At this point, you would have to be blind to have missed the fact that the Hawks are in full tank/rebuild mode. After the Millsap and Howard trade and allowing THJ to walk, it would be very hard to argue that they haven’t started planning for the future. No matter what Travis Schlenk says, this team is not competing for a playoff spot this year. As the franchise shifts focus from their 60 win, 1st seed mindset to a top 3 lottery pick, the question begs to be asked, is Bud right for this job?
To find the answer, you need to look into his coaching history with both Atlanta and San Antonio. Bud’s first introduction into NBA coaching came in the 96-97 season when he was hired on as Assistant Coach under Pop in San Antonio. During his time with the Spurs, he’s helped develop greats such as Tim Duncan, Tony Parker & Manu Ginobili. He helped Popovich turn San Antonio into the juggernaut we know it as now. Fast forward to the 2013-2014 season when Bud was announced as the new HC of the Atlanta Hawks. He was taking over a team that finished 6 games over .500 and only had one player on it that had ever made an All-Star game (Al Horford). Budenholzer, with help from Danny Ferry, added DeMarre Carroll and Paul Millsap to the Hawks as well as drafting Dennis Schroder. Immediate success didn’t happen, as their record dipped 6 games below .500 in Bud’s first year, but the following year's success showed Pop’s protege was fit for the position. The Hawks won 60 games, most in franchise history, had 4 players represent Atlanta in the All-Star game and had the 1st ever NBA player of the month award given to an entire starting 5. This season couldn’t have been seen as anything but a roaring success as Bud helmed the best team Atlanta has seen from the Hawks franchise. In the years that followed, we’ve seen an exodus of talented young players developed under Bud, simply because of the money their talent demands on the FA market. We saw Bud turn DeMarre Carroll into a glorified rotational bench player into a $14 million dollar junk yard dog, Al Horford went from a fringe All-Star to a near max player in Bos, and Kyle Korver went from journeyman to a spot up 3 shooter. After being traded mid-season in 2016 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, he turned his talents into the richest contract he’s seen in his career at 36yrs old, 3yrs/7mill.
Rebuilding isn’t where you want your franchise to be. It’s much more exciting to watch a team that is competing and has a chance at a championship. Unfortunately, the only way to improve in the NBA is to tank, receive lottery picks & pray you don’t draft the next Darko Milicic. Atlanta will hold the rights to their own 1st rd draft pick in 2018, a top 5 lottery pick (hopefully), as well as Minnesota’s 1-14 protected pick. The Atlanta Hawks Hawks also put together a young, talented core in Dennis, Bembry, Prince, Bazemore and Collins. Bud’s track record speaks for itself. He has assembled young, talented teams that have overachieved at times. We couldn’t ask for a better equipped coach to navigate us through the rebuilding period we’re currently in. Until the time comes where the Hawks are perennial Eastern competitors: “O Captain, my Captain.”
No comments:
Post a Comment