Mike Budenholzer‘s job status with the Bucks could hinge on whether they advance past the Nets in the playoffs, Adrian Wojnarowski said on an ESPN broadcast (hat tip to the New York Times’ Adam Zagoria). Milwaukee’s early exit last season, plus the addition of Jrue Holiday, has put more pressure on Budenholzer to guide the franchise on a deep playoff run. Budenholzer is the third season of a four-year contract.
We have more from the Central Division:
- The major focus for the Pistons in the short run will be their lottery pick, but what GM Troy Weaver and his inner circle do after the draft will be even more telling, according to Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. Detroit won’t be anywhere near as active as it was last offseason, when Weaver did major roster reconstruction. The next major move after the draft, either in free agency or a trade, could be focused on making the roster more whole by improving the team’s 3-point shooting.
- Pistons center Isaiah Stewart, who was selected No. 16 in last year’s draft, admits he keeps tabs on the players selected ahead of him as a motivation tool, he told James Edwards III of The Athletic. “Throughout the entire season, I’ve kept track of my rookie peers and peers at my position, as well, to see what they’re doing and what the media said about them going into the draft, how they were all hyped up. … I don’t let it distract me in the wrong way. It adds fuel to my fire. I just take notes.”
- Arturas Karnisovas, the Bulls’ executive VP of basketball operations, was Denver’s assistant GM when the Nuggets drafted this year’s MVP, Nikola Jokic, in the second round. That experience could help Karnišovas uncover another gem for the Bulls, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago writes. Karnisovas surrendered two lightly-protected first-round picks to acquire Nikola Vučević, placing an even greater premium on making savvy picks that the Bulls do possess in the future, Johnson adds.
Bucks barely won game 3. Brooklyn should get the gentleman’s sweep on Tuesday.
I would’ve fired him after bubble fiasco. He was lucky to get gm3. Let’s see what he does with it. There is no way Nets should beat this Bucks team without Harden. Plain And Simple. DAntoni should be coaching the Bucks lols.
Why shouldn’t the Nets beat the Buck’s without Harden??
Also, it isn’t Bud’s fault that Jrue, Middleton, and some others came up really small in the first two games..
Yes it is. The Bucks played like trash in the 2nd half of game 1 and all of game 2. Apparently it takes Bud 8 quarters of basketball to make an adjustment.
Bud tried to get his players to attack downhill, but instead they chose to settle for bad shots. The Buck’s loss wasn’t so much based off their gameplan, as it was just plain effort and execution.
The Bucks were not attacking downhill in the 2nd half of game 1, or game 2.
They went, what, 4/24 from three and just kept jacking treys?
If you think Bud is a good coach, watch Giannis shoot a free throw.
Using that reasoning, Shaq never played for a good coach.
Only reason Bucks won game 3 is because Tucker and Holiday stepped up with their own plan for defending the Nets. If they each had no either NBA coach prior to Bud, they would not have executed as well as they had.
Bucks won game 3 despite Bud’s shortcomings to prepare his players for playoff success. Giannis and Khris are still looking like lost deer that expect defeat when their battle goes uphill.
Kris Middleton took over in game 3, particularly down the stretch when he was trading baskets with Durant.
Yet when it gets to the final minutes, Khris gets unsettled and can’t make shots, turns the ball over.
Giannis becomes invisible himself, knowing anyone who has fouls to spare may come after him.
Neither have been trustworthy when it gets to the final crunch. They become shaky at both ends, which is not ideal when you want to win a close game. But sure, for the earlier part of the game they make a significant positive impact.
B88, I would question the merits of an “attack downhill” game plan… If that was the plan.
neo, what was the Jrue & Tucker plan? I did not see gm3… of course they looked terrible before.
They seem to need/want a fullcourt attack, which can be tiring, being always “on”. I see them turning off often.
The plan was to be tenacious, fearless and aggressive defensively. They can’t keep that up for a full game, but it’s what you do in the final minutes that determine the outcome which I’m highlighting.
That will work, okay. Yes, stay close and win it with D.
So teams decide to keep a front office guy around in hopes that he can uncover another gem? Really?
How did you you get that from what was said in the post??
All 8t was saying was that Karnisovas needs to.find some gems, like he did with Jokic, because the Bulls traded away their firsts for Vucevic..
No, they keep him around because he’s one of the best talent evaluators in the game, and that’s the most important skill for FO chief (or any basketball person actually) to have. Not sure what skills you think does justify keeping a FO guy around, but it’s not nearly as important as evaluation.
The Celtics would be lucky if he falls into their lap
So Stewart is like a stalker, right?
Stalking your rookie peers is just not cool Mr. Stewart!!! Hahaha!!!
What is a “lightly-protected” draft pick?
both are top-4 protected (maybe top-3, im not so sure)
It’s amazing that an impact HC who’s team had the best regular season record (where great coaching is a real differentiator) of any HC over the past 3 years is likely to get fired, but low impact front men (Scottie Brooks) survive year after year.
I’m not really a fan of Bud, but firing him merely based on a series result without doing any further analysis is just FO CYA (not that that’s a novel approach). GA becomes dysfunctional in big half court possessions and, as long as that’s the case, the Bucks won’t beat another top team in a playoff series. Regardless of who’s the coach. The roster doesn’t provide any high end alternatives to how they currently play (if part of that’s on him, then it is, but he doesn’t have the final say on roster moves).
It’s not a one season disappointing playoff result it’s 3.The game plan against Miami worked so well for the Bucks especially going to Lopez down low and keeping Giannis and Portia there as well, why they haven’t continued playing that way is a mystery to me.
I’m sure you know that game plans can differ based on opponents and game to game (why they’re called game plans), and no single game plan is right or wrong or can be presumed to have been the right one in retrospect. His game plan may be a mystery to you and others, doesn’t mean it’s the wrong one. Understand that he has an entire team of coaches and analysts that are fly spec’ing every decision and its impact on every play. It’s beyond naïve to believe that he and his team of experts is missing something so obvious that a fan can readily ascertain it.
I don’t care if they fire him or not. HCs are hired to be fired, and a HC of a team at the top can be fired on the theoretical chance a new guy push them over the top – even if nobody can really identify what structural things must be improved upon that are within a HC’s wheelhouse (team culture, preparation, assignments, etc.). Just win instead of lose is the edict, I guess (regardless of whether our superstar can hit a FT). All good and normal. Merely point out its FO CYA. It’s especially funny to me when this FO’s best move to date was – until he’s fired – to hire this HC. They were lucky to get to .500 before he got there. This FO’s trades and picks haven’t impressed.
Fans will guess and are. Fans don’t have to be oblivious to defeat. If fan assumption is wrong, then it should be corrected with more transparency, else suffer from the career-threatening assumptions. There is so much that is personality going on; and a trend of reversals started in the bubble.