The NBA All-Star game was played on Sunday night, and if you are anything like me, the following few days, waiting for the NBA to return are some of the slowest moving days of the year. It does, however, give me time to look back on the season we have seen so far and get a clearer picture of things as we advance.
I have already covered numerous awards favorites in the past, but all of those were awards that players receive. There is only one award that looks at a team’s performance as a whole and rewards one person for that award, and that is the Coach of The Year award. The criteria for the award, like all the awards, is unclear, but a panel of sportswriters cast 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place votes for the coaches they think have done the best job of leading their team.
The favorite right now for the coach of the year is Quinn Snyder, the coach of the Utah Jazz, who currently hold the best record in the league. That is the case most years with this award because unless there is a truly incredible storyline, the default for the award is to give it to the coach whose team had the best record.
However, that is not to downplay what Snyder has done with the Jazz, as he has revamped the team’s offense to maximize their strength, three-point shooting. He has also re-committed to defensive rotations and has realized what having the best rim protector in the NBA(Rudy Gobert) can do to a defense. A hard close out on a three-pointer that leads to a drive to the rim is not the worst thing in the world when you know that Gobert is down there holding it down. Snyder’s ability to utilize all of his player’s skillsets to maximize the team’s success is what puts him at the top of my list.
This list is completely speculatory, but in my opinion, the coach that belongs at second on this list is Tom Thibodeau of the New York Knicks. Last year, the Knicks were one of the league’s laughing stocks, and their fan base had nearly lost hope. But this year, the Knicks sit at 5th in the east at the all-star break, and they did not have any big-name free agents sign with them in the offseason.
Thibodeau has the Knicks committed to team defense, and the offense feeds off those stops, and they simply will their way to a majority of their victories. This has allowed Julius Randle to handle the ball more, which has led to him having a career season and improving his role as a playmaker for his other teammates. It is unknown if the Knicks will be able to keep up this success, but if they finish as a 4-6 seed in the east, I think that Thibodeau would have a strong case for COY, especially since he has shown in the past just how great of a coach he is, no matter where or who he is coaching.
Another man who has led his team to a big improvement from last year is Monty Williams of the Phoenix Suns. Last year in the Bubble, the Suns were everyone’s favorite underdog story, going 8-0, but still somehow missing out on the playoffs and the play-in game altogether.
Monty and his staff didn’t take on the mentality of “we got screwed” and instead, with the front office, put together a deal that landed them Chris Paul in the offseason. With Paul’s leadership on the court, and Williams controlling the sidelines, the Suns have exploded up the standings and sit at second place in the stacked Western Conference with a record of 24-11.
Doc Rivers and Ty Lue of the Sixers and Clippers, respectively, are ahead of my final two candidates in terms of betting odds. Still, I think these coaches will not win the award since they are two new coaches, and their teams were already established when they came in, so their coaching impact hasn’t been as big as the players they coach. Instead, one coach who sticks out to me is Terry Stotts of the Portland Trailblazers.
The Blazers have gotten crushed by injuries this season. CJ McCollum was having the best season of his career before he got hurt. Jusuf Nurkic also was sidelined with yet another injury. That has not stopped Stotts from getting his team to compete night in and night out. Led by Damian Lillard, the Blazers have a record of 21-14, which puts them at fifth place in the stacked western conference. When the Blazers get healthy in the second half of the season and hopefully go on a run that puts them at the top of the west, it would be hard to deny Stotts as COY, just based on what he has done this first half of the season.
My last “sleeper” pick for coach of the year is Taylor Jenkins of the Memphis Grizzlies. He is in a similar situation as Stotts in Portland, as Memphis is staying above water, with a record of 16-16, but have done so without their second-best player in Jaren Jackson Jr.
Jaren is a special talent, as we could see last year, and Ja Morant’s game has taken a step forward this season. Jenkins has gotten many young players like Desmond Bane, Xavier Tillman, and De’Anthony Melton into the rotation to get some experience under their belt. When Jackson Jr. returns sometime in the next couple of weeks, I would not be surprised to see the Grizzlies make a run and end up in the middle of the pack in the West, and I think this could be enough to see Jenkins come home with the award this season.
