Mike Budenholzer unleashed Giannis Antetokounmpo and from the start that made him the Coach of the Year favorite (and maybe Antetokounmpo MVP).
It was a wire-to-wire win for Budenholzer, who was the frontrunner for this award from early on and was named the NBA Coach of the Year Monday night, the second time he has won this award (Atlanta in 2015).
The @Bucks' Mike Budenholzer accepts the 2018-19 Coach of the Year trophy! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/0f4hcaJKy8
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 25, 2019
Budenholzer was the favorite with good reason. The Bucks won 16 more games than the season before and had the best record in the NBA, they improved their net rating by +10.1, and became a top-five team on both ends of the floor. To be fair, part of Budenholzer’s success was a contrast to how poorly the previous coach handled this roster, but give Budenholzer credit for utilizing players well.
He beat out Doc Rivers of the Clippers and Mike Malone of the Nuggets in what was a very deep field for this award.