NBA Awards 2019: 3 reasons why Mike Budenholzer should win the Coach of the Year Award

After Milwaukee ended their 2017-18 campaign as the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference which was quickly followed by a first round elimination by the Celtics in the playoffs, the front office knew that drastic changes will have to be made.

Following a five-season stint in Atlanta and some elite learning from Future Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich, the Bucks franchise knew Coach Bud was the best available option on the open market last summer. The organisation sacked the then head coach Jason Kidd and installed Mike Budenholzer as his successor.

From that point on, he embraced this golden opportunity of coaching a highly talented team and exceeded all possible expectations. To cap off an amazing run, Coach Budenholzer was named the All-Star Coach for Team Giannis along with Coach Mike Malone (Team LeBron), in what was only the second occasion in the last 35 seasons that the All-Star coaches were people who weren't participants in the previous year's NBA playoffs.

"I feel like me and Mike(Malone) are cut from the same cloth," Budenholzer said. "We want to be good defensively, and the players are pretty damn good offensively."

Mike Budenholzer is the same guy who orchestrated the Hawks' 60-win season back in 2014-15, and made them an ECF-calibre team.

Let's skim through a few reasons as to why this man ticks all the boxes in order to win the 'Coach of the Year' award during the upcoming NBA awards.

#1 Coach Bud led the Bucks to a league-best record in his very first year with the franchise

Budenholzer won the Coach of the Year award in 2015.

Right before the 49-year-old took charge, the Bucks had just ended a sub-par 44-48 (win-loss) season, having not broken the 50-win mark since 2000-01.

Whatever Coach Bud did eventually resulted in the Milwaukee Bucks finishing two games clear of the second-seed Raptors on the Eastern Conference leaderboard as well as the league's best record. Their 60-22(0.732) win-loss record for their 2018-19 outing marked Milwaukee's best regular season since 1980-81.

“We certainly felt like we could compete with anybody in the East, compete with anybody in the league,” Budenholzer said. “You have to have confidence. You have to have belief in yourself and your team. There’s a lot of that in our locker room.”

Until the Raptors caught fire to win four straight games in the ECF, Milwaukee were the clear favourites to grab an NBA Finals berth this year around. Nevertheless, Budenholzer and his Bucks almost captured the throne that sat unoccupied ever since LeBron's exit from the East.

And yes, all of this mayhem in just his first season with the franchise.

#2 His offensive and defensive approach sat well with the Bucks; Mike also bagged the NBCA Coach of the Year award

Milwaukee was the No. 1 rebounding team in the league during the 2018-19 regular season.

Every expert had guessed that former Head Coach Jason Kidd's trap defense wasn't quite working anymore. Understandably so, Budenholzer came up with a simpler approach, which included running people off the 3-point line and protecting the rim. Combined with the team's will on defense and in crashing the boards, it resulted in the Bucks possessing the best defensive rating(105.2) of the 30 teams by the end of the regular season.

Moreover, Coach Bud's player-movement-oriented style of offense along with high volume three-point shooting interlaced perfectly with the talented pool down in Milwaukee.

He might or might not bag the NBA's Coach of the year award but what's really fitting is his fellow coaches across the league thought he was the best of them. Budenholzer was honoured with the NBCA's (National Basketball Coaches Association) Coach of the Year award just recently.

"Mike Budenholzer in his first year as the Head Coach of the Bucks, led the franchise to the top record in the entire NBA," Mavericks head coach and NBCA President Rick Carlisle said in a statement. "Congrats to Bud on this prestigious recognition."

#3 Huge contribution towards Antetokounmpo's surge to glory

Giannis went from being a great player to an unstoppable MVP finalist in just one year.

The All-Star weekend saw Coach Budenholzer at the helm of a team captained by his star player back in Milwaukee, the Greek Freak.

As was reported, Giannis was visibly upset by the franchise's decision of letting Jason Kidd go. But what he found in Mike was someone who could take him and his team to the next level at the speed of light, and so, Antetokounmpo embodied the challenge and the journey that came with it.

Under Coach Bud's tutelage, Giannis became arguably the most dominant player in the NBA, courtesy of the floor spacing by his team. During the season, he led the league in dunks and averaged a career-high 6 assists per game, along with attempting more threes than he ever had in his career.

"His ability to be flexible, to be creative, to build a relationship with our guys and really everyone in our organization has created this dynamic and this culture of togetherness and excitement and fun," Bucks general manager Jon Horst said. "You've got a superstar in Giannis that fits, I believe, a superstar coach in Mike Budenholzer."

Coach Bud ran the offense through Antetokounmpo and made sure he could shoot the ball from distance, as well as do his thing in the paint whenever needed. The 24-year-old Greek ended the season with career-high averages of 27.7 points and 12.5 rebounds.