ATL is Home to NBA Coach of the Year
21 Apr, 2015
Mike Budenholzer was right where he didn’t want to be: the center of attention.
There was no avoiding it. Not after leading the Atlanta Hawks to the top of the Eastern Conference.
Budenholzer was honored as the NBA coach of the year on Tuesday, an award that moved him to tears as he spoke about the people who meant so much to his career.
His players. His father. Danny Ferry. And, of course, Gregg Popovich.
“Winning this award evokes a lot of emotions,” Budenholzer said, choking up several times.
He is clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight, rarely opening up about anything more than the next game. So it didn’t sound like polite modesty when he said he would have preferred for Golden State’s Steve Kerr to win the award.
Kerr, whose team finished an NBA-best 67-15 in his first season with the Warriors, was second in the balloting, the only other candidate to receive serious consideration.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m not appreciative of it,” Budenholzer said after a ceremony at Philips Arena. “But in a perfect world, I’d be somewhere else.”
A longtime assistant under Popovich at San Antonio, Budenholzer won the Red Auerbach Trophy for guiding the Hawks to a 60-22 mark during the regular season, the best in franchise history.
He’s a wonderful person, a heck of a coach,” Popovich said in Los Angeles, where the Spurs were playing the Clippers in the Western Conference playoffs. “It’s great that people noticed and understood what a good job he did. I’m sure he doesn’t even know which way to turn, but he’s a happy camper, for sure.”
The Hawks had a 19-game winning streak, became the first NBA team to go 17-0 during a calendar month, and cruised to their first division title since 1994, which also was the last time they held a No. 1 seed.
“He deserves it,” said Jeff Teague, the Hawks’ All-Star point guard. “He’s made me a better player. He’s made our team better.”
Budenholzer received 67 first-place votes and 513 points overall in balloting by sports writers and broadcasters. Kerr received 56 first-place votes and 471 points. Milwaukee’s Jason Kidd was a distant third.
After a sluggish start, the Hawks finished seven games ahead of the overwhelming East favorites, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Atlanta had six players average in double figures, with the five starters finishing between 12.1 and 16.7 points a game.
In January, all five starters were honored as NBA players of the month, the first time the league has given the award to an entire unit.
AP
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