Milwaukee Bucks: Bud Named Co-Coach of the Year by Peers

Milwaukee Bucks’ Head Coach, Mike Budenholzer, is named the Co-Coach of the Year by his peers.

Of course, the Milwaukee Bucks ultimate goal is to win an NBA Championship this season; however, when you’ve been as dominant as they have, there are going to be individual awards handed out along the way.

Last season, we saw Jon Horst win Executive of the Year, Coach Mike Budenholzer was named Coach of the Year, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was the league MVP.

This year, it’s really just a matter of time before Giannis wins his second straight MVP, and recently, Coach Mike Budenholzer was named the Co-Coach of the Year by the NBA Coaches Association.

Now, this award is different from the NBA’s official Coach of the Year award that is voted on by the media, but this is a terrific accomplishment nonetheless and shows that Coach Bud is well respected among the coaching community as the award is voted on by the 30 NBA coaches.

Joining Bud in receiving this honor is Billy Donovan of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who currently sit at 41-25 and as the six seed in the Western Conference. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, there was nearly a three-way tie for this award as Nick Nurse of the Toronto Raptors finished just one vote behind Budenholzer and Donovan.

Upon winning the award, Coach Bud released a statement via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

"“First, congrats to Billy Donovan for the outstanding job he and his staff have done with the Oklahoma City Thunder,” Budenholzer said in a statement. “Another great year of coaching by Billy and, again, another great year of work by all the head coaches in the NBA. Thank you all for your vote and support. Thank you to our dedicated players and staff in Milwaukee. The players are special, the staff is special and I’m beyond fortunate to coach this great team and for this great organization.Celebrating the memory of Michael H. Goldberg and continuing to bring honor to his great legacy of work on behalf of all NBA Coaches gives the Award additional significant meaning. Those of us lucky enough to know and work with Michael know how much he did for the sport and for coaches. As Michael was a terrific advocate for all of us, may we use our platform to raise awareness and speak out on the need for social justice, equality and inclusiveness in our society.”"

After reaching the 60 win mark and holding the NBA’s best record last season, the Milwaukee Bucks once again have the league’s best record at 54-13 and even had 70 wins within reach prior to the season being put on hold.

Naturally, having Giannis certainly helps, along with contributions from key players like Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe, and Brook Lopez, among others. However, it’s also no coincidence that Milwaukee’s game elevated upon the arrival of Coach Bud.

And by winning this Coach of the Year award, it shows that Budenholzer’s peers feel the same way.

As I mentioned at the beginning, Milwaukee’s ultimate goal is to win a championship, but these kinds of awards and recognitions shouldn’t go unnoticed either. And very likely, there will be more to follow.