File Photo by Jordan Johnson/NBAE via Getty Images)
After leading the Milwaukee Bucks to a NBA-best 60 wins, coach Mike Budenholzer was named the league’s Coach of the Year on Monday night.
Budenholzer is the second coach in Bucks history to win the honor, joining Don Nelson. Nelson won the honor twice in 1982-83 and 1984-85. Budenholzer also won the honor with the Atlanta Hawks in 2014-15.
In Budenholzer’s first season in Milwaukee, he led the Bucks to a 16-win improvement from the previous season as they owned the best record in the NBA at 60-22. The Bucks 60 wins were tied for the team’s third-most in franchise history and the most since the 1980-81 season. As the top seed in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks won their first playoff series, and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, for the first time since 2001.
Under Budenholzer’s guidance, the Bucks not only won a league-high 60 games, but they won 45 of those games (75%) by double digits, the second-highest percentage of wins coming by double digits in a single season in NBA history. Milwaukee’s 45 wins by 10+ points were also tied for the fifth most in league history and its 8.9 points per game differential was tops in the NBA last season.
Budenholzer earned Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors in both January and February last season and was named head coach of Team Giannis for the 68th All-Star Game after the Bucks had the best record in the Eastern Conference on Feb. 3.