New Hawks coach ecstatic about hiring

ATLANTA >> New Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is “living a dream” as he makes plans to remain with the Spurs through the NBA finals before turning his full focus to his first NBA head coaching job.

Budenholzer, the longtime San Antonio assistant, was named the Hawks’ coach Tuesday, one day after the Spurs completed a fourgame sweep of Memphis in the Western Conference finals.

“It’s been a pretty amazing 48 hours, I’ll be very honest with you,” Budenholzer said on Wednesday as he was introduced by Hawks general manager Danny Ferry. “It’s exciting for my family, exciting for me.

“The opportunity to come here with the Atlanta Hawks, when you couple that with coming to the NBA finals, I’m living a dream.”

Budenholzer, 43, spent 19 years with the Spurs, including 17 seasons as an assistant. He was the top assistant for coach Gregg Popovich the past six years, but he may be a new name to many fans outside of San Antonio.

“I’m definitely not a sexy hire,” Budenholzer said. “Thankfully, that wasn’t on Danny’s shopping list.”