Hawks Introduce Mike Budenholzer
Published at(ATLANTA) — The Atlanta Hawks introduced Mike Budenholzer as their new head coach on Wednesday. Budenholzer is a longtime assistant with the San Antonio Spurs and will remain with the team until the NBA Finals are over.
Budenholzer got the call from Atlanta on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the Spurs punched their ticket to the Finals.
“It’s exciting for my family, exciting for me,” Budenholzer said. “The opportunity to come here with the Atlanta Hawks, when you couple that with coming to the NBA Finals, I’m living a dream.”
Budenholzer has been an assistant under head coach Gregg Popovich for 17 seasons.
“Part of what’s exciting about this for me is he has a great understanding of the league,” Hawks general manager Danny Ferry said. “He’s been part of San Antonio. He wasn’t just in San Antonio like some of us were, he’s been there for the duration. He’s seen how it evolved. He’s seen how it has grown. Mike, [general manager] R.C. [Buford] and Popp were the ones who were there the whole time.”
Budenholzer takes over for Larry Drew, who was let go after finishing 128-102 in three seasons.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio