Excerpt from Pipeline to the Professionals by Ben Kaplan and Danny Parkins. Reprinted with the permission of Triumph Books. You should purchase the ebook HERE
On March 10, 2020, Mike Budenholzer and the Bucks wanted a break. They have been again in Milwaukee, recuperating after a disastrous highway journey. The three-game jaunt was a homecoming of kinds for Budenholzer, the Bucks’ head coach. The primary sport—a loss to Frank Vogel’s Lakers—was performed simply 40 miles due west of Pomona Faculty, Budenholzer’s alma mater. Then the second loss—this one by the hands of the inferior Phoenix Suns—introduced Budenholzer again to Arizona, the state the place he grew up within the shadow of six older siblings, a politician mom, and a highschool basketball coach father.
Thankfully, the schedule gods had the Bucks’ collective again: two days off, adopted by a four-game homestand tipping off on March 12. There have been rumors that, because of the new virus, they’d have to begin enjoying video games with out followers. Oh effectively, Budenholzer figured. I performed Division II. I’m used to empty stands.
