Yesterday the Bucks introduced Mike Budenholzer as the new coach. He brings with him experience, a track record of success as a tactician and developer of talent, and a pedigree of Championships from the Spurs organization. While it is unknown how this will end in Milwaukee (championships or just a rise to contending status in a possibly Lebron-less Eastern Conference), there is little argument against the decision. The only pause one could have is playoff success- but this will be the first coaching job that Mike Budenholzer will have had with that one indispensable thing that playoff success tends to require- a generational superstar. And Giannis is all of that.
So a check mark goes in the “get a coach that knows what the f he’s doing” block.
Jon Horst is guiding the Bucks through the most important off season in the franchises history. He was a surprise last season when he was selected the Bucks GM to replace John Hammond. But now he’s in the perfect storm- and what happens from here determines the path this team will ultimately tread going forward. Head coach- check.
Now on to the really important stuff- what to do with a young roster that flashes both eye opening potential and hair pulling frustration. Was it the stink of Kidd? Did Kidd’s complete ineptitude as a tactician merely hold back the development of players like Jabari Parker, John Henson, Thon Maker, and others, or does this roster need a complete overhaul? In particular, Parker and Maker, who at 23 and 21 and still raw a fresh picked peppers and green as the day is long are exhibit a and b of the eye opening and hair pulling that represented the 2017-18 season. The play of both in the playoffs turned a disaster of a series against the probable EC Champion Celtics into a 7 game slugfest. And with Budenholzer’s penchant for developing average into good and winning with it (see the roster of the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks, who won 60 games with a roster that had 6 players average double figures but only one more than 12 ppg- Paul Millsap with 16.7), there’s at least the thought that if this roster has any talent “Bud” was find it.
But with a new arena opening and albatross contracts for Henson, Dellavadova, and Snell has n the books for 2 more years, the time is now to get it right. Giannis is 24- entering the prime of his career. The east is rising- the Celtics and Sixers have their own baselines for the next decade of contention. And if Lebron stays in the East, that problem isn’t going away.
Jon Horst has the best and worst job in the NBA. And if he becomes “the guy who made all the right moves” and gets hardware on the shelf, he’ll cement his legacy and the Bucks will no longer be “that team that once had Kareem Abdul Jabbar for a few years and won a championship.”
But if he gets it wrong- they’ll be “the same old Bucks” and the taxpayers will have a billion dollar tax subsidized entertainment complex in a downtown that won’t be too entertaining...
