Player 1st 2nd 3rd Points Sam Mitchell, Raptors 49 43 20 394 Jerry Sloan, Jazz 39 28 22 301 Avery Johnson, Mavs 28 31 35 268 Jeff Van Gundy, Rockets 10 19 27 134 Mike D'Antoni, Suns 2 3 3 22 Don Nelson, Warriors -- 2 7 13 Scott Skiles, Bulls -- 1 9 12 Pat Riley, Heat -- 1 -- 3 Gregg Popovich, Spurs -- -- 2 2 George Karl, Nuggets -- -- 1 1 Flip Saunders, Pistons -- -- 1 1 Isiah Thomas, Knicks Source Mitchell in a landslide. I didn't think Nellie would get it, but I did think he'd get more love. Not 1 first place vote.
I was rooting for Nellie, but can see why Sam Mitchell would get it. Maybe it's sour grapes, but don't think Mitchell's that great a coach and Jerry Sloan has the same system year-in and year-out (Jeez he's becoming the pre-emmy win Susan Lucci). Anyhoo, COY changes from year-to-year. You can be COY one year and then be out of a job two years later. Who knows?
Yep -- I think you have to look at two things -- turnaround, and record. Every team deals with injuries and personell problems, so I don't think that factors in so much. It's a miracle what Nellie did to juggle this roster and turn NBDL players into NBA contributors, but every coach has to deal with stuff like that. Bottom line, IMO, is turnaround, and record. How much better is the team from the year before, and what record did you achieve? Nellie had a MAGNIFICENT turnaround, especially in the second half, going 16-5 to close the season with a winning record of 42-40, and that's 8 more wins than last year. If he would have come closer to 50 wins, even something like 47 or 48, then of course it would have been a no-brainer for Nellie for COY. Maybe next year.
Alley, If Raptors lose in the Leastern Conference to the Nets and Warriors defeat the number one seeded Mavs and advance to the second round. Would you still think Sam deserved COY?
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Alley, If Raptors lose in the Leastern Conference to the Nets and Warriors defeat the number one seeded Mavs and advance to the second round. Would you still think Sam deserved COY?</div> Well what if then Nuggets then beat the Spurs in their series, or if the Rockets make it to the WCF or the finals? It's tough to argue who should have won the award this year. There were a lot of legit candidates. Maybe the NBA is a coaches league, haha. Well at least usually the best coaches are making the playoffs, but also maybe the best coaches usually are stuck with the best/better teams. But yeah, I'm happy we have Don Nelson, especially in a series vs. the Mavs.
Well, I think Sloan deserves credit too. I mean Utah managed to add 10 wins to an already 41 win season from 2006. That's like GS coming back next year and getting 50 wins. Utah went from 41 wins last year, and missing POs, to 51 wins, along with becoming an elite team in the upper ranks of Western Conference. They seem to have done it with pretty much the same roster as last year, and what's more, they got little from their "superstar" AK-47. Sure they slowed down towards the end, but that's pretty darn impressive. As far as Toronto, the thing that stands out to me is that you look at their roster and to me who would have guessed that all those "no names" would end up contributing. I mean they have one star in Bosh and one semi-star in Ford. Otherwise, you have Garbajosa and Calderon and Mo Pete and so on. Bargnani was #1 pick but his 12 pts 4 reb isn't special. Yet they have really turned it around -- from 27 wins to 47 wins!?! Hard to argue with that. The difference is that no one looked at Toronto as a talent-packed team, whereas the knock on GS was that they had a ton of talent but couldn't put it together. I think the biggest thing Nellie has done is creating chemistry -- I mean this team is just a joy to watch right now, and that's because of Nellie and his captains in Baron and SJax. But when Dunmurphy was here, that wasn't fun to watch at all. NO chemistry there. I love what Nellie's done, but honestly, guys, we hardcore GS fans -- the ones who watched / listened to all 82 games this year -- are probably the only ones to truly appreciate what this team has gone through. Everyone else just sees a good turnaround with a decent record. I don't know if Mitchell deserves more credit than Nellie. Frankly I haven't watched any Toronto games. I can look at the numbers, but I'd bet Nellie deserves more credit for creating chemistry. And he's obviously one of the best coaches of ALL TIME. But I'm not suprised with the award going to Mitchell. If they meet in the finals, though, GS will drop the hamma!! Go WARRIORS!!! edit: Oh and BTW there's no other coach in the WORLD I'd rather GS have than the scotch-drinking, cigar smoking, poker playing Nellie. He's the best!
<div class="quote_poster">AnimeFANatic Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Alley, If Raptors lose in the Leastern Conference to the Nets and Warriors defeat the number one seeded Mavs and advance to the second round. Would you still think Sam deserved COY?</div> I don't understand why people judge awards by playoff sucess.. The awards as COY, MVP, MIP and so on are determined by the regular season sucess and not playoff success. But, on Nelli, I think he should have been in the top 3.
