Pop Coach of the Year watch thread...

[ElNono]

So far we have Mark Stein (link (http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/2062/coach-of-the-year)) and Bill Simmons (link (http://grantland.com/features/nba-mailbag-this-is-the-end/)) revealing they've voted Pop for COTY...

If anybody spots more from the media, feel free to add here...

[exstatic]

I'd have to give serious consideration to Coach Bud. Everyone thought that when they let Josh Smith walk, that they were tanking. He's done a bang up job, and put in not only a system, but a culture.

[JR3]

I don't see why not Pop. After last years disappointment, this team has kept their eyes on the prize, won games through injuries and boast the best record when last year the window was "closing". Plus, there are other years he could have won it and didn't. This seems appropriate to vote Pop.

[HarlemHeat37]

I'd go with Steve Clifford, but Pop would be a great choice, as well..

The Bobcats are over .500 with 1 notable player(Kemba Walker isn't anything special, tbh) + a strong defensive system..they're a team that relies heavily on their system..

Pop has the Spurs as the top team in the league, despite injuries and Parker having a meh season..

[spurraider21]

I'd have to give serious consideration to Coach Bud. Everyone thought that when they let Josh Smith walk, that they were tanking. He's done a bang up job, and put in not only a system, but a culture.
8th seed in the east is basically tanking

[HarlemHeat37]

Coach Bud has done an awesome job, considering they lost arguably their best player, exacerbating their lack of overall talent on the roster..they still have a poor record, though, so I wouldn't give him the award..

1. Steve Clifford
2. Pop
3. Terry Stotts

[baseline bum]

No one thinks Thibedeau has a good shot after getting 47+ wins out of his team when his gangbanger point guard misses two years and management salary dumps a starter? I know the east is shit, but still.

[HarlemHeat37]

True, he should, but it's now widely accepted that he's the 2nd best coach next to Pop, which will hurt him for these types of awards..

He deserves a lot of credit for adding a new dimension to the Bulls offense with Noah in the high post, despite not being an offensive-minded coach..

[ElNono]

Pop has the Spurs as the top team in the league, despite injuries and Parker having a meh season..

You also have to add the Spurs are here without a single player averaging over 30mpg, not a single player in the MVP race, and likely not a single player in All NBA 1st team...

[LoneStarState'sPride]

If I may play devil's advocate:

I could see someone voting against Pop because, tbh, the Spurs have really just handled their business like an erstwhile defending champion should. Think about it--this is Boris Diaw's first full season with the team, so he's picking up the system better. Patty Mills has gotten better and gotten more playing time. Green is still lethal from outside. We upgraded from Neal to Belinelli. There was really no excuse for this team NOT to get even better than the edition that was 28 ticks from winning it all. The primary reason Pop's coaching job this year is seen as remarkable is because most assumed the Spurs would be sulking about 6 the whole year.

[Spursfanfromafar]

Pop is a given this season. The closest competition he had was from Jeff Hornacek, who has done an outstanding job with an almost no-name Phoenix team that nearly made the playoffs (I don't think they are in it now since the loss to the Mavs, beyond mathematical probabilities).

62-18 with an injury ridden squad, to motivate them from a very heart breaking near title win last year and to improve young players like Mills, Belinelli so much and also to get Diaw to catch a new second wind..and so on. Pop has done an overwhelming job. This despite the loss of his two longstanding assistant coaches, Bud & Brown who have gone on to do their own thing reasonably well as well.

As Harlem says, Steve Clifford is an under-rated pick for COY as well. The Bobs were basically down in the dumps for so many seasons. Clifford got them to play a defense first game, despite having to rely on a minus defender like Al Jefferson to man the paint and got them not just into the playoffs but with a respectable win margin (above .500). I would still put Clifford lower than Pop in the COY listing.

Bud & Brown did what they could in the circumstances they were dealt with. Brown especially did a reasonable job to rack some early wins and to enable them to tank like hell without worrying about having the worst record ever. This squad they have is possibly the least talented, least experienced assembled ever and they tried to gut that down to even more worthless as much as possible!

Bud suffered from having an injury ridden squad which was already diluted by Ferry at the beginning of the season. With Horford in the mix, the Hawks were clearly the third best team in the East, but after he went down along with the entire frontcourt (literally), they went through a very tough phase without a paint protector before holding on to take the 8th spot over a woeful Knicks squad.

I think the NBA should institute the equivalent of a Razzie award. Woodson deserves a double-Razzie for leading a very high tax paying team to doom thanks also to some pathetic ownership and front-office work. The Bargnani signing must be among the incompetent ones made ever. The Knicks are more than a bloody joke.

[ElNono]

Another vote for Pop from the NY Post:

http://nypost.com/2014/04/11/handing-out-all-the-nba-hardware/

[ElNono]

One more from the Minnesota Star Tribune:

http://m.startribune.com/sports/?id=255047171&c=y

[ElNono]

Ira Winderman from the South Florida Sun Sentinel has Pop #2 behind Steve Clifford:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-heat/sfl-ira-nba-column-s041314,0,361170.column

[HarlemHeat37]

Another vote for Pop from the NY Post:

http://nypost.com/2014/04/11/handing-out-all-the-nba-hardware/

Does this nigga really have a vote, or are you just linking all recent award articles?..

[ElNono]

Does this nigga really have a vote, or are you just linking all recent award articles?..

I'm not sure, tbh... per Sheridan:

My ballot will be e-mailed to NBA headquarters late at night one week from today, and I will then publish all of my picks for postseason awards — as is my standard practice.

But not every one of the 126 voters makes his/her selections public. At least that is the way it has been in the past.

But this year, transparency rules. The Pro Basketball Writers Association and the NBA media relations office have come to an agreement under which all of the voters’ picks in every single category will be made public.

Too bad this didn’t happen a year ago, when we would have learned who had the gumption to vote for Jordan Crawford as Sixth Man of the Year. (The NBA even checked with the voter to see if he meant to select Jamal Crawford, and the voter responded ‘no.’ He actually felt the lesser Crawford was deserving).



The thing is, the Pro Basketball Writers Association includes most basketball newspapers columnists, that's why I've been tracking down alleged ballots coming from newspaper writers.

[BatManu20]

455035829468278784

[BatManu20]

Theoretically, he could win it every year, but they want to spread it around (and rightfully so). I think this year though Pop really does deserves it. 60+ win season with injuries to key players throughout the season, 19-game winning streak, two 10+ game winning streaks, and the best road record in the NBA. Thibs, Hornacek, Clifford, and a couple others are all up there and deserving, but I think it should be Pop's this year.

[LoneStarState'sPride]

The funniest part about all this is like Stein said, winning this award again would piss Pop off to no end :lol

[jARS mEsH sEt]

Only a small handful of coaches in NBA history have won COY 3 times. Once they elevate Pop to that status, they'll have the luxury of spreading COY around more even if Pop continues to succeed at a high level.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

The funniest part about all this is like Stein said, winning this award again would piss Pop off to no end :lol

Uhh, no. Pop was never "pissed off" from his previous COY awards. He's like any other regular, functioning human being who enjoys it when his work his recognized. He's certainly bashful about accepting the reward but that doesn't mean it "pisses him off."

[SupremeGuy]

Pop has been the best coach in all of basketball for over a decade, and his consistency might actually count against him. Nothing "sticks out" for him anymore.

[ElNono]

Only a small handful of coaches in NBA history have won COY 3 times. Once they elevate Pop to that status, they'll have the luxury of spreading COY around more even if Pop continues to succeed at a high level.

Pat Riley and Don Nelson are the only two coaches with that feat.

[LoneStarState'sPride]

Uhh, no. Pop was never "pissed off" from his previous COY awards. He's like any other regular, functioning human being who enjoys it when his work his recognized. He's certainly bashful about accepting the reward but that doesn't mean it "pisses him off."

I don't purport to know Pop personally, but IMHO he truly believes he's just doing what he's supposed to do when we wins, especially with the talent he acknowledges he has been blessed with. Not saying he doesn't appreciate his work being recognized, but he's notoriously self-effacing, and doesn't welcome the spotlight on himself when his profession is driven by perfecting a team sport.

Not saying he'll reject the award if he receives it or anything, or even that he'll be mad/insulted, but I think he would rather someone else's work be recognized for the reasons I just laid out.

Again, just my .02

[Spur|n|Austin]

I'd have to give serious consideration to Coach Bud. Everyone thought that when they let Josh Smith walk, that they were tanking. He's done a bang up job, and put in not only a system, but a culture.

Going to need more than culture and a changing system, but yeah consideration.

[jARS mEsH sEt]

I don't purport to know Pop personally, but IMHO he truly believes he's just doing what he's supposed to do when we wins, especially with the talent he acknowledges he has been blessed with. Not saying he doesn't appreciate his work being recognized, but he's notoriously self-effacing, and doesn't welcome the spotlight on himself when his profession is driven by perfecting a team sport.

Not saying he'll reject the award if he receives it or anything, or even that he'll be mad/insulted, but I think he would rather someone else's work be recognized for the reasons I just laid out.

Again, just my .02

I think a lot of that is just an act. The media has kind of painted this picture of Pop as being a sarcastic asshole who couldn't care less as to what other people think about him, but deep down he's just a regular guy and I'm sure he enjoys rewards just as much as the next guy. Granted, I do think he values championships more than regular season success or COY awards, and if he had the choice of giving up a COY award for a championship he'd do it in a heartbeat.

[sook]

easily COTY imo.

[EVAY]

1. Pop
2. Hornacek

[exstatic]

Going to need more than culture and a changing system, but yeah consideration.

They likely would have been a top 4 seed if Horford doesn't go down. No one expected them to even make the playoffs, and they did without their best player. When you're not a FA destination, you have to build from scratch, and culture is EVERYTHING. If your players don't buy in, it doesn't matter what system you bring with you. I'm picking them as Top 3 in the EC next year.

[wildbill2u]

So far we have Mark Stein (link (http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/_/id/2062/coach-of-the-year)) and Bill Simmons (link (http://grantland.com/features/nba-mailbag-this-is-the-end/)) revealing they've voted Pop for COTY...

If anybody spots more from the media, feel free to add here...

Simmons is one of the funniest sportswriters ever so I read the entire long posted article. If you delve down there are quite a few references to Spurs players and records that are quite good, including a question of whether Simmons would give up one of the Celtics titles if the Celtics had been able to get Duncan in the lottery pick that year.

[wildbill2u]

He probably won't win because some folks will think he's just repeating one successful year after another and it should go to some guy who moved his team from number 30 to number 25. He's widely considered to be the best coach in the NBA so folks think his teams SHOULD be winners. He has become a victim of his own success, not that he'll give a shit if he doesn't win. I think he'd be happy to see one of his friends win because it would encourage all coaches to do better.

[therealtruth]

No one thinks Thibedeau has a good shot after getting 47+ wins out of his team when his gangbanger point guard misses two years and management salary dumps a starter? I know the east is shit, but still.

I agree. I would like to see what Thibodeau could do with a couple of healthy superstars.

[Venti Quattro]

Pop and his zits have been great for SA. I can't remember any coach aside from him and Phil who never got fired after winning COY. Winning 6-ty games after last season's booboo is impressive.

He put himself in the best chance to undo his mistakes last June.

[Xylus]

I think Pop and Hornacek are easily the top 2 candidates for Coach of the Year. Hornacek will probably lose some votes, though, when his team misses out on the playoffs.

[EVAY]

I think Pop and Hornacek are easily the top 2 candidates for Coach of the Year. Hornacek will probably lose some votes, though, when his team misses out on the playoffs.


This, I think if Phoenix made the playoffs, Hornacek would get it for sure.

[manufan10]

David Aldridge also has Pop as COTY.

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/features/david_aldridge/04/14/morning-tip-nba-season-awards-picks-state-of-nonplayoff-teams-qa-with-brian-shaw/index.html

[Drom John]

Bo houston,tx [via mobile]

Yo tom... who is the coty in the nba? i like pop and brooks for it. but what about doc tom and the raptors coach?
Tom Haberstroh (2:48 PM)

Gimme Gregg Popovich. Duncan-Parker-Ginobili only saw the floor for 15% of the Spurs minutes and they could win 64 games. Insane.

[BillMc]

David Aldridge also has Pop as COTY.

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/features/david_aldridge/04/14/morning-tip-nba-season-awards-picks-state-of-nonplayoff-teams-qa-with-brian-shaw/index.html

Aldridge also had Marco as our best reserve. Marco was a nice addition, but he's not as important as Manu and perhaps even behind Boris and Patty. (Man we're deep!)

[Seventyniner]

David Aldridge also has Pop as COTY.

http://www.nba.com/2014/news/features/david_aldridge/04/14/morning-tip-nba-season-awards-picks-state-of-nonplayoff-teams-qa-with-brian-shaw/index.html

A great quote from that article:


Popovich's demands for excellence -- no matter who's on the floor -- never has anything to do with a given game. Rather, it is about the elusive, unattainable goal of beating the game of basketball itself.

[bklynspursfan]

Bo houston,tx [via mobile]

Yo tom... who is the coty in the nba? i like pop and brooks for it. but what about doc tom and the raptors coach?
Tom Haberstroh (2:48 PM)


Gimme Gregg Popovich. Duncan-Parker-Ginobili only saw the floor for 15% of the Spurs minutes and they could win 64 games. Insane.

:wow

[superbigtime]

It's gotta be Pop this year.

[manufan10]

Zach Lowe also has Pop as COTY. Has some good things to say about Ginobili also.

http://grantland.com/features/nba-awards-season/

[Shastafarian]

What a bunch of popsuckers. Is that the correct term? It sounds like a flavorful candy - pop flavored suckers. I'd buy Dr. Pepper for sure.

[dallasmaverickslose]

It'll probably be Pop now since the Suns missed the playoffs. However, it could also be the coach of the Raptors. Forgot his name.

[Purch]

Coach of the Year
1. Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs
2. Jeff Hornacek, Phoenix Suns
3. Steve Clifford, Charlotte Bobcats


Yesterday, I tweeted that the Spurs were the first team since the NBA-ABA merger not to have a single player average more than 30 minutes per game. (Tony Parker leads the team at 29.6 mpg.) According to the Elias Sports Bureau, they are in fact the first team in NBA history to make that claim. And, they posted the league's best record. That's pretty much all the argument necessary to name Pop coach of the year.


Hornacek's claim is the Suns exceeding expectations more than any team in recent NBA memory, while Clifford improved the Bobcats from last in defensive rating to sixth with Jefferson (a below-average defensive center) as the biggest change to the roster.




Kevin Pelton Espn Insider

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10795132/my-awards-ballot-2013-14-nba?addata=2009_insdr_mod_nba_xxx_xxx

[will_spurs]

I'm surprised to see Clifford or Bud are even considered for COY. As far as I'm concerned it's always been a 2-man race between Pop and Hornacek. Phoenix losing the last game of the season against their direct competitor for the 8th playoff spot in the West has killed Hornacek's chances, so Pop should win by a landslide.

[Purch]

Honestly, transforming the bobcats into a team with a winning culture, after the last couple years, is no laughing matter.
And as a Jazz fan let me tell you, being 5th in defensive rating, and 4th in points allowed, with Al Jefferson in the middle is a hell of an accomplishment. If you didn't notice Al is one of the worse pick and roll defenders in the league

[Venti Quattro]

Dwayne Casey is a strong contender. He coached the Raptors to 3rd seed in the East from nowhere. Remember that they started 7-12.

Thibs gets some strong consideration too. The Bulls started 9-16 and ended the season 39-18 to tie Toronto at 48-34.

If the Portland coach won 60 he would've been there too but they sorta fizzled out after a hot start.

Steve Clifford is a contender too because the Cats entered the playoffs with a winning record. The last time they entered the PO's they were like 8-10 games below .500 and got unceremoniously swept.

Let me note that what I'm posting are the possible contenders after Pop.

[exstatic]

Honestly, transforming the bobcats into a team with a winning culture, after the last couple years, is no laughing matter.
And as a Jazz fan let me tell you, being 5th in defensive rating, and 4th in points allowed, with Al Jefferson in the middle is a hell of an accomplishment. If you didn't notice Al is one of the worse pick and roll defenders in the league

We noticed. :lol Fortunately for the Hornet-Cats, Biyambo is basically a shut down rim defender.

[ElNono]

Congrats Pop :toast