After a tiring day at the NFC Scouting Combine in March, we decided to let loose at a downtown Indianapolis nightclub. Green Bay Packers Coach Matt LaFleur was having a conversation with his team about the next step in his offseason schedule.
The end of free agency was fast approaching. In less than a month offseason exercises were to start, and the NFL draft followed shortly thereafter.
LaFleur shared another thing in the midst all this: He was on a roadtrip with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
When it was suggested that it would be fun, LaFleur quickly clarified: “Actually, it’s a business trip.”
LaFleur is an NFL coach who, despite winning 13 of his three NFL seasons, was the most successful in NFL history. He has never won a Super Bowl or even been there. He would give anything to gain an edge — even if it meant traveling with a team from a different sport.
“I think he had a good time and enjoyed himself,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said. “But there’s no question this was a professional development opportunity.”
“Are you serious?”
The backstory to the trip was this: A month earlier, LaFleur and his wife, Bre, were at The Phoenician resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, to attend a fundraiser for Childhelp, an organization run by a friend of LaFleur’s that helps abused and at-risk kids, and who did he bump into but Bucks star Khris Middleton.
“I had been around those guys a little bit, and I just introduced myself, and I’m like, ‘What are you guys doing here?’” LaFleur said.
As it turned out, the Bucks stayed at the Bucks while they were in town for the games Phoenix Suns. LaFleur then text Horst, who he had met through a mutual friend shortly before he took the Packers job in 2019, and they eventually met in the hotel bar.
It quickly evolved into an evening of conversation with Horst and his team, along with coach Mike Budenholzer (who would later be hired as the assistant coach) and Darvin Ham (who would also get hired to coach). Los Angeles Lakers Charles Lee (head coach shortly after)
“We were just kind of like chopping up with Jon and some of those guys, talking philosophy, and he threw it out there,” LaFleur said. “He’s like, ‘Hey, you should come on a road trip with us.’ And I said, ‘Are you serious? To see their operation, I would love to. So that’s kinda how it started, just a random chance. We talked about it, he shot me a bunch of dates and we made it work.”
They settled on a West Coast trip. LaFleur would drive from Green Bay, Wisconsin to San Francisco to fly with Bucks to the game against the Warriors on March 12. Then on to Utah to face the Jazz on March 14. LaFleur would fly on his own to Sacramento, where the team would complete the trip. He would return to Lambeau Field to begin free agency on March 16th.
‘High school buddy, meet college buddy’
LaFleur entered it with an open mindset, not knowing if there was any strategical transfer from basketball to football. After all, what’s the NFL equivalent to deciding whether or not to foul when up three points with under 10 seconds to go? (“Oh, he wants to,” Budenholzer said laughing. “He wants to talk about that.”)
“One of the things that stood out to me about Matt, it feels like there’s a thirst for continuing to grow and be better and learn and be his best,” Budenholzer said. “To take that time and maybe go outside the box a little bit and just see if there’s anything that he could take to better his team, that’s a huge statement on who he is as a coach and a person.”
Budenholzer and Hendricks quickly realized they had much in mutual interest in both their professional and private lives. Both were the sons of coaches. Both coaches teams that compete for titles. Both are in a niche field that requires them deal with a variety of entities from fans and media to general managers to team owners.
“It’s nice to have somebody that you can open to a little bit that has that similar perspective, similar experiences,” Budenholzer said. “You develop a friendship and a trust pretty quickly with Matt. It’s rare and it’s kind of nice with somebody who walks in similar shoes.”
They both also coach superstars in their respective sport, LaFleur together with quarterback Aaron Rodgers Budenholzer Giannis AntetokounmpoUnderstand the challenges and blessings that accompany such an assignment.
Rodgers, who has a minority share of ownership in the Bucks, said he’s a big Budenholzer fan and liked the idea of his coach spending time with him, especially considering the Bucks had just won the NBA championship the previous season.
“I love it for Matt that he’s always trying to grow in the process of what he’s doing,” Rodgers. “Bud and his staff are obviously doing something right. Just a fun week for him to be around a different group of guys to see how they travel, to see how they work together and if there’s anything he can pick from the stuff that Bud says to the guys on a daily basis or some of the leadership and team camaraderie stuff, I think it was really beneficial for him.”
The connection with the Bucks and Packers has grown stronger in recent years, in part because of Rodgers’ ownership stake and in part because of LaFleur and Horst’s mutual connection: Justin Sherlock. LaFleur played basketball in high school (He claims he was “OK” — an 8 or 9-points per-game player) and Sherlock, a Mount Pleasant, Michigan native, became a teammate with Horst at Rochester University.
“The day Matt got hired, Justin put Matt and I on a group text and was basically like: “Hey high school buddy, meet college buddy,” Horst said.
‘More comfortable letting go’
Horst spent two days at training camp with the Packers last month along with several of his staff members. Horst was there to support Brian Gutekunst, Packers general manger. He even attended some LaFleur’s team meetings.
It’s different, however, spending time with a team during a more laid-back period of the season like training camp compared to March in the NBA when there’s less than a month remaining in the regular season.
So LaFleur didn’t want to get in the way during what was an important trip for the Bucks. He sat with Horst in the stands during games, several rows behind Bucks’ benches. He would often sit on the courtside during shootarounds. He would also sit quietly in meetings at the hotel.
“The biggest takeaway that I had was just from top to bottom, how aligned everybody is, how they communicate, and there’s a genuine care for one another,” LaFleur said. “I see it with Bud and his staff. It’s with Bud and his staff. It’s evident from player to player. I was amazed at how these guys interacted with each other. They’ve got really good people and obviously you better have talented players, that is like a prerequisite and that’s exactly what they have. It’s easier when their best players also happen to be their best people.
“Giannis is an unbelievable dude , but you see it with everybody — Middleton and Jrue [Holiday] and Brook Lopez. All those guys are just legit dudes.”
LaFleur was also struck by another thing.
“They did a really cool thing where postgame they had a dinner with all the players, the coaches, their wives, players’ wives if they were traveling or players families if they were traveling where they basically close down a restaurant and just get everybody together,” LaFleur said. “Those are those special times that when you’re outside of work that you can help build that team chemistry that is imperative to help when you face a little bit of adversity.”
There’s a significant difference between how NBA and NFL teams travel. The Bucks were away for over a week on that trip. Players have more freedom. In the NFL, teams fly out the morning before the game and then return the following day. Rodgers said that LaFleur is more free since his trip.
“Maybe this is related to that trip and maybe it’s not, but with every year, he seems to be more comfortable letting go of some of the control and trusting the leadership of the football team, his assistant coaches and the older guys and kind of just be a little more hands off,” Rodgers said. “In basketball, they’re on such different schedules. They also have nights off [on the road] and you’ve just got to say, ‘Hey, whatever happens be at shootaround at 11.’ They can’t control everything that’s going on. I think there’s something to be said for that because that allows for accountability. Are you opting in or are you going to f— around?”
‘A lot of pressure going into Utah’
LaFleur being present, the Bucks lost 122-109 to the Golden State Warriors. They also lost forward DeAndre’ Bembry to a season-ending knee injury The same night.
“The Golden State one in particular, he got to see a lot,” Horst said. “I’m sitting with him during the game, we had a pretty impactful massive injury that happened during the course of the game, so Matt got to kinda see the in-game chaos that happened with all that and then experience a loss on the road. He had complete access to everything.
“He’s super curious. Watching him in that setting being around us, I think curiosity is an incredible trait of a leader.”
Budenholzer said that he also became very nervous.
“He felt a lot of pressure going into Utah,” Budenholzer said. “He knew if we lost, he’d be the reason. … He knew if we lost to Golden State, we would be giving him s—. I believe we were on a decent run and got beat pretty badly that day.
“I think for him just to see that game and then the locker before and after, just the routines that the guys have on a game day, I think he really dove into that.”
LaFleur was pleased to hear that the Bucks beat the Utah Jazz by 117 to 111. LaFleur was soon back in Green Bay.
“They stayed out there and they finished their road trip [with a win over the Sacramento Kings], but it was cool because you get to experience and see how they do everything,” LaFleur said. “It’s not every day they let somebody come on a trip like that.”