HOLBROOK, Ariz. — A wind that would not stop tugged at flags and sent sand devils spinning into this desert town as I walked past Mr. Maestas Restaurant and the Arizona Pawnman and the Empty Pockets Saloon and came to a rise and looked across an emptiness of plain that stretched the limits of vision.

I recalled my talk a few days ago with Mike Budenholzer at the Ritz-Carlton in New York City. He coaches the Milwaukee Bucks, who finished the regular season with 60 wins and the best record in the N.B.A. His team features a brilliant Greek forward-guard-center named Giannis Antetokounmpo, Montenegrin and Turkish forwards, a Spanish center, and black and white players from corners rural and urban.

He is known for his deft handling of diverse pro players. Where, I asked, did you pick up that skill?

Let me tell you about my hometown, Holbrook, he said.

Budenholzer, blue-eyed and middle-age, was once was a skinny, blond, teenage shooting guard in this old cattle and railway town. He starred on the Roadrunners basketball team at Holbrook High School alongside his boyhood friend B. J. Little, an African-American; a few Anglos; and a half-dozen Navajo boys who could run and pass all day and all night.