Mike Budenholzer is Hawks’ new head coach

Long-time San Antonio Spurs assistant coach, Mike Budenholzer, has been hired by the Atlanta Hawks as their new head coach. He has been an assistant coach for the Spurs since 1997, a total of 16 seasons, making him part of four of the team’s NBA Championships (99, 03, 05, 07). He’s been training under Gregg Popovich’s no-nonsense, defense-oriented system of coaching. He’s also at the cusp of ending his tenure at San Antonio on a high note as they have already won the NBA’s Western Conference Finals and are one matchup away from another NBA title.

Budenholzer’s hiring dowses the hopes that Ettore Messina could possibly the first European-born NBA head coach. Messina was allegedly one of the options GM Danny Ferry was considering to replace Larry Drew.