RealGM

The Atlanta Hawks are engaged in serious talks with Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer to make him head coach, league sources tell Y! Sports.

@WojYahooNBA

The hawks have hired Mike Buldenholzer as head coach

@ajchawks

The Atlanta Spurs.

The San Antonio Hawks.

Not a bad direction to go in.

Loving it, a man who's worked under Greg Poppovich for coach Pop's entire tenure is not a bad direction to go in at all.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/22 ... With-Hawks

Love it.

Its official. AJC reporting it now. Good Move Ferry

He was my pick for our head coaching vacancy that was only just filled. Good hire.

Not sure: the Spurs built a TEAM of intelligent leaders, headed by Popovich. The list of solid basketball men who have worked there is impressive. If we're going to do the same, great. But if we're going to try to get Ferry and Budenholzer to be geniuses, i.e., be one-man management and coaching staffs, we're going the way of all (underfunded) losing teams. Hopefully, this is the beginning of even more hires.

I'm still waiting to see if the ASG is willing to spend money on management infrastructure.

So he bails on the Spurs before the championship finals? Seems weird really. Why not make this hire in a couple weeks time after the finals?

This was a guy I had hoped the Pistons could have brought in.

Very cool! I was hoping for this type of hire: new direction, new philosophy, and tenure in the league that has been successful. I like the idea that, much like smith and dimitroff, these guys will be able to be on the same page in how they want to develop this team. It bodes well that this franchise is finally making some smart decisions.

Hopefully the hiring of Budenholzer will be the Hawks' version of hiring Mike Smith.

Looks like Bud will coach the Spurs through the Finals.

It's gonna be of the utmost importance that we get the right assistant coaches for this guy with him being so young and a first time coach.

Kilo wrote:So he bails on the Spurs before the championship finals? Seems weird really. Why not make this hire in a couple weeks time after the finals?

This was a guy I had hoped the Pistons could have brought in.

Not weird. Spurs let hawks talk to him this week because of the long delay they have between games now otherwise they would of had to wait to after finals to make deal.

Great news. Good building block!

Welcome to the Hawks! Great hire by Ferry!

Interesting factoid since Lenny's departure in 2000, the Hawks only had
College Coach: Kruger
or Assistants: Stotts, Woodson, Drew and Bud...this one is special though. Let's hope that he will be as good as Thibodeaux!

Looks like Det, Philly and Clips will get left overs

The big question will be.... can Buldenholzer land CP3 and Howard?

I do not think Budenholzer and Ferry (or the other wayaround) will land us Howard and CP3. I believe Howard is just between the money and style of Hollywood (sorry, LA) and the possibilities oh Houston and following the steps of Hakeem. He has really, really stupid people around, him being the most stupid of all (speaking from a sport, business point) and he is following the footsteps of Shaq and Olaju.

Then CP3, at this time in his career, I believe will not be willing to play for a rookie coach.

I believe Paul and Howard will play together in Dallas, if that is possible, or Howard will play in Houston and Paul will play in Dallas or... I do not know, I do not see him staying with the Clippers.

As for us, I am really happy with this signing. Budelholzer has been with Popovich for 15+ years and is coaching the team through the Finals. You do not get somebody like this everyday.
He likes playing with two bigs whenever possible, so let's hope he wants to get a center to play alongside Horford.

I believe we are not having more news until draft day. But, who wants more news when we are doing things in the right direction?

Years80HAWKS wrote:I do not think Budenholzer and Ferry (or the other wayaround) will land us Howard and CP3. I believe Howard is just between the money and style of Hollywood (sorry, LA) and the possibilities oh Houston and following the steps of Hakeem. He has really, really stupid people around, him being the most stupid of all (speaking from a sport, business point) and he is following the footsteps of Shaq and Olaju.

Then CP3, at this time in his career, I believe will not be willing to play for a rookie coach.

I believe Paul and Howard will play together in Dallas, if that is possible, or Howard will play in Houston and Paul will play in Dallas or... I do not know, I do not see him staying with the Clippers.

As for us, I am really happy with this signing. Budelholzer has been with Popovich for 15+ years and is coaching the team through the Finals. You do not get somebody like this everyday.
He likes playing with two bigs whenever possible, so let's hope he wants to get a center to play alongside Horford.

I believe we are not having more news until draft day. But, who wants more news when we are doing things in the right direction?

I agree, its counter intuitive. Can Buldenholzer sell Paul and Howard that they can become the next Parker/Duncan?

I don't know, but maybe Ferry knows something that we don't know.

I could see Ferry/Bud going after CP3 simply because he's more of the type of player they likely would want on this team. Josh is gone. DH is not on their radar because he's just not a smart ball player. Horford is ideal, and perhaps Lou, Harris, and Korver. They are definitely going to want to add a good C that can compliment Al. There are a couple guys in this draft that seem like possibilities, but they may try a SnT with LAL sending Josh over for Gasol. Gasol would be a good compliment to Horford and his contract will come off the books next season to help us maintain flexibility.

At the same time, I can see Ferry/Bud deciding to tank this season and get as good a pick in the next draft as possible. I just think they have some really good pieces already in place and don't necessarily have to tank to get it rebuilt they way they want it. When you only have 3 players officially on the roster, one is already a great fit and the other two you already hand-picked, you've got a jump on rebuilding.

Here are a few guys I could see them going after who would fit in and help build this thing right:
Corey Brewer - Solid wing defender
Ronnie Brewer - The other Brewer, a great defender who has handles and can cut to the basket.
Jarrett Jack - Super back-up (can start in a pinch) PG/SG who can do just about everything decent.
Chris Paul - Um, no explanation required
Andrew Bynam - If he can stay healthy, can you think of a better option at C?
Al Jefferson - My 2nd fav for combining forces with Al.
I'd also like to see them bring back Zaza. I think he's about as good a backup C as you can have in this league.

jagstang76 wrote:I could see Ferry/Bud going after CP3 simply because he's more of the type of player they likely would want on this team. Josh is gone. DH is not on their radar because he's just not a smart ball player. Horford is ideal, and perhaps Lou, Harris, and Korver. They are definitely going to want to add a good C that can compliment Al. There are a couple guys in this draft that seem like possibilities, but they may try a SnT with LAL sending Josh over for Gasol. Gasol would be a good compliment to Horford and his contract will come off the books next season to help us maintain flexibility.

At the same time, I can see Ferry/Bud deciding to tank this season and get as good a pick in the next draft as possible. I just think they have some really good pieces already in place and don't necessarily have to tank to get it rebuilt they way they want it. When you only have 3 players officially on the roster, one is already a great fit and the other two you already hand-picked, you've got a jump on rebuilding.

Here are a few guys I could see them going after who would fit in and help build this thing right:
Corey Brewer - Solid wing defender
Ronnie Brewer - The other Brewer, a great defender who has handles and can cut to the basket.
Jarrett Jack - Super back-up (can start in a pinch) PG/SG who can do just about everything decent.
Chris Paul - Um, no explanation required
Andrew Bynam - If he can stay healthy, can you think of a better option at C?
Al Jefferson - My 2nd fav for combining forces with Al.
I'd also like to see them bring back Zaza. I think he's about as good a backup C as you can have in this league.

Of course Howard is on the radar. Ferry tried to trade Horford for Howard last year, even without an extension.