ESPN: Coach Bud - NBA Coach of the First Trimester

[AHF]

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/3389/coach-of-the-first-trimester-2

 

Coach of the First Trimester: Mike Budenholzer, Atlanta

I know what you're going to say. 

You only picked Budenholzer to make yourself look good, Stein. 

I get it, too. That's a natural leap to make if you've paid close enough attention to recall that, on both the pages of ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, Budenholzer was my preseason Coach of the Year pick. 

Yet I would argue, in response, that you're being overly conspiratorial. Look at Atlanta's roster. Look at the Hawks' record. Look at what they've done these past two weeks alone after everyone dismissed their 16-7 start by citing an easy early schedule. 

 

Don't forget, furthermore, all the Danny Ferry-related turmoil Atlanta lugged into the season and the stability Budenholzer has provided. The Hawks don't have an obvious All-Star and are challenging for the Eastern Conference lead, which is a significant achievement no matter how underwhelming two-thirds of the East looks. 

The hard part here, of course, is choosing Budenholzer over Steve Kerr, whose recent 16-game winning streak fell one shy of the record for rookie coaches ... just one win shy of the 17-gamer that a certain Arnold "Red" Auerbach enjoyed as the first-year coach of the Washington Capitols back in 1946-47. 

Kerr has made an immediate impact in Golden State, simultaneously making a mockery of the notion -- which yours truly bought into -- that replacing a coach as popular with his players as Mark Jackson would be problematic. Kerr had the Warriors in the top five in offensive and defensive efficiency when he awoke on Christmas morning, spicing things up at the fun end with more ball and player movement without the Dubs losing anything on D ... even with anchor/rim protectorAndrew Bogut playing all of two minutes in Golden State's past nine games. 

We're simply giving the slightest of nods to Budenholzer, one-third of the way in, because he has less overall talent and less of a ready-made squad when the season started given Al Horford's gradual return from injury. It must be said, though, that the narrow margins here are reminiscent of how taut things are in the West MVP race. 

Other names to earn serious COFT consideration: Portland's Terry Stotts, Houston's Kevin McHale, Toronto's Dwane Casey and Milwaukee's Jason Kidd, who has almost matched Milwaukee's 2013-14 win total with 63 games left on its schedule.

[DrReality]

Good for him. Now finish the year

[capstone21]

He is,definitely coach of the year so far with what he has done with this team. I agree that Kerr is a close second

[Spurs]

I told ya guys this guy is the real deal. No knuckheads allowed. Winning cures all. 

[bird_dirt]

Love the recognition, but what's up with this "trimester" stuff? Did the league get knocked up or something? Coach of the week, month, quarter, trimester, half.....just keep bringing it Bud.

[AHF]

Bus's coaching is so potent that in this small segment he made all of the ladies in the area pregnant. (He is trying to correct this).

[buckeye242424]

I like the pub... I just think it's just a bit pre-mature. Long way to go, but I'm pleasantly surprised how well the team is playing for him...

[AHF]

I like the pub... I just think it's just a bit pre-mature. Long way to go, but I'm pleasantly surprised how well the team is playing for him...

This is about the first third of the season so it is fully mature!

[benhillboy]

Bud being named COTM is a formality, good job, I'm sure he doesn't give a damn. But how odd is it that we had a COTM this same time 2 years ago?

[pimp]

But how odd is it that we had a COTM this same time 2 years ago?

Don't remind me of that , because after Drew won COTM in Dec. , the next month was a complete disaster . 

We went something like 7-9 in Jan , and L.Williams had his knee injury.

[SalvorMallow]

Don't remind me of that , because after Drew won COTM in Dec. , the next month was a complete disaster .

We went something like 7-9 in Jan , and L.Williams had his knee injury.

Yeah, that was when pero went down if I remember correctly.

[TheFuzz]

This is about the first third of the season so it is fully mature!

 

Glad to have you on board, AHF. At least a 75% believer these days, eh?

[ATLHawks3]

Yeah, that was when pero went down if I remember correctly.

 

Pero was never coached by Drew. 

[AHF]

Glad to have you on board, AHF. At least a 75% believer these days, eh?

 

I am very excited with what I have seen from the team.  In my mind I have them at recent LA Clipper level (good to great regular season record with a very low % chance of winning a championship).  The biggest jump for me is that I am beginning to get more optimistic about our chances of making and competing in the ECF.  I still don't see us as a contender yet but the East is a mess this year so while the East is playing like this I could actually see us emerging from the East.  That is still a long-shot for me but I am thinking it is more realistic than I previously would have thought.  Either way, I'll be rooting for every Hawks win and Nets loss all year!

[benhillboy]

I am very excited with what I have seen from the team. In my mind I have them at recent LA Clipper level (good to great regular season record with a very low % chance of winning a championship). The biggest jump for me is that I am beginning to get more optimistic about our chances of making and competing in the ECF. I still don't see us as a contender yet but the East is a mess this year so while the East is playing like this I could actually see us emerging from the East. That is still a long-shot for me but I am thinking it is more realistic than I previously would have thought. Either way, I'll be rooting for every Hawks win and Nets loss all year!

That's fair enough, but the Clippers wished they played as consitently as the Hawks. Super talented, very sloppy at times.

GS, Chicago, Portland, and Memphis are the only teams who have a more impressive point differential than us IMO. I always believed in "the first team to 100 wins", especially in this East, the West playoffs are just gonna be dogfights down to the last second for a majority of the games.

We should always beat Chicago and Memphis to 100 points. I turn off or stop reading anything that says Washington and Chicago are beter than us after we beat both, have a better record, and point differential. They beat us next time around and we're even. Totonto is the only team that has shown clearly they have an edge in a series with us.

Edited January 1, 2015 by benhillboy

[AHF]

That's fair enough, but the Clippers wished they played as consitently as the Hawks. Super talented, very sloppy at times.

GS, Chicago, Portland, and Memphis are the only teams who have a more impressive point differential than us IMO.

Last year's Clippers won 57 games with a +6.9 point differential.  This year we have a +4.8 point differential but a better winning %.

[JETSET]

I am very excited with what I have seen from the team. In my mind I have them at recent LA Clipper level (good to great regular season record with a very low % chance of winning a championship). The biggest jump for me is that I am beginning to get more optimistic about our chances of making and competing in the ECF. I still don't see us as a contender yet but the East is a mess this year so while the East is playing like this I could actually see us emerging from the East. That is still a long-shot for me but I am thinking it is more realistic than I previously would have thought. Either way, I'll be rooting for every Hawks win and Nets loss all year!

We have as good a chance of making it to the finals as any team in the East and the team representing the West is going to be worn out after 3 dog fights. I dont understand why people keep putting limitations on what this Hawks team can do. Maybe this season just seems too good to be true for some, not me though. We are legit contenders and no level of achievement by this team will surprise me.

[benhillboy]

Last year's Clippers won 57 games with a +6.9 point differential. This year we have a +4.8 point differential but a better winning %.

Damn, I didn't realize they were at +6.9 last year. Thats very impressive, probably equal to ours if you want to knock off a basket due to the conference inequality. Still, I love our style over theirs, but the Sterling thing might have very well knocked them off course for their best chance last year. Their rival GS has almost lapped them.

[KB21]

To me, it is very interesting that Terry Stotts is on that list.  His one season he had in Atlanta, he had a crap team.  I always felt he was a good coach that was stuck with lousy teams in both Atlanta and Milwaukee.