After a disappointing first-round playoff exit, the Suns needed to decide the direction the franchise would like to go next season. The Big 3’s failure resulted in Frank Vogel’s reign coming to a close just after a season. Now the Phoenix side has a new man at the helm, Mike Budenholzer, and his first priority was to make sure his name was spelled correctly.
On Friday, the Suns introduced the new HC to the press. After an introduction by the voice of the Suns, Al McCoy, Budenholzer sat with the media present to answer questions about his new role. One of the questions that came flying at him at the start was the correct way of pronouncing his name. Budenholzer explained, “This is tough with my dad in the room. It’s a long story, but I say Boo-denholzer, but if anybody says Bud-enholzer, that’s fine also. I’m probably going to get in trouble when I go home. It’s too complicated,” which was met with a chorus of laughter from the media present.
With that out of the way, the 2021 NBA championship-winning coach made it known that he is well aware of the franchise’s and fans’ championship expectations. “We have great players. And with great players come great expectations. I think we embrace that,” said Budenholzer to address the query about expectations. But to fulfill those expectations, he needs to bolster the roster and Budenholzer knew exactly which position needed some added bit of reinforcement.
Mike Budenholzer Wants a Point Guard in Summer
The expectations were sky-high for the Suns after the acquisition of Bradley Beal last summer to complete a Big 3 with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Despite performing at an acceptable level during the regular season, the Suns were picked apart by the Timberwolves in round 1. For the incoming Budenholzer, having his big guns on the same wavelength among themselves and with him will be of the utmost importance.
“The conversations have been great and there’s no doubt that we need to look at the whole roster and talk about point guard,” Budenholzer said. “I’m sure it’s a hot-button issue here, whether it’s with the media, players or the front office. We need to think about it. We need to be able to play without one. We probably need to be able to have one. We need to be versatile… play different ways.”
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The former Bucks HC also discussed his conversation with KD, Booker and Beal, who “want to know the vibe of practice and everything,” according to Budenholzer. With Kevin Durant’s future in question with the franchise, this will surely be something for the franchise to sort out before the start of the next season and provide Mike Budenholzer with the stability he needs to fulfill the championship demands.
