Milwaukee Bucks announced on Thursday that they hired Mike Budenholzer as their new head coach. While the Bucks managed to get one of the best available coaches on the market, they also made their star player Giannis Antetokounmpo happy with this choice. Antetokounmpo spoke with the reporter on Friday at the NBA Draft Combine and expressed his excitement about the opportunity to play for Budenholzer.
“He’s a great coach. He was the Coach of the Year in the 2015-2016 season,” – said the 23-year-old All-Star. “We had a great conversation (before Budenholzer was hired and) talked about the game plan. How he views me as a player, how he can help this team. I had a lot of tough questions for him. But it was fun, I’m excited to play for him.“
According to ESPN, before he was hired by Milwaukee Bucks, Mike Budenholzer had a meeting team’s two main stars, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, and present them his vision for the future of the team. Buck encouraged the meeting, wanting to be on the same page with their franchise star Antetokounmpo before making a formal offer to Budenholzer.
“He’s widely respected and has shown a special ability to teach and develop players,” – said Bucks owners Wes Edens, Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan in a statement announcing the hiring of a new coach. “His leadership, basketball intellect, championship-level experience and communication skills make him the right fit to take our team to the next level.“
Mike Budenholzer served 17 years as an assistant under San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich before taking the job with the Atlanta Hawks. He led the Hawks to Eastern Conference Finals in 2015 and was named NBA Coach of the Year.
