Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer met with the media this week after the team’s season ended with a sweep by the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Here are excerpts of the interview:
Q: Cleveland shot historically well, but you were in every game except Game 2. Do you think about what if they hadn't shot historically? Is that how close you are?
A: Yeah you do a little bit of both. You say we were up one with three minutes to go in Game 1 and them hitting a tough 3 in Game 1. Game 3 we are up eight with eight or nine minutes to go, and we are leading in the fourth quarter. (Sunday) we were. Three of the four games, (Hawks led in the fourth quarter). Getting swept is hard. It doesn't feel like it is close. I don't think you can't say that we got swept. But there are moments and times when you can say we are right there, and they played incredibly well.
Q: Has the culture changed within the team and how free agents might view the Hawks or are at least willing to listen?
A: We always want to be better and be humble. I do feel like (because of) the culture around our team and the kind of players we have and the work that is put in, most importantly by our players and everybody in the organization, I think the league knows this is a place where you can come and work and get better and improve and have success. Hopefully be appreciated for what you bring to the game and to a team. But we have always got to continue to work and get better and improve how we are perceived and what people think of us and why they would want to be a part of us.
Q: When you talk about beating a team like Cleveland, how much individually can guys get better? Can that by the key because guys like (Kent) Bazemore and (Tim) Hardaway Jr. can get better?
A: That's probably a lot of the thought behind continuity, that you get better from within. Even Paul Millsap, at some point I am going to go to lunch with Paul in the next week or two and will talk to him about areas where he can improve and get better. He has embraced that. He has come back each year better as one of our core best players. Tim Hardaway has got to have a similar mentality and Edy (Tavares) and from one to 15, I think we feel like guys can get better. They will put in the time and effort, and if you want to reach that next level, that is what needs to happen.
Q: You had several close losses that slipped away this season. Is that your biggest regret?
A: I would say we talked about it going down the stretch (of the season) and how we need to improve in that area and how we need to get better. I don't think it is on a player. It is not on Paul, not on Jeff (Teague), not on Al (Horford), whoever it may be. I know I need to improve and get better there. Whether it is frustration, or what the word is, we need to make that an area of emphasis and get more of those games, including playoff games.
Q: If you are able to keep Horford and Bazemore, how hard will it be to make any more additions to improve the team from the outside?
A: It is always the great challenge when you have a good team and you have good players and you find a way to keep those players with you, then how do you add around the edges? That is what I talk about coming to work tomorrow. Those are some of the things we will be trying to figure out, how can we add, how can we kind of do both. And it won't be easy. But it is not easy for any team. All of us are trying to get better, trying to figure out how to add the right players. It is not easy for any of us, including us.
Q: Any specific areas you want to address in the offseason, like a need for more size or perimeter defense?
A: I wouldn't say that there is this glaring we need this (area). And I would say philosophically, we are built around, we like good basketball players. Bigger this, bigger that — at the end of the day it seems like such a generic statement or a generic thought. We really just like guys who know how to play basketball. The more of those we get, the more competitive they are, then we feel like we can hopefully make them work together.
Q: Jeff Teague was asked if the Hawks are one great player away. He said he doesn’t know how a great player might play in this system since most great players hold the ball or need isolation. What is your response to how a great player would fit in your system?
A: The really great players, I think embrace playing unselfishly and embrace playing in a system that ultimately kind of lifts up their teammates or their role players and guys who are around them. Any player that values winning, success would be great in a system that emphasizes unselfishness and ball movement and player movement. And I think you have to maybe meet them in the middle or three-quarters of the way or something like that and let them do some of the things that make them great.
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