Toronto Raptors: 5 candidates to replace Dwane Casey as head coach
2. Mike Budenholzer
Mike Budenholzer has been the hottest name on the market during this coaching free agency period. Teams in need of a new direction are drawn to “Bud” because of his success with the Atlanta Hawks and years of coaching wisdom he gained from 16 seasons assisting Gregg Popovich in San Antonio.
ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski indicates that the Toronto Raptors are one of those interested teams:
Mike Budenholzer has emerged as the focus of the Milwaukee and Toronto coaching searches, league sources tell ESPN. Raptors are opening conversations with Budenholzer and Bucks will re-engage with him early this week, sources said.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 14, 2018
Budenholzer and the Hawks mutually parted ways on April 25 after a 24-58 season. Both parties want different things for their respective futures. Atlanta is looking to continue its rebuilding process while Budenholzer desires to lead a more competitive team.
The Raptors could be just the competitive team he is looking for.
In Budenholzer’s first four seasons, the Hawks went 189-139 and made the playoffs each year. This stretch includes a Hawks franchise-high 60-win campaign in 2014-15 that saw them reach the conference finals for the first time since 1970.
The downside to Budenholzer, however, is that he hit the same LeBron-induced ceiling in Atlanta that Casey and the Raptors are dealing with now. The Cavaliers eliminated the Hawks via sweep in 2015 and 2016.
However, perhaps the combination of the Raptors’ talent and Bud’s system could be enough to inject confidence in both parties and help them solve their shared LeBron problem. This possibility will likely be very enticing to Ujiri and the Raptors front office.