Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer Saw Ime Udoka Going Into Coaching Early On

Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer isn’t surprised to look at the Boston Celtics bench during the Eastern Conference semifinals and see Ime Udoka standing there.

Budenholzer believed years ago when he was an assistant on Gregg Popovich’s staff with the San Antonio Spurs, and Udoka a player there, that Udoka was destined to enter the coaching ranks one day.

“After being around him for a year, it was very apparent, very obvious that he could be a coach,” Budenholzer told reporters prior to Game 4, per Celtics.com’s Taylor Snow.

Udoka played two-and-a-half seasons with the Spurs while Budenholzer served as an assistant there. When Udoka jumped into coaching, as Budenholzer predicted, and joined Popovich’s staff for the 2012-13 season, Udoka and Budenholzer became coaching contemporaries.

That was the only year the two worked side-by-side as Budenholzer left the Spurs after that season for his first head coaching gig with the Atlanta Hawks. But the time Udoka and Budenholzer spent together formed the foundation of a solid relationship.

“Just to see him behind the scenes, how meticulous he was about things,” Udoka said. “Just learned how quirky he is and different. I got to know him well, obviously.”