Milwaukee Bucks: 4 ways Mike Budenholzer will improve the team
4. Regular season sustainability
There are two ways for a team to win more games than it loses with consistency. The first is to have an overwhelming level of talent, generally centered around a transcendent superstar. The other is to instill a system that gives structure to players and maximizes their talent. Bring the two together, like what is happening with the Golden State Warriors, and dynasties are born.
In a league where the best players are changing teams at record levels, the second path to sustainability is increasingly necessary. The San Antonio Spurs won their titles with such a superstar in Tim Duncan, but making the playoffs for 21 straight seasons speaks to an organizational culture, and an on-court system that allows players to cycle through and contribute to a winning team.
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While no active coach is Gregg Popovich, Mike Budenholzer spent 17 seasons learning under him as an assistant coach with the Spurs. He saw firsthand the importance of a strong system on-and-off the court. He brought that same philosophy to Atlanta over his five seasons with the team.
The Hawks teams he oversaw were never equipped with elite talent, yet they made the playoffs for four straight seasons before a complete erosion of any above-average players dropped them into the dregs of the lottery. In 2014-15, the Hawks won 60 games despite not having a top-10 — or possibly even a top-20 — player. While Budenholzer was not the only person deserving of credit, he did win the Coach of the Year award that season just because of how he elevated that team.
Milwaukee has not had that sort of structure in the modern era, with Jason Kidd installing a specific defensive scheme but never the franchise culture necessary to elevate the team higher than the sum of its parts. With a strong amount of talent on this roster, seeing how Budenholzer can maximize it will be important to watch.