ATLANTA -- Mike Budenholzer's phone rang at an undisclosed time on Monday afternoon. The number should have looked familiar.
Two years removed from leaving his position as a longtime assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs to forge his own path in Atlanta, the Hawks coach is the NBA Coach of the Year -- a significant accomplishment atop a season overloaded with them. But before news of the award reached its recipient, Hawks PR director Garin Narain and assistant general manager Wes Wilcox reached out to Budenholzer's mentor, Spurs coach and 2014 Coach of the Year Gregg Popovich, to see if he would like to do the honors of informing his former right-hand man.
Pop accepted.
"He was very nice," said the typically reserved Budenholzer, who became emotional on multiple occasions during Tuesday's acceptance speech. "I'll just say he assured me he wasn't pulling my leg."
Budenholzer has credited Popovich for his individual ascension throughout his head coaching tenure -- Popovich helped him land his first NBA job, an internship with the Golden State Warriors under Don Nelson, where Pop was an assistant, before bringing him to San Antonio to work in the film room in the summer of 1994 -- so the gesture was not unappreciated. He even seemed to feel a little guilty for taking his mentor's trophy.
"This award, I think, has a permanent spot on his desk in San Antonio. He just kinda shares it around every couple of years and lets us take a picture with it," Budenholzer said. "I might be able to sneak back into his office and put it back down."
Polled from a panel of 130 writers and broadcasters, Budenholzer edged Golden State coach and former player Steve Kerr with 67 first-place votes and 513 total points. Kerr earned 56 first-place votes and 471 total points, while Milwaukee's Jason Kidd came in a distant third.
In the end, the long-standing Budenholzer-Kerr debate was a one without a wrong answer: Both products of the Spurs system led their teams to historic seasons, both were deserving. Kerr turned a very good Western Conference team into a two-way juggernaut that rattled off an NBA-best 67 wins. Budenholzer transformed a middle-of-the-pack franchise into a winner and, thanks in part to the return of a healthy Al Horford, took the Hawks from eighth to first in the Eastern Conference in the span of a year, their second No. 1 seed in team history.
The difference between the two extraordinary coaching accomplishments is marginal at best.
This is the fourth Coach of the Year award in Atlanta Hawks franchise history, as Budenholzer joins Hubie Brown (1978), Mike Fratello (1986) and Lenny Wilkens (1994). And while Budenholzer is not one to seek out recognition, other members of the organization, including his players, are quick to supply it.
"He's the type of person that's all about the team. He's not going to want to take any credit for it, but (the Hawks' success is) because of him. He really deserves that award. I'm very, very happy for him," said Horford, the team's longest-tenured player. " … The mindset of working as a team, that goes a long way. One through 15, all the guys here believe they can help and they can contribute and they can step in at any moment and do big things for our team. That's because Coach has given us that confidence."
The Hawks' eccentric CEO, Steve Koonin, even played to Budenholzer's notorious distaste for public praise in his introduction: "We're planning a Coach of the Year parade. We're going to carve his image on Stone Mountain. We're going to rename (I-285) the 'Bud Bypass'. And we just closed a new sponsorship deal for a new product: 'I Can't Believe It's Not Bud-der.'
" … Bud has been the consistent and selfless leader of this season. Our team plays unselfish, exciting and disciplined style of basketball. Fifteen players, all on the same page, all with the same goal. That's a pure reflection of our coach."
As expected, the Hawks coach spent much of his time spreading credit around. He thanked his players, his staff, the city, the ownership and past coaches that have directly influenced him and the NBA game -- names like Jerry Sloan, Phil Jackson, Don Nelson, Rick Adelman, Rudy Tomjanovich.
He also carved out time to address a central figure in Atlanta's basketball renaissance. Hawks general manager Danny Ferry remains on an indefinite leave of absence due to comments he made on a conference call last offseason while reading a scouting report on Luol Deng. Ferry, the architect known for shedding unwanted contracts and constructing the cohesive Hawks roster, has yet to attend a game this season.
And yet, on a very personal level for Budenholzer, who coached and worked with Ferry in San Antonio, Ferry is still the man who extended him his first NBA head coaching gig and entrusted a franchise's future to an unknown commodity.
"The relationship between management, ownership and coaching is critical. And I wouldn't be here today without Danny Ferry's faith in me, without Danny Ferry's belief in me," Budenholzer said. "Through his good work, through his good decisions, through the good players Danny put together, I'm here."
Still, the emotional moments and credit kept reverting back to two figures: Pop and Vince.
"He was a high school coach in Holbrook, Arizona forever," said Budenholzer of his father, Vince Budenholzer, "winning a lot of games, winning a state championship (in 1971) with my brothers, giving me a love for the game. My dad, he taught me a lot about life and basketball. I was thinking about him and how important competing is. We talk to our team a lot about competing. I realized that when I competed, he didn't get on me as much at home. There's an eerily similar correspondence to what I remember from growing up and our film sessions now.
" ... As the son of a coach, it means a lot."
