Mike Budenholzer and Ime Udoka worked together as Spurs coaches. That was news to Budenholzer.
There’ve been fascinating coaching subplots in the second-round NBA playoff series between the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics.
Ime Udoka, who has earned raves as a first-year head coach with the Celtics, is trying to figure out the unanswerable question of how to stop Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo from barreling his way to the rim. Mike Budenholzer, a two-time NBA coach of the year, has kept the Bucks’ defense stout despite the absence of versatile wing Khris Middleton, who is out with a knee injury. Both coaches are constantly politicking with the referees in what has been a physically pounding matchup.
There’s also the battle of competing memories.
Udoka and Budenholzer both came up through the San Antonio Spurs’ system under Gregg Popovich, who became the winningest coach in NBA history this season. They overlapped on the Spurs’ staff in the 2012-13 season, although Budenholzer’s recollection needed a little jogging.
When asked before the Celtics’ 116-108 victory in Game 4 on Monday if he knew during their time together that Udoka was a future head coach, Budenholzer was adamant that he had already left the Spurs when Udoka was hired as an assistant.
“I’m pretty confident that I was gone,” Budenholzer said before the wheels in his mind starting turning. “Actually … I don’t know.”
Budenholzer then joked: “If I was there, it was very obvious and very apparent he was going to be good.”
A few minutes later in the visiting team's media room at Fiserv Forum, Udoka confirmed that, indeed, they had worked together.
“He forgot that?” Udoka said. “Yes, my first year coaching was his last year before he got the Atlanta (Hawks) job.”
Budenholzer certainly remembered Udoka as a player. After going undrafted out of Portland State and bouncing around various pro leagues, he latched on in the NBA with the Trail Blazers and then had two stints for the Spurs when, yes, Budenholzer was on the staff.
“Just worked his way into the league,” Budenholzer said. “Like one of those really cool stories. Made Portland’s roster. The hometown kid that gets an invite to camp. He was really good for those teams.
“Good teams are always looking for players that can fit. That can defend and make threes. That can make good decisions. Have a toughness. So he checked a lot of those boxes that good teams are looking for.”
Budenholzer could probably be forgiven for his fuzzy memory of their season together as Spurs coaches. He worked with a lot of people in his 16 seasons as an assistant in San Antonio. Udoka was just quietly observing how things worked.
“I played for them for 2½ years so I knew them obviously coming in,” Udoka said. “But just to see him behind the scenes, how meticulous he was about things. We all have different personalities as far as coaches.
“Brett Brown was there as well, went to Philly the next year (as head coach of the 76ers). So kind of interned under them my first year and Pop obviously. Just learned how quirky (Budenholzer) is and different. I got to know him well, obviously, but got to see him and how he works behind the scenes. Some of the debates were classic with them back there because the guy thinks he knows everything.”
That was the beginning of his education as a NBA coach.
“Arguments all the time,” Udoka said. “Pop loved those. Bud and Brett, every meeting they went at it. First-year guy soaking in all that.”
Udoka stayed with the Spurs from 2012-17 before becoming a hot coaching prospect as an assistant with the 76ers and Brooklyn Nets.
Now he gets to match wits with Budenholzer in a hard-fought series. Their coaching tree is even more entangled after Udoka hired fellow Portland native Ben Sullivan away from Budenholzer’s bench. After a rocky first few months, Udoka has steered the Celtics into being one of the top teams in the league since Jan. 1.
“It’s very, very impressive,” Budenholzer said. “Feel very fortunate to have known Ime a long time. So much respect for him as a player, as an assistant and now to see him now as a head coach has just been phenomenal. And you see his personality in his team. You see his personality on both ends of the court. He’s done a very, very good job.”
Maybe even unforgettable.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bucks' Mike Budenholzer and Celtics' Ime Udoka worked as Spurs coaches
