Mike Budenholzer Helped Inspire Jeff Teague To Re-Sign With Hawks In 2013
Jeff Teague might be playing for a different team right now had Mike Budenholzer not come along.
Teague was a restricted free agent in the summer of 2013, a difficult season that ended with head coach Larry Drew being fired. Budenholzer scouted Teague when he played at Wake Forest and met him through current Sixers coach Brett Brown (another Popovich disciple) who played college ball at Boston University with Teague’s dad, Shawn Teague.
When the Hawks brought in Budenholzer, the first person he called was Jeff Teague. This comes from Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins latest feature on the Atlanta Hawks which has more incredible insight on Budenholzer, Teague, and how the Hawks came to this point:
Teague is the unlikely conductor of this hardwood orchestra. After Budenholzer was hired he called his new point guard and said, “We’re going to do something totally different than what you’re used to.” Teague was reluctant. The Hawks weren’t a great team—since moving from St. Louis in 1968, they’ve reached the conference finals only twice—but they weren’t terrible, either. In Teague’s four seasons before Budenholzer’s arrival, the Hawks averaged 45 victories and won two playoff series. They made him a starter and paid him well.
Teague re-signed with the Hawks on a four-year, $32 million deal. Budenholzer’s vision and system, which Jenkins does an awesome job of depicting in the column, became the ideal template for a point guard like Teague. No matter the Hawks’ outcome this season, he’s learned what it means to play winning basketball.
