a serious alcohol problem, that is known. Maybe that also affected things, but he completely lost control with the team. He started holding one-on-one meetings just to provoke players — Beal, Allen — you would come there and not believe what he was saying.
Tim Reynolds: 11 coaches have made the NBA Finals since 2020. 6 are no longer with the teams they took to those Finals. 2024: Jason Kidd, Dallas 2023: Michael Malone, Denver 2022: Ime Udoka, Boston 2021: Monty Williams, Phoenix 2021: Mike Budenholzer, Milwaukee 2020: Frank Vogel, Lakers
Michael Scotto: Sources: The Blazers interviewed Rockets assistant Ben Sullivan for their head coaching job. He interviewed for the Suns last summer. He’s been an assistant for Ime Udoka (Rockets/Celtics), Joe Mazzulla and Mike Budenholzer (Bucks/Hawks). He played for the University of Portland.
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Before his career-best 40.7 percent shooting from 3-point range this season, and before he led the NBA with 205 3-pointers off the bench, and before he tied an NBA record with five games of at least seven 3-pointers off the bench, there was Atlanta. “Rock bottom?” Hardaway repeated before a long pause. “It was Atlanta. One-thousand percent.” It was his third NBA season, in the summer of 2015 after he had been traded to the Hawks from New York, which moved on after taking him with the 24th pick in 2013. After averaging a little more than 23 minutes a game in New York, Hardaway thought he was headed for a bigger role with the Hawks. Instead, he found himself sitting in Budenholzer’s office, getting a lecture. “Bud was like, ‘You’re not gonna play the first 25 games. I don’t care if people are injured or not. Like, you won’t see the floor. We’re trying to make you into the player we want you to become,'” Hardaway remembered.
He sensed this was the beginning of the end. He wondered if he was destined for the leagues in Europe. He said he called his agent daily, as well as his Hall of Famer father, point guard Tim Hardaway Sr., fretting about his future. “It was my lowest point; I didn’t know if I was going to be sticking around,” Hardaway said.
Budenholzer’s office sermon played on repeat in his mind. Today, Hardaway remembers the entire conversation as if it was yesterday. Budenholzer wanted him to be in better shape so he could not only shoot, but also defend. He wanted him to be on time. He wanted him to work on his game outside of team practices and shootarounds. He wanted him to start eating better and taking care of his body. “He really gave me the blueprint of how to stay in the league,” Hardaway said.
An assistant for Mike Budenholzer at the time, in his second NBA stop, Atkinson didn’t know much about Schröder. But he learned quickly. And when thinking back to those early days with Schröder, Atkinson still chuckles about a brash turnover-prone teenager eager to make his NBA mark. Perhaps a bit too eager. “Dennis is, how should I say, extremely competitive and maybe wasn’t aware of all the nuances of the NBA — or he just didn’t care,” Atkinson told cleveland.com “He came to the NBA in full force. He wanted to take everybody’s job, which we loved about him. We had a really structured system in Atlanta from player development to team stuff, and I think he struggled with that as a rookie because the demands were extremely high.
“What kind of coach are we thinking he wants? Like, what vibe are we looking for next?” Bobby Portis: “I would say something like a Mike Budenholzer type of vibe, you know? Something that’s close to that. Something that’s about coaching, you know what I’m saying? Something that’s about holding guys accountable. Something that’s about standing for the right things. Something that’s about creating a culture and an identity. I don’t think this year we really had an identity. When you go out there on the court and you play the Miami Heat, you already know exactly how they’re about to play. When you play the Celtics, you know exactly how they’re about to play. When you play OKC, you know exactly how they’re about to play. Even when you play Toronto this year, you know exactly how they’re about to play.
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The growing expectation within league circles is that Doc Rivers won’t be Milwaukee's head coach next season. Instead, there’s a belief that Rivers could pivot to an undetermined role in Milwaukee’s front office. As for potential coaching candidates, the Bucks have an internal candidate in Darvin Ham who will also be sought after by the Pelicans, according to league sources, this summer. Taylor Jenkins will almost assuredly draw interest from Milwaukee if their head coaching job becomes available. Jenkins will arguably be the most sought-after coach on the market and was previously an assistant coach under Mike Budenholzer when the Bucks advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2019. Another name to potentially consider is Pelicans interim head coach James Borrego, who previously interviewed for Milwaukee’s head coaching job when Adrian Griffin was hired, and will also be available this summer.
This is something that's always bothered me. I asked you this directly the day coach Adrian Griffin was fired - how involved you were with that. And you said, you give an opinion, but you do not make the decision. Giannis Antetokounmpo: “1000%.” Nobody believes you. Nobody believes me. Antetokounmpo: “I'm telling you the truth. I see, of course; I interview, but I don't make the decision. That's everyone, not just me. All the players, well not all of them - for the longest time it was Bud [coach Mike Budenholzer], Giannis and Khris [Middleton]. But I don't make a decision. I was the youngest player on the team.”
RC Buford: “I think we had many coaches over the last 10 years who could have stepped into that role. Ime Udoka was with us, along with James Borrego, Brett Brown, Mike Budenholzer, and Will Hardy. There were many people with us who could have stepped into that role, but the longer Coach Pop stayed, the more those coaches moved on to other opportunities. When we needed Mitch to step up, he did so in a big way. It was incredibly emotional for him to take on that role. ‘Interim’ is probably the wrong word, because at the time of Pop’s stroke, we didn’t know whether Pop could come back. Mitch had that year to show the players—and all of us—who he could be as a coach.”
