By Jordan Long
The Milwaukee Bucks finished the regular season with the NBA’s best record at 58-24. In the first-round of the NBA playoffs, the Miami Heat dismissed the Bucks in 5 games. Milwaukee decided to fire Head Coach Mike Budenholzer. This feels like the wrong decision.
Budenholzer was hired by Milwaukee on May 16th, 2018. Milwaukee canned Jason Kidd. This was Kidd’s first-ever NBA Head Coaching job. He coached the Bucks from 2014 to 2018. Under him, the Bucks were 139-152, a disappointing winning percentage of .478. Milwaukee earned a playoff spot twice with him, in 2015 and 2017. Kidd was let go 45 games into the 2018 season. The Bucks record stood at 23-22.
The Bucks’ interim Head Coach who finished that year was Joe Prunty. He ended with a 21-16 record. Overall, the Bucks were 44-38 and managed to earn the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. They were beaten in the first-round of the NBA playoffs by Boston. Looking at that, Prunty should have been the full-time coach. Instead, the Bucks hired Budenholzer.
Budenholzer had Head Coaching experience in the league with the Atlanta Hawks, lasting from 2013 to 2018. There his record was 213-197, a winning percentage of .520. The Hawks earned a playoff spot 4 times. Budenholzer was let go after a 24-58 record in 2018. The Bucks thought he was the best coach available.
Budenholzer showed he could coach the Bucks into a consistent playoff team. In his 5 years with the franchise, his record is an impressive 271-120, a winning percentage of .693. The Bucks went to the playoffs every single year under him and won the NBA Championship in 2021. Looking at that, the Bucks should have kept him since he coached them so well.
This year, the Bucks had high hopes of doing something special in the postseason. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen since they had a first-round exit. The Bucks’ front office took their time to decide Budenholzer’s future with the franchise. They could have kept him since his contract had 2 years left. The Bucks chose to let him go.
According to ESPN.com, Bucks’ General Manager Jon Horst said, “The decision to make this change was very difficult. Bud helped lead our team for five incredible seasons, to the Bucks’ first title in 50 years, and into an era of sustained success. We are grateful for the culture of winning and leadership that Bud helped create in Milwaukee. This is an opportunity for us to refocus and reenergize our efforts as we continue building toward our next championship season.”
The problem with the firing is every NBA franchise wants to earn a playoff spot with the goal of winning a title. Budenholzer did all that. This was not the right move. The Bucks should have kept Budenholzer for another year to show this was a fluke. Now he will be in high demand for another NBA job and maybe coach his new team deep in the NBA playoffs. The Bucks will regret this decision to fire Budenholzer.
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