Pros and cons of Raptors pursuing Mike Budenholzer as coach

Cons

Budenholzer did win his ring, but it’s hard to look at a tenure in which he got two MVP seasons and three more almost MVP seasons out of Antetokounmpo and appeared in the Finals just once. Giannis, Middleton, and Jrue Holiday should have been more than enough to get to the Finals quite frequently.

Whereas the much-maligned Nurse would change the rotation seemingly every other game, Budenhozler has come under fire for not making enough adjustments in a series that called for some true coaching excellence. Budenholzer’s status as an offensive genius has never been in more peril than right now.

Mike Budenholzer might not fix the Toronto Raptors.

While Budenholzer’s coaching played a part in Milwaukee’s excellent regular seasons, the debate over how much of their success was Giannis smashing the opposition into a pancake and how much his acumen on the sidelines. If the former was the main reason, the Raptors might fall on their face.

Budenholzer is so committed to playing most of his bench that the mighty Giannis Antetokounmpo was regularly playing fewer than 30 minutes in a handful of games this season. The Raptors need to play their bench more, but that philosophy might mean less Pascal Siakam on the floor. Is that part of why he struggled late so often?