The Detroit Pistons’ search for their next head coach just took an interesting turn last night with some surprising news.
The Milwaukee Bucks announced that they had parted ways with head coach Mike Budenholzer, which immediately makes him one of the top candidates on the coaching market:
BREAKING: The Milwaukee Bucks dismissed coach Mike Budenholzer, sources tell ESPN. Budenholzer is out after the East’s top-seed suffered a first-round loss to the Miami Heat. pic.twitter.com/wQp0Zk3lxi
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 4, 2023
This wasn’t completely shocking, but it does come of a bit of a surprise even after the Bucks were bounced in the first round the playoffs by the Miami Heat.
To show you just how tough a business coaching in the NBA is, this a guy whose best player was out for most of the series and who lost his brother in a car accident DURING THE SERIES.
To act like those things had nothing to do with why the Bucks lost seems ignorant at best, but the Bucks must have felt they needed a new perspective, which might have been exasperated by the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo talked about the team’s lack of adjustments after the series loss.
I wrote about how the Bucks’ downfall in the playoffs could affect the Detroit Pistons and now we may see those scenarios play out in real life.
Detroit Pistons coach: The search gets a new name
The Detroit Pistons have mostly been focused on younger NBA assistants in their hunt for their next head coach, and Charles Lee (current associate head coach for the Bucks), Kevin Ollie and Jarron Collins have all been named as finalists.
Budenholzer’s firing may take Charles Lee out of the equation if the Bucks want to have some continuity, but if they are looking for a clean slate, he and the rest of the staff may be let go along with Budenholzer. The Bucks are obviously ready to win now and might prefer a proven head coach like Nick Nurse.
In fact, it wouldn’t be completely surprising if Budenholzer and Nurse ended up swapping jobs, with the former going to Toronto and the latter to Milwaukee.
But would Budenholzer be a good choice for the Detroit Pistons?
Detroit Pistons coach: The argument against Mike Budenholzer
The Detroit Pistons are one of the younger teams in the NBA and want a coach that is going to be with them for the long haul.
Constantly switching out coaches is not the way to build sustainable success, so the Pistons will be looking for someone who can carry on Dwane Casey’s legacy of stability.
At 53-years-old, Budenholzer is far from ancient, but is this the job he really wants? Would a coach who won a title really be satisfied directing a rebuild whose best players are all under 22-years-old?
This would seem like a placeholder job for Budenholzer, whose name would probably come up every time there was a coaching vacancy in a big market that had a championship-caliber team. Would he just bounce when a better gig came along?
Fans will talk endlessly about his inability to “make adjustments” in the playoffs (more on that in a minute) but the Detroit Pistons haven’t won a playoff game since 2008, so getting to the playoffs is the goal at this point.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got on the negative. Budenholzer is a little older than some of the candidates and may not see the Detroit Pistons as a dream job.
Detroit Pistons coach: The argument for Mike Budenholzer
Budenholzer was a part of four title teams as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs.
He then took an entirely mediocre Hawks team to the Eastern Conference Finals after winning 60 games with a team whose best player was Al Horford.
He won another title as the head coach of the Bucks, and has racked up two Coach of the Year awards along the way, so this guy has championship chops and a track record of making bad teams good and making good teams champions.
The most common criticism against Budenholzer always revolves around “adjustments” one of those narrative words that most fans can’t explain. Ask them what adjustments a coach can make to losing an MVP. I’ll wait.
Budenholzer is known as an innovator, especially defensively and has had the Bucks near the top of the league every season after having the Hawks perennially in the top-10 in his time there. Budenholzer knows how to maximize player’s talents, especially defensively, and we saw guys like Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez get even better in his system.
The Detroit Pistons just had the worst defense in franchise history, so having a guy who knows how to scheme and coach defense is a must.
Budenholzer took the Hawks to the playoffs in his first season there and then the Eastern Conference Finals the year after that. Take a look at the 2014-15 Hawks’ roster and tell me Budenholzer doesn’t know how to coach.
He got the most out of role players and put them in a position to win.
I understand some of the trepidation in hiring a guy who just got fired, but there is literally no one else available who is even close to Budenholzer in experience and accolades. He would immediately put a legit face on the Detroit Pistons’ bench and make them a more attractive destination to free agents like Jevon Carter, who the Pistons could use and who improved defensively under Budenholzer.
Budenholzer may not be interested in taking on a rebuild at this stage of his career, but if he’s up for it, the Detroit Pistons should at least have an interview.