http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2822889&name=sheridan_chris Mitchell: He's been a lame duck all season, and many thought he wouldn't even make it through January. But Mitchell has had the Raptors clicking since the preseason, and they're nine games over .500 with nine to go -- easily making them the NBA's No. 1 team in terms of having exceeded expectations. There's a lot of chatter that Mitchell will end up coaching next season in Charlotte, with Suns assistant Marc Iavaroni getting the job in Toronto. Restrictions on Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo hiring anyone from the Suns expire on June 30. Johnson: Most of the credit for the Mavs' success has been bestowed on their best player, Nowitzki, but he isn't the one responsible for keeping them sharp night after night (they're 13-1 in the second game of back-to-backs). That task falls to Johnson, who reached 100 career victories (in 131 games) faster than any coach in NBA history. His career record of 137-36 (through Sunday) gives him a winning percentage of .792, dwarfing the next-best career mark of .703 by Phil Jackson, although it takes 400 games to qualify for the NBA's official career coaching victory leaders list. Sloan: In some years, awards turn into a referendum on someone's career accomplishments rather than reflecting on a single season, and there's a sentiment out there that Sloan has gone unrecognized for far too long. (His top assistant, Phil Johnson, was Coach of the Year in 1974-75 for the K.C.-Omaha Kings; and the co-host of Utah's pre-game radio broadcasts is Tom Nissalke, who won Coach of the Year in 1976-77 for Houston.) Best Sloan stat: The Jazz have rallied from 10-plus point deficits to win an NBA-high 16 times. Van Gundy: He has only had Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady together for 34 games (25-9), yet the Rockets are 21 games over .500, which represents a 15-victory improvement over where Houston was at this point a year ago. (Mitchell also has the Raptors 15 wins ahead of last year, while Sloan's Jazz are 13 victories better). Van Gundy is finishing up the last guaranteed season on his contract, and it's hard to see the Rockets not giving him an extension over the summer.
Do you know what the Rockets record is against the East? The East is a joke of a conference, COY and MVP should go to Western Conference teams.
all 4 of them are well-deserving candidates...however it seems like mitchell has the edge just bc he got the most out of the talent he has.
Who would we replace JVG with anyways? Larry Brown so he can leave the next year? no thx, JVG can stay!
No way, he is just a puppet of Colangelo. Have you heard that it was Colangelo who forced him to play Andrea Bargnani? AJ should not win, his team won the west last year, so even Mavs win the final this year, it's not that much an improvement - which is the award is all about.
Yeah mitchell was pretty JVGish with bargnani at the start of the year and colangelo had to step in to get bargnani some playing time, cause he told smitch if this was going to be a learning year, then we gain nothing by bargnani by not learning from playing. It comes down to smitch and sloan for the award.
I wouldn't have a problem with any of them winning the COY. However, I'm a bit iffy on Sloan because they're primarily doing it because he was denied in past seasons when he did deserve it. This is like the Oscars and they give the best Actor or whatever to an actor because that actor didn't get any in the past. In opinion, of the four, Sloan is third or last on that list. Mitchell's Raptors have exceeded expectations, but even though they could get second in the East, they may end up with about a 42 win record...meaning it isn't as impressive as it sounds. If Don Nelson's Warriors were in the East they'd be in a similar situation and Don would be a candidate for COY. I can see the Warriors getting a 42 win season easily. Why aren't we talking about Don if we're talking about Mitchell? JVG does a great job with the Rockets, but you still have to equate that most of those wins the Rockets have and will have will have come when T-Mac and Yao are both in the lineup. We only lost Yao for two months out of three and a half ( if you count playoffs ). If JVG is to be fully deserving of the COY candidate, the Rockets need to have a 60 win season ( which is impossible at this point ). Any coach with two dominant superstars need to be 60+ to be COY in my opinion. This is why I feel Avery should be COY again. He maximized everything he could out of the Mavs. Any normal coach would've gotten 55 wins out of that talent. Avery is pushing 70 wins given a full powered team. That's amazing.
I have trouble with Mitchell as well because his team improved greatly with Colangelo so quickly reshaping the team. It was him and only him that brought in Bargnani, Garbajosa, Anthony Parker, and Nesterovic (I know, he sucks) and probably even TJ Ford since he wanted that kind of running, distributing PG. I don't think the "Coach of the Year" should come from the team with the "GM of the Year" if we are just talking about how the Raptors are better this year than last. Similarly you shouldn't say JVG is COY because the Rockets are 15 games better than last year. JVG should be considered for what he has done without TMac, Yao and, to a lesser extent, Bonzi and Snyder. And I think the Rockets this year embody their coach's philosophy more than any other team (the Suns are different - they were built with the coach). My money is on Avery, though, because of the great year the Mavs are having.
sam mitchell is actually one of the worse coaches in this league. the award should go to avery johnson, jerry sloan or jeff van gundy. jvg is a distant third, though, and jerry sloan is only closer to avery because of what ricedaddy7 said.
I would first break it down to two best suitable COY. Mitchell and JVG then look at all they have accomplished with the group of players coach had to work with throughout the season in good times and bad. (including injuries) then I would look at the conferences each coach belongs to since there is a BIG difference between the two conferences. having done that then I would determine who gets the COY I say JVG
Allow me to correct myself. The Raptors have already won 41 games, so they're on the way to a 47, 48 win season.
