Milwaukee Bucks: 3 similarities between 1971 and 2021 title-winning teams

Mike Budenholzer and Larry Costello led Milwaukee Bucks to a title in their third season

Obviously, only two coaches in Bucks history have helped deliver a title to Milwaukee, with those being Mike Budenholzer and Larry Costello. The fact that they did so while in their third seasons in Milwaukee, respectively, is an interesting wrinkle.

Of course, the trajectory of both teams under Costello and Budenholzer couldn’t have differed from one another.

After all, it was Costello who the Bucks’ original ownership of Marvin Fishman and Wes Pavalon that entrusted Costello to be the first head coach in the team’s history. It was Costello who oversaw the Bucks’ incredible worst-to-first turnaround that was capped off with their championship season in 1971, even as much as that was owed to the luck of landing Abdul-Jabbar with a coin toss for the first overall pick in the 1969 NBA Draft.

Even as the Bucks’ ‘Big 3′ continues to garner all of the shine of the team’s run during that era, it wouldn’t have been made possible with a hard-working, diligent coach such as Costello.

Whereas Costello arrived to Milwaukee back in 1968 with nothing preceding him, Budenholzer arrived more than three summers ago with the ability to wipe the slate clean.

Budenholzer’s presence helped turn around a Bucks team that had been waiting to take a leap towards title contention. Instant success followed the Bucks with Bud on the bench as they catapulted to the top of the NBA during the last two regular seasons.

We all know the story from there. The Bucks took their lumps in the playoff under Budenholzer, in part due to their top players struggling to play at the standard they set during the regular season and Budenholzer’s tendencies having been figured out by the likes of the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat.

With plenty of speculation surrounding his job security all season long and especially as the Bucks rode through serious highs and lows during the postseason, Budenholzer pressed all of the right buttons on the way towards the Bucks’ title. There’s no doubt that Budenholzer has secured his future in the process and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a contract extension be made in short order.