The Milwaukee Bucks held high expectations for the 2022-23 season. They did the job in the regular season, finishing an NBA-best record, 58-24. Things unraveled in the first round of the playoffs as Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat eliminated them 4-1.
After falling well short of expectations, the Bucks have decided to fire coach Mike Budenholzer. He joins other coaches such as Nick Nurse and Frank Vogel as recent championship-winning coaches that ended up being fired.
“The decision to make this change was very difficult,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said. “Bud helped lead our team for five incredible seasons, to the Bucks’ first title in 50 years, and into an era of sustained success.
“We are grateful for the culture of winning and leadership that Bud helped create in Milwaukee. This is an opportunity for us to refocus and reenergize our efforts as we continue building toward our next championship season.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Mike Budenholzer, Giannis Antetokounmpo & Milwaukee Bucks Updates
It’s challenging to overlook the lack of coaching execution from Budenholzer in the series after Giannis Antetokounmpo further magnified the flaws in decision-making from the team. Butler had a tremendous series against the Bucks, averaging 37.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.8 steals while shooting 59.7 percent from the floor.
When discussing Butler’s impact, Antetokounmpo pondered quite a few potential approaches that could have used, expressing how they didn’t make enough adjustments.
“Yes. Out of respect, you gotta let the coach make that adjustment,” Antetokounmpo said. “We have our best defender on him. There are conversations with Jrue. Whenever he gets tired, I can take him. He’s so competitive. He plays so hard. He wants to take the challenge. But at the end of the day, I wish I could guard him more.”
“Maybe we could have double-teamed him to make [Butler] pass,” Antetokounmpo explained. “Maybe we could have switched the matchup for 2-3 minutes to give Jrue a break. I don’t think as a team we made the right—or we didn’t make as many adjustments as we could against them.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Mike Budenholzer, Giannis Antetokounmpo & Milwaukee Bucks Updates
When discussing the Bucks’ performance on the season, Budenholzer marveled at the roster quality that management had put together but acknowledged the disappointment of failing to get the job done in the postseason.
“This team has incredibly high expectations,” Budenholzer said. “Jon Horst has put together an amazing roster. The ownership has done what they’re supposed to do. We made a push, we were the No. 1 seed, but all that matters is the playoffs.
“And so, I think we’re just disappointed. I would not use that word (failure). We’re disappointed, we’re frustrated. It hurts. But I said it all year, we love this team, we love these guys, I believe in ’em, we believe in ’em, we didn’t get it done tonight. So, to me, disappointed, hurt, frustrated, I think is more characteristic of how we feel about tonight.”
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