Coach of the Year

After seeing consecutive coaches of the year getting sacked in the last 6 months (04-05 winner Mike D’Antoni, 05-06 winner Avery Johnson and 06-07 winner Sam Mitchell), I would say the Coach of the Year award is grossly overrated.

Let’s take a look at the winners of the COY since 1990:

1989-90 Pat Riley, LA Lakers (63-19) (Best Record: LA Lakers (63-19); Champion: Detroit Pistons (59-23))

1990-91 Don Chaney, Houston Rockets (52-30) (Best Record: Portland Trail Blazers (63-19); Champion: Chicago Bulls (61-21))

1991-92 Don Nelson, Golden State Warriors (55-27) (Best Record: Chicago Bulls (67-15); Champion: Chicago Bulls (67-15))

1992-93 Pat Riley, New York Knicks (60-22)* (Best Record: Phoenix Suns (62-20); Champion: Chicago Bulls (57-25))

1993-94 Lenny Wilkens, Atlanta Hawks (57-25)* (Best Record: Seattle Supersonics (63-19); Champion: Houston Rockets (58-24))

1994-95 Del Harris, LA Lakers (48-34) (Best Record: San Antonio Spurs (62-20); Champion: Houston Rockets (47-35 )

1995-96 Phil Jackson, Chicago Bulls (72-10)* (Best Record: Chicago Bulls (72-10); Champion: Chicago Bulls (72-10))

1996-97Pat RileyMiami Heat (61-21)*Chicago Bulls (69-13)Chicago Bulls (69-13)

1997-98 Larry Bird, Indiana Pacers (58-24) (Best Record: Chicago Bulls, Utah Jazz (62-20); Champion: Chicago Bulls (62-20))

1998-99 Mike Dunleavy, Portland Trail Blazers (35-15)* (Best Record: San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz (37-13); Champion: San Antonio Spurs (37-13))

1999-00 Doc Rivers, Orlando Magic (41-41) (Best Record: LA Lakers (67-15); Champion: LA Lakers (67-15))

2000-01 Larry Brown, Philadelphia 76ers (56-26)* (Best Record: San Antonio Spurs (58-24); Champion: LA Lakers (56-26))

2001-02 Rick Carlisle, Detroit Pistons (50-32)* (Best Record: Sacramento Kings (61-21); Champion: LA Lakers (58-24))

2002-03 Greg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs (60-22)* (Best Record: San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks (60-22); Champion: San Antonio Spurs (60-22))

2003-04 Hubie Brown, Memphis Grizzlies (50-32) (Best Record: Indiana Pacers (61-21); Champion: Detroit Pistons (54-28))

2004-05 Mike D’Antoni, Phoenix Suns* (62-20) (Best Record: Phoenix Suns (62-20); Champion: San Antonio Spurs (59-23))

2005-06 Avery Johnson, Dallas Mavericks (60-22) (Best Record: Detroit Pistons (64-18); Champion: Miami Heat (52-30))

2006-07 Sam Mitchell, Toronto Raptors* (47-35) (Best Record: Dallas Mavericks (67-15); Champion: San Antonio Spurs (58-24))

2007-08 Byron Scott, New Orleans Hornets* (56-26) (Best Record: Boston Celtics (66-16); Champion: Boston Celtics (66-16))

*denote division champions

First, how can you explain Hall-of-Fame coaches Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich, who have won 13 rings combined, had won the COY award once each? And why on earth that Jerry Sloan has never won the award? (FYI, even legendary coach Red Auerbach, who has 9 rings, only won the COY once.)

Secondly, only two COYs, Phil Jackson of 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and Greg Popovich of 2002-03 San Antonio Spurs, won the championships (as well as the best record in the league) the same year they won the COYs. Two other COYs, Pat Riley of 1989-90 LA Lakers and Mike D’Antoni of 2004-05 Phoenix Suns, managed to finish with the best regular season records that season. To make things better, 12 of the total 19 COYs won their respective division titles though.

Pat Riley, Lenny Wilkens and Larry Brown are the other coaches who have won the championships, although not in the same year they were named COYs.

I will never understand why coaches with a team record of less than 50 wins (other than the shortened 1998-99 season) could win the COY award, including Del Harris (1995), Doc Rivers (2000) and, yes, Sam Mitchell (2007).

There are way too many ridiculous snubs, like:

Don Chaney (1991) and Don Nelson (1992) over Phil Jackson;

Pat Riley (1997) and Larry Bird (1998) over Phil Jackson and Jerry Sloan (1998 only);

Doc Rivers (2000) over Phil Jackson;

Rick Carlisle (2002) over Rick Adelman;

Hubie Brown (2004) over Phil Jackson or Larry Brown;

Sam Mitchell (2007) over Avery Johnson, who should have won the award in 2007 instead of 2006, snubbing Flip Saunders.

IMHO, no one other than Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Pat Riley, Greg Popovich, Larry Brown and Mike D’Antoni should win the COY in the span from 1990 to 2008. Well, I can reluctantly include Avery Johnson (2007) and Doc Rivers (2008), but just for those two particular years.

Coach of the Year award is voted by media writers and broadcasters. These guys are all about hypes and stories, always look for overachievements, and some feel-good Cinderella stories, rather than judging the coaches’ ability and consistency. If I were to ask to vote, I will ask just one question: if I have a NBA team, which coach will I pick to lead the team? As simple as that.

On the other hand, most of the COYs did not have a smooth career after winning the award:

Don Nelson (1992 winner) left Golden State in 1995 after a feud with Chris Webber;
Del Harris (1995 winner) was let go after 12 games in 1998-99 season;
Doc Rivers won the award in 2000, but was fired four years later;
Rick Carlisle won the COY in 2002, but was fired in 2003;
Hubie Brown was not fired, but was forced to retire one year after he won the COY in 2004;
Mike D’Antoni (2005) was not awarded with a contract extension after 2007-08 season.

Avery Johnson (2006) and Sam Mitchell (2007) just added to this fired COY list.



You may say it has become a trend for the team to fire coaches more frequently, but you can’t deny the fact that the most successful coaches have never been fired, yet have won so few COY awards.

The bottom line is, I don’t think the COY award is a good representation of how good a coach is, and the COY winner are often overrated than well deserved, only it’s getting worse and worse.

Further reading:

FOX Sports: Coach of the Year winners often overrated - Charley Rosen