New Team, Big Impact: Which Coach Will Make the Most Difference?

As we approach the start of the 2024-25 NBA season, our team is breaking down 24 crucial storylines to keep an eye on. Each day, our senior analysts will delve into a different topic to help you gear up for opening night on Oct. 22. Stay tuned for in-depth analysis and insights on all the latest developments in the league.

Here is storyline 

No. 13

Mike Budenholzer, JJ Redick or Kenny Atkinson? Which coach will provide the biggest boost for their new team?

Short answer: Mike Budenholzer, Phoenix.

But before we dissect the meaning and methods of “boost,” we should specify why we’re focused on these three heading into a season with seven new coaches.

Jordi Fernandez (Brooklyn), Charles Lee (Charlotte), J.B. Bickerstaff (Detroit) and Brian Keefe (Washington, officially as of May) have teams that are farther back in their life cycle. Chasing a record close to .500 would qualify as improvement, but that’s not the needle we want to see moved.

It’s better to focus on the three organizations that reached the 2024 playoffs and return with loftier expectations. Even then, “boost” can be sliced more than one way.

The team capable of improving the most is the Lakers. Despite their solid 47-35 record, they finished eighth in the rugged West and had to survive the SoFi Play-In Tournament for the right to get spanked (again) by the Denver Nuggets in five games. Climbing to a top-six seed and winning one playoff round would qualify as a boost for which Redick would get considerable credit.

After all, very little about the Lakers’ roster has changed. They’ve added what could be a real distraction in the Bron-Bronny reality show, but that might get sorted out quickly if the younger James a) can play and earns whatever minutes and role he gets, or b) spends most of the season in the NBA G League and riding pine.

And while, yes, Redick is a newbie to coaching, precedents such as Larry Bird and Jason Kidd (to name two) had some quick success. Redick wasn’t their player equal, but he also knows the game. The key will be whether LeBron has his back throughout Year 1.

Meanwhile, getting out of the first round would mean nothing to the Cavaliers and their fans. That was the wall they hit against Boston, a loss in five games in the East semifinals that cost Bickerstaff his Cleveland job. The Cavs need to get a step beyond and reach the Eastern Conference Finals, at least, to demonstrate improvement.

The good news for them is that the core of that team is ready. The players have the talent and know the mission. They’ve had a couple of trial runs. Now if Donovan Mitchell can consistently apply the superstardom he’s getting paid, if Evan Mobley can close the gap to approach the projections with which he arrived, and if Jarrett Allen and the rest can stay healthier, Atkinson has the experience to get this done.

Still, Budenholzer should have the biggest impact. The Suns were the most disappointing of the three teams, winning 49 games and getting swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves. They never fully meshed the talents of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, mostly because they played so little together (863 minutes). All three are All-NBA caliber, with skin in the game this season via their reputations and legacies.

That’s a great starting point for any coach. Budenholzer, a two-time Coach of the Year and the only one of these three to have won an NBA championship as a coach, has adapted and succeeded before. He will have a strong starting point guard in newcomer Tyus Jones to impose some order on the Phoenix attack. Jusuf Nurkic can work toward some of the big-body defensive traits that made Brook Lopez valuable in Milwaukee. The Suns’ biggest task will be finding a reliable bench rotation.

Underachieving last season should be just what Phoenix and their new coach need to advance through at least two rounds. That’s a pretty big boost.

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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.

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