what a joke. I dont think a coach from any team that isn't contending for a title has won COTY. It's another showpiece award that has little to do with how well a coach does with what he has vs. a coach who can guide an already good team to being good. Coaches of Jordan, LeBron, Shaq, etc. have easy times winning COTY.
The ball movement right now is fantastic. It never sticks in the post with Aldridge, unless he's purposefully baiting the defense to react to him or get dunked on. Our perimeter guys are getting just wide-open shots at the three point line. LA is leading the league (by a really wide margin) in lob completions. And when was the last time anybody complained about our inability to get it into the post? Remember the old Stoudamire days where we'd consistently burn off 17 seconds on the clock before the post man would even see the ball? I think a lot of the good ball movement is just having smart, willing passers like Miller, Rudy, Aldridge, Camby and Batum. But the coach should get credit too. And he'll get a lot more credit if he can work Roy into the current system.
Yep, it's usually coaches with great records who win Coach of the Year. However, I think McMillan's accomplishment is getting a lot of attention around the league. To lose your best player (Roy), plus your starting center (Camby), and of course Oden, and yet still be 6 games over .500 is very impressive. The fact that this is the second consecutive season that McMillan has had to deal with huge amounts of injuries may also factor in. Still, I'm not holding my breath.
IIRC, Doc Rivers won it when he was with the Magic in a year when the team went .500 EDIT: Confirmed, 99-00 season, with a bunch of nobodies. Also noticed Rick Carlisle won it going 50-32 in 01-02, Hubie Brown 50-32 in 03-04, Sam Mitchell 47-35 in 06-07, and Scotty Brooks 50-32 last year. Actually seems like the award goes to a contending coach half the time, and an over-achiever the other half. http://www.basketball-reference.com/awards/coy.html
Who votes for COY? I think whoever votes for the honor should vote for Jerry Sloan, just to say "fuck you" to the Utah Jazz players.
Roy had a great interview with Mike & Mike where he said the same thing: We're shooting well because we're getting good shots through ball movement. More importantly, we're getting open looks where our individual players are able to hit the shots--e.g. Wesley from the corner three.
Those "people" who were complaining evidently didn't understand that the team didn't have a post presence capable of running an inside-out offense system around, until now. The elite player the team had was a ball-control wing who was both extremely productive and good at creating plays for other people, therefore McMillan used a system that put the ball in his elite creator's hands and let him work. Personnel changed and therefore McMillan changed his system. It's not that those complainers that you reference were right...they weren't. I certainly have had my issues with McMillan's decisions over the years, but A. I never thought he was as bad as his harshest critics, who never did a good job of arguing him being terrible and B. I think he's proving his worth this year, showing that he can adapt to losing his previous elite performer and gaining a new one with totally different strengths.
I also think--with the exception of Monty--that McMillan's assistants are better this year than last.
If he's not back, it would probably be due to his choosing not to return. I don't think the franchise is likely to be unhappy with his performance.
I would love to see Sloan coach the Blazers, but he may be tired of coaching in general, not just in Utah.
I think he finally realized that the game has passed him. He's not meant to coach this era of basketball.
