New Phoenix Suns Coach Mike Budenholzer Introductory Press Conference, Welcome Back to Arizona!
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Published 2024-05-17
The two were introduced by legendary Suns radio announcer Al McCoy.
Budenholzer, who was officially hired on Saturday, is the team's third coach in as many years, as well as Devin Booker's seventh coach in 10 years. Budenholzer became the franchise's 22nd head coach in their 56 years of existence.
His hiring came just two days after first-year coach Frank Vogel was fired a week and a half after the Suns were swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Budenholzer is reportedly bringing in a completely new staff from Vogel's.
Budeholzer is an Arizona native, growing up a Suns fan in Holbrook, Arizona. His father coached basketball at Holbrook High School for 25 years, won a state championship in 1971 and is in the Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
Budenholzer, 54, coached the Bucks to their 2021 NBA Finals win over the Suns. He had been out of coaching for a year after five seasons (2018-2023) with the Bucks, in which he finished with a 271-120 record (.639 winning percentage).
Budenholzer, the NBA Coach of the Year in 2014-15 and 2018-19, was dismissed after the Bucks lost in the first round to the Miami Heat in 2023.
Before Milwaukee, Budenholzer spent five years as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks (2013-2018), amassing a 213-197 record (.520 winning percentage) there.
Budenholzer began his coaching career as an assistant under coach Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs during Popovich's first year in San Antonio. He stayed with the Spurs from 1996-2013, winning four NBA championships as an assistant.
Combined, Budenholzer has a 484-317 record as a head coach, which gives him the fifth-highest win percentage by a coach (min. 800 games). He is also 20th all-time in playoff wins, going 56-48 in the postseason.
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0:00 Al McCoy - opening remarks
2:00 Jones - opening comments
3:23 Budenholzer - Opening comments
8:37 Budenholzer - Being from Arizona
10:06 Budenholzer - Input in roster construction
11:24 Budenholzer - Pronouncing last name
11:49 Budenholzer - Mindset going into a situation like this
13:08 Budenholzer - What it would mean to win a championship with the Suns
14:17 Budenholzer - Conversations with players
15:20 Budenholzer - How he spent last season off from basketball
16:52 Budenholzer - Superstar - coach relationship
18:40 Budenholzer - Growing up in Holbrook
20:02 Budenholzer - Importance of bench
21:49 Budenholzer - Volume of 3-point shooting
23:30 Jones - Roster construction for Mike Budenholzer
24:33 Jones - Reasons for dismissing Frank Vogel
#MikeBudenholzer #AlMcCoy #JamesJones #Suns #PhoenixSuns #NBA #BradleyBeal #KevinDurant #DevinBooker #pressconference #basketball
All Comments (7)
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Are you excited about the hire of Budenholzer? ⬇️
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All the positive talk means nothing without adding the right pieces around the (superstars)
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You can hear the emotion in Mike's voice in the opening comments when he discussed his family. You can still feel how the loss of his brother impacted him.
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For the last question about Frank Vogel, James tip toed around that one lol. Simply put Frank was offensively inept, which is no good when you have 3 players who's strength is in their offense. Mike is a more balanced coach, which is better for this roster. The defense honestly was fine (the Suns ended the season at 13th, 10th in their last 10 games), but on the offensive end, the Suns were not firing on all cylinders, because Frank is abysmal at offense. You HAVE to be good at BOTH, (not only as a player, but also as a coach) to consistently win.
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There's hope at least. I had none for Young and Vogel. Pray for health though it starts with that.
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Can hear the doubt in the coach voice.
