If you look at the current standings in the NBA there’s one undefeated team left standing and it’s not the Golden State Warriors. It’s the 7-0 Milwaukee Bucks finally on the cusp of realizing some of their potential.
With Scott Brooks probably going to be fired at some point in this season with the Washington Wizards and Billy Donovan’s tenure in Oklahoma City under intense scrutiny you wonder how it is Mike Budenholzer never became coach in Oklahoma City.
If ever there was a coach who could have been the coach in Oklahoma City you would think it might be Budenholzer considering Clay Bennett and Sam Presti’s ties to the San Antonio Spurs organization.
You just wonder how that never happened. How the Thunder instead went with Scott Brooks, then with a college coach in Billy Donovan who quite frankly was struggling in the SEC at the end of his tenure in Florida with the addition of John Calipari at Kentucky. Or maybe to Donovan’s credit he became disgusted with the seamy, sordid state of the college game.
Ask yourself this question in relation to college coaches in both the NFL and NBA who have made the transition to professional ball. Which one in the last twenty years has won a championship?
Which one?
In football, way back when, Jimmy Johnson left the University of Miami to win several championships with the Dallas Cowboys. Nick Saban failed as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Jim Harbaugh won a Rose Bowl at Stanford and then got the 49’ers to a Super Bowl. Now Harhaugh has the Wolverines one win over Ohio State away from a possible Final Four berth back in the college game. Chip Kelly got the Oregon Ducks to a national championship game, but fizzled with the Philadelphia Eagles.
In basketball, Calipari failed with the New Jersey Nets. Larry Brown won a championship with the Detroit Pistons, but Brown was never what I would call a college coach, just more of a traveling coach. He was always switching jobs. All the time. Rick Pitino didn’t do much in the NBA. Lon Kruger failed with the Atlanta Hawks. Coach K never tried the pros. Fred Hoiberg has basically failed with the Bulls. Brad Stevens has steered his Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals. And Billy Donovan has gone 55-27, 47-35, and 48-44 with the Thunder coaching such players as Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Serge Ibaka, Victor Oladipo, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony.
Budenholzer started his career as film coordinator for Popovich, then moved up to the assistant coach ranks where he was involved in four of the Spurs five championships. He head coached the Atlanta Hawks four seasons and got the Hawks to the Eastern Conference Finals his first season. He also served as president of team operations in Atlanta which might explain why he’s never been the coach in Oklahoma City even though it would seem so obvious considering the ties between the Spurs and the Thunder as far as team building templates.
The Hawks and Budenholzer parted ways last season and now he’s the coach in Milawukee who has the Bucks at 7-0 and left standing the last undefeated team two weeks into the season.
You just wonder how it was Mike Budenholzer never became coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder considering Clay Bennett served on the Spurs board.
The Celtics host the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.