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From 1996 to 2013, Mike Budenholzer worked with Gregg Popovich. He was the head assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs, privy to all of the strategy, planning, and day-to-day operations of implementing and adjusting The Spurs System. Together they developed players, created game plans, scouted talent, and won championships.
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Now "Coach Bud" has a team of his own, and from the way he's managing the Atlanta Hawks, it's obvious that The Way of the Spurs was as much Budenholzer as it was Popovich. He has his own Tony Parker in Jeff Teague, and extraordinary outside shooter to match Danny Green in Kyle Korver, the disruptive force of Kawhi Leonard against Demarre Carroll, not to mention Tiago Splitter for Paul Millsap and Pero Antic. Which brings us to the closest thing the Eastern Conference has to Tim Duncan, Al Horford.
But how do all the pieces fit together, and what is Budenholzer doing to meld them into a championship contender? In order to find out, I had a discussion with Daniel Christian of Peachtree Hoops. And we covered all of the above and more.