PHOENIX — Less than three years ago, Mike Budenholzer led the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA title by beating the Phoenix Suns in six games in the NBA Finals.
Less than two years later, the Bucks and Budenholzer parted ways after Milwaukee's loss in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.
Now, just more than a year after he was fired by the Bucks, 'Coach Bud' is back home, returning to his home state of Arizona as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns introduced their new head coach in a press conference attended by Budenholzer's 94-year-old father, Vince, a Hall of Fame high school basketball coach in Arizona, and the now-retired longtime Voice of the Suns, Al McCoy.
After Budenholzer's press conference, 12News journalists Cameron Cox and Lina Washington spoke with insider and host of the 'Doug Franz Unplugged' podcast, the titular Doug Franz, to gauge his reaction to Budenholzer's first meeting with the media in Phoenix.
"First time I've ever seen somebody show true competitive nature and true humbleness all at the same time," Franz said. "I was shocked by those two things. A lot of people have one or the other. But you can tell the man is a competitor and he wants to win."
Budenholzer, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, is replacing Frank Vogel, who spent just one season as the head coach of the Suns. Franz believes this was absolutely the right move.
"Here's the thing, he's the right coach at the right time," Franz said. "So I'm incredibly excited about that. I think they got closer to winning a championship today. However, Mike Budenholzer, I don't remember the last time he ever brought the ball up or blocked a shot. So until this team gets a point guard and gets some kind of rim protection, it doesn't matter whether they named Lina Washington the head coach today. They've got to be able to get that."
However, the issue remains that the Suns do not have a traditional point guard. They instead have their big three of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. But, Franz believes Budenholzer is just the coach to get this big three, and their supporting cast, to an NBA title.
"I love what he said about that three-point question," Franz said. "During the press conference he was asked, 'You've got some of the greatest mid-range players of all time, yet you are a high-volume three-point shooting coach, what do you want?' And he said, specifically, 'I'm going to marry the two.' In other words, why would I ever get in the way of Booker's game? But at the same time, the modern game is the modern game. And they've got to figure out how to change that. And hopefully he can bring back something that was gone in the Frank Vogel era, if it counted as an era, and that is just player movement, ball movement. We did not have those two things in the last year."
Franz also identified what needs to change in the locker room for the Suns to be successful under Budenholzer next season.
"Frank Vogel is truly a good coach. And people don't understand that. But I think Lina, that was his number one failure, there wasn't a connection between player and coach and that got in the way of the player versus player," Franz said. "It's just like the rest of us. If one of you likes the boss, one of you doesn't like the boss then both of you, even if your friends are frustrated with each other sometimes. You could tell from Mike Budenholzer that this is going to be relationship-based and they're going to also know something else. They've just failed with their last head coach. How many head coaches do you get until the shine's off of you? How many Kevin Durant, how many franchises do you get to play for before the shine comes off of you? So now the players have to understand they've got to drop their egos too, because one thing was proven today. Mike Budenholzer's ego will never be a problem. So, therefore, if there's an ego problem on this team, it's not because Mike Budenholzer has created it."
You can hear more from Franz by watching the video at the top of this story.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to four major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events every year, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
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