With the Bucks dropping yet another winnable game in the latest loss of what has been an excruciatingly long season, it might finally be time to admit that the front office was wrong to fire the head coach who built a winning culture and won the franchise its first NBA title in 50 years.
This isn't to say Mike Budenholzer didn't have his issues; anyone who watched that era of Bucks basketball knows the opposite is true. The playoff rotations were maddening, the defensive schemes got predictable, and the stubbornness about adjustments drove fans crazy.
But at the same time, just look at what the Bucks have become since he left. This is just terrible, no matter which way you decide to spin it. And the Bucks' biggest problem right now is one that just can't be traded away.
The Milwaukee Bucks owe Mike Budenholzer an apology
At least under Budenholzer, Milwaukee was consistently good. Consistent and sustained regular-season dominance, top-5 defense annually, and, perhaps most importantly, an actual system that players understood and executed. Sure, the playoff disappointments hurt, but you know what hurts worse? Not even making the playoffs. Being 11th in the Eastern Conference with an increasingly disgruntled Giannis Antetokounmpo on your team.
The Bucks won a championship with Bud. That's supposed to buy you some grace, some benefit of the doubt when things go sideways. Instead, Milwaukee panicked after one bad playoff loss and torched the entire thing for... this?
Budenholzer's supposed fatal flaw was being too rigid, too predictable. At least predictability means there's an actual system. Rivers doesn't even have that. From where this writer is standing, it's legitimately just vibes and veteran trust that consistently fail when it matters.
The defensive regression is especially brutal. Milwaukee's defense under Bud was a top-5 unit pretty much every year. Now they're 24th in defensive rating. Part of that is that Rivers' rotations change nightly based on mysterious criteria nobody understands. But the other side of it is that there isn't a game plan on that end besides energy and effort.
Budenholzer got the job done
The 2021 championship run that Bud coached featured incredible adjustments, even despite Budenholzer's reputation for being unable to make them. We saw him switching defensive schemes, trusting different players in different matchups, and managing Giannis' minutes perfectly. Everyone memory-holed that because of subsequent playoff failures, but it happened. Rivers hasn't shown one-tenth of that coaching acumen.
Nobody's saying Bud was perfect. The playoff issues were real, and the adjustments did come too slowly sometimes. But firing him without a clear upgrade plan was organizational malpractice. Rivers isn't better; he's actively worse in almost every measurable way.
Mike Budenholzer deserves an apology from everyone who celebrated his firing. He delivered a championship, consistent regular-season success, and an actual defensive identity. What's Doc Rivers delivered? A horrible record, organizational chaos, and Giannis Antetokounmpo planning his exit strategy.
The Bucks had something good with Bud and convinced themselves it wasn't good enough. Now they're learning what "not good enough" actually looks like, and it's a whole lot worse than anything Budenholzer ever produced.
Bud wasn't perfect. But he was a hell of a lot better than this disaster.