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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.
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.
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.
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..
8th seed in the east is basically tanking
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
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 , but still.
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..
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...
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.
Pop is a given this season. The closest compe ion 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 le 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 cir stances they were dealt with. Brown especially did a reasonable job to rack some early wins and to enable them to tank like 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 ins ute 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.
Another vote for Pop from the NY Post:
http://nypost.com/2014/04/11/handing...-nba-hardware/
One more from the Minnesota Star Tribune:
http://m.startribune.com/sports/?id=255047171&c=y
Ira Winderman from the South Florida Sun Sentinel has Pop #2 behind Steve Clifford:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/m...,361170.column
Does this 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.
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.
The funniest part about all this is like Stein said, winning this award again would piss Pop off to no end
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.
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."The funniest part about all this is like Stein said, winning this award again would piss Pop off to no end
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.
Pat Riley and Don Nelson are the only two coaches with that feat.
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
Going to need more than culture and a changing system, but yeah consideration.
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