When the Milwaukee Bucks signed Mike Budenholzer to a four-year head-coaching deal this week, they were buying a small piece of an NBA institution: The San Antonio Spurs coaching tree.
The Spurs, thanks in large part to five NBA championships won under the guidance of coach Gregg Popovich, have long been one of the league’s top producers of bench-running prospects. So while Budenholzer may have made his name as the NBA’s coach of the year back in 2014-15, this at the height of his five-year run with the Atlanta Hawks, he formed the bedrock of his credibility during 17 years as a San Antonio assistant.