Budenholzer led Atlanta to a 60-22 record, three games better than the previous team high of 57-25 set in 1986-87 and matched in 1993-94. Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer will be named NBA Coach of the Year at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Budenholzer guided the team to the best regular season in franchise history and finished with 67 first-place votes to become the recipient of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2014-15 NBA Coach of the Year.
Budenholzer also received 58 second-place votes for a total of 513 total points from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Full voting results are available at NBA.com.
Budenholzer’s All-Star game counterpart from the Western Conference, Steve Kerr, who led the Pacific Division champion Golden State Warriors to a franchise-record and NBA-high 67 victories in his first season as an NBA coach, finished second. Kerr totaled 56 first-place votes and 471 total points.
Jason Kidd of the Milwaukee Bucks was third with one first-place vote and 57 total points.
A first-place vote is worth five points, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.
Budenholzer led Atlanta to a 60-22 record, three games better than the previous team high of 57-25 set in 1986-87 and matched in 1993-94.
In his second season after being hired by general manager Danny Ferry, with whom he was familiar from their time with the San Antonio Spurs, Budenholzer and the Hawks earned the No. 1 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference and a division title (Southeast Division) for the first time since 1993-94. That was the last time the Hawks had the NBA Coach of the Year (Lenny Wilkens).
Altanta was 38-44 in Budenholzer’s first season and won in 2014-15 with balance. Six players averaged double figures in scoring, but none eclipsed 17 points per game. The Hawks set a franchise record for three-pointers with 818, ranked second in the NBA in assists (25.7 apg) and finished in the top five in field goal percentage (fourth), three-point field goal percentage (second) and free throw percentage (fifth).
Atlanta opened the season 5-5 before winning 35 of its next 38 games, a stretch that included a franchise-record 19-game winning streak. The 35-3 run also featured a 17-0 January, the best calendar month in NBA history.
Hall of Famer Red Auerbach, for whom the honor is named, guided the Celtics to nine NBA championships. In 1996, Auerbach was honored as one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History as the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.
