Hawks' Budenholzer named Coach of the Year
After guiding the Atlanta Hawks to a franchise-record 60 wins, Mike Budenholzer has been rewarded with the NBA's Coach of the Year award.
Budenholzer, whose Hawks improved by 22 wins this season compared to his first year on the job in 2013-14, received 67 of 130 first-place votes and was named on 129 of 130 ballots.
Steve Kerr, who oversaw the 10th 67-win season in NBA history, finished second in the voting after an impressive debut season with the Golden State Warriors. Jason Kidd rounded out the top-three for his hand in turning around the Milwaukee Bucks, who improved from a league-worst 15-67 last season to 41-41 this year.
Kerr on Bud winning COY: "I stole a bunch of his plays. I don't think he stole any of mine"
— Ethan Strauss (@SherwoodStrauss) April 21, 2015
Here are the complete voting results:
| Coach | 1st Place Votes | 2nd Place | 3rd Place | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Budenholzer | 67 | 58 | 4 | 513 |
| Steve Kerr | 56 | 61 | 8 | 471 |
| Jason Kidd | 1 | 5 | 37 | 57 |
| Brad Stevens | 2 | 4 | 28 | 50 |
| Gregg Popovich | 3 | -- | 23 | 38 |
| Kevin McHale | -- | -- | 13 | 13 |
| Tom Thibodeau | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 |
| Quin Snyder | -- | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| David Blatt | -- | -- | 3 | 3 |
| Doc Rivers | -- | -- | 2 | 2 |
| Terry Stotts | -- | -- | 2 | 2 |
| Rick Carlisle | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Dwane Casey | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Jeff Hornacek | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Monty Williams | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
Budenholzer thanked his players, assistant coaches and Hawks fans at his award ceremony on Tuesday, before adding that Kerr is an incredibly deserving candidate in his own right.
Budenholzer's strongest praise was reserved for three-time Coach of the Year, Gregg Popovich.
"It seems appropriate to finish with the real Coach of the Year," Budenholzer said before thanking Popovich, who he previously worked under as an assistant coach in San Antonio.
The Hawks won 35 of 38 games - including 19 in a row - after a pedestrian 5-5 start to the season. Budenholzer was awarded two Eastern Conference Coach of the Month honors and earned the privilege of coaching the East All-Star team by virtue of the Hawks sitting atop the conference standings.
He becomes the first Hawks head coach to win the award since Lenny Wilkens in 1994 and the sixth in franchise history, joining the likes of Wilkens, Mike Fratello, Hubie Brown, Richie Guerin and Harry Gallatin.
Atlanta leads its best-of-seven, first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets, 1-0.
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