Familiarity With Coach Budhenholzer
One aspect that cannot be overlooked when assessing a trade for Kent Bazemore by the Bucks is the obvious familiarity that Bazemore has to Mike Budenholzer. Bazemore’s best years have come under Bud’s tutelage in Atlanta, where he has developed into a very credible, prototypical ‘3-and-D’ wing, playing a large part in Atlanta’s success over the last few years, including in 2014-15, where the Hawks won 60 games and topped the conference.
Acquiring someone like Bazemore for the Bucks would be prudent on a number of different levels regarding his relationship with Coach Bud. While it’s evident that there’s a good relationship there stemming from their shared time in Atlanta, Bazemore is also highly familiar in Bud’s system and has a proven record of success.
Coach Bud likes his wings to be able to facilitate secondary actions whenever the original play breaks down. Much like Budenholzer enjoys having a power forward able to run the offense and direct traffic, the wings also need to be able to have some base level of playmaking ability, especially if they aren’t an elite spot-up threat, which, fortunately, Bazemore is. At the very least, in a late-clock situation, the wings need to be able to put it on the floor and attack closeouts and staggered defenses, something Bazemore is quite useful at.
The other thing that is notorious in a Budenholzer offense is the constant motion, and therefore, the balance of the floor and spacing, especially where players are standing when they don’t have the ball. Knowledge of when to cut and when to stay is essential, and recognizing an overbalanced side requires correction. Very rarely will you see two Budenholzer players occupying the same space, due to a high demand for spacing, creating room for effective action and cutting, allowing a certain degree of ad-lib play.
Lastly, on this point, Bazemore would also act as a de facto teacher on the court for Bucks players still learning the Budenholzer system. Bazemore has four years of experience in the role and would be a useful tool to help expedite the learning and implementation process of Budenholzer’s actions, mainly because players respect each other and are more willing to adapt if there is someone who has had proven results.
Next Up: Reason 1
