Mike D'Antoni will be named coach of the year, is the word on the street. Phoenix are the lovechild of the NBA this season. - Nash MVP - Amare 3rd in MVP voting (allegedly) - Nash, Amare and Marion all All-Stars I know Mike has stuck with small ball and made it work, and the Suns have had a 33 game turnaround this season, but look at what he has at his disposal. Nate's taken a team that most predicted to finish near the bottom of the league, and made them into division champs, with a totally inexperienced point guard and two starters who average around 5ppg, not to mention basically an entire roster of free agents. Rick Carlisle has taken the Pacers to the second round of the playoffs with all that's happened there, and Scott Skiles has taken the Bulls from 0-7 to 48 wins. I'm going to stop short of saying it is undeserved, but the Suns are certainly the flavour of the season.
I pretty much agree, although I'm not totally sure what the criteria is (same as MVP. BTW who votes, broadcasters again? Ridiculous). I'm sure there's a little more than meets the eye but Amare and Shawn Marion were already bonafide all-stars, and the Suns (to their managements credit) bring in 2 highly touted free agents in Nash and Q. And basically they just let Nash run the team (well that's what it looks like to me)L Nate meanwhile has had to blend disparate parts, deal with a ton of injuries and - this can be good and bad - deal with the free agency status of half the roster. I'd vote Nate, Skiles, Carlisle and then D'Antoni. No doubt Phoenix has had a great season, maybe all the ESPN highlights and top ten plays have just captured the imagination of the voting panel. And let's face it Phoenix is playing exactly the way the league's been wanting with all the rules changes in order to garner higher ratings and attendance.
There is no clear cut favorite for the award. I have no problem with D'Antonio winning Coach of the Year. He is winning with a style that no one believed could be done consistently throughout an 82 game season with success. He is very innovative with his line ups, forcing other teams to adapt to his personnel(Stoudamire/Marion playing out of their natural positions)--not the other way around. His team has had the biggest turnaround in all of basketball, when last year everyone thought that the Suns were a team on the decline (Steph trade). Nate is a worthy candidate as is Rick Carlisle, Scott Skiles, and Eddie Jordan. But I don't think that any coach could have done a better job with the roster that Phoenix had than Mike D'Antonio. I don't agree with Nash as MVP, but Coach of the Year award should be shipped to Phoenix.
I actually don't mind if D'antoni wins it. I'm of the opinion that the winningest coach should get first dibs on that award--after all, is talent really an "excuse" for winning? I never really understood that. If a team establishes itself as the best in the league (record-wise), I don't see why the coach shouldnt get a lot of the credit. That said, Nate is probably deserving of the award, and had it not been for the slide when the injury bug hit us, he might have won it anyway. Coaches like Skiles and Carlisle are worth praising but IMO leading a team to a ~.500 record just isn't enough, suspensions/rookies or whatever the case may be. I wouldn't have minded Sloan winning the award last year just because he's been in the league so long without it, but I could have named a few coaches more deserving. And Shiek, ditto on the MVP thing. I love what the Suns have accomplished, but I can't help but feel that a number of PG's in Nash's position would have yielded similar results (with perhaps a little defense to boot).. Kidd in particular I would've cast my vote for Shaq.
