Race to Coach of the Year By Dave McMenamin Posted Apr 12 2007 1:56PM SECAUCUS, N.J., April 12 -- There are two roads you can take when it comes to voting for the Coach of the Year. On your right, there is Phil Jackson Way. This will lead you to a cul de sac full of mansions inhabited by more-than 65 game winners like Jackson (Chicago, 72-10 in '95-96), Tom Heinsohn (Boston, 68-14 in '72-73) and Bill Sharman (L.A. Lakers, 69-13 in '71-72). Take a left and you're driving down Hubie Brown Boulevard. This will lead you to a city block full of row homes filled with less-than 45 game winners like Hubie (the 41-41 with Atlanta in '77-78, not the 50-32 with Memphis in '03-04), Doc Rivers (Orlando, 41-41 in '99-00), Gene Shue (Washington, 43-29 in '81-82), Johny Kerr (Chicago, 33-48 in '66-67) and Phil Johnson (Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 44-38 in '74-75). What's more impressive; out-right dominance or turning a team around? The challenge for a coach that establishes his team as the best in the league is carrying the bullseye on his back all season. Every opponent steps it up a level to gauge their abilities against the best and road arenas become trecherous places to play. Plus, motivating a team to keep up the intensity when they have a 10-game lead in their division by the All-Star break is no easy task. The challenge for a coach that takes his team from the lottery to the playoff contention is changing a culture of losing and getting his players to believe in themselves. His greatest accomplishment is instilling the confidence needed to walk out onto the court and think, "We're supposed to win this game, we're going to win this game," before the ball is even tipped. And, of course, x-factors like having a core of young players versus older vets, or dealing with injuries to star players can gain brownie points for a coach in either scenario. With all that being said, here is how I think the voting should go who gets the Red Auerbach Trophy for the seaon that started with Red smoking his last cigar: 1. Jeff Van Gundy, Houston - Record (as of April 12): 50-29 - Last Season's Record: 34-48 - Improvement: +16 Van Gundy has steered the Rockets to the fourth-best record in the West with Yao Ming out for 33 games and Tracy McGrady out for 11 games with injuries. Houston fans expected results this season after an underwhelming 2005-06 campaign and Van Gundy delivered, even with the Bonzi Wells situation hanging over the team. JVG successfully integrated free agent Shane Battier into the mix and had the foresight to rely heavily on unheralded second-year forward Chuck Hayes. Van Gundy got his team to beat the teams they were supposed to beat for the most part and to perform consistently on the road -- their 24 road wins are fifth most in the league. 2. Avery Johnson, Dallas - Record (as of April 12): 65-13 - Last Season's Record: 60-22 - Improvement: +5 If the Mavericks win out, their 69-13 record will be tied with the '71-72 Lakers and the '96-97 Bulls for the second-best regular season mark of all time. Hard to argue with that. But even so, that would be a nine-game improvement since last year, as opposed to the Rockets' potential for a nineteen-game improvement if they win out. Give Avery Johnson a ton of credit for augmenting his team's mental toughness. After their 0-4 tailspin they went into after being up 2-0 in The Finals, the hangover carried over into this season when Dallas started off 0-4, but Johnson and his squad reeled of win streaks of 12, 13 and 17 games (not to mention eight and nine game ones as well). Johnson won the Coach of the Year last season, his first full campaign as the head honcho in Dallas after taking over for Don Nelson. Although he is close this year, I don't think Johnson is worthy of becoming the first-ever back-to-back Coach of the Year winner with the season Van Gundy has had. 3. Sam Mitchell, Raptors 4. Jerry Sloan, Utah 5. Scott Skiles, Chicago URL link: http://www.nba.com/features/coach_070411.html _______________________________________________________ JVG !!! Pretty nice stuff, Jeff!
Wow... after that bad streak right before Yao came back I figured JVG was out of contention. I think its between Avery and JVG though now that I think about it. Avery's team has set "records" with this season all over the place. First team to record 3 12 game winning streaks, potentially getting the 2nd best record in the history of the game. And doing it in a strong western confrence. But on the other hand, they were just at the finals last year. On the other hand, I think most people will realize that the 16 game improvement was really just a result of being the most injured team last year (an average of 3.5 players gone per game). It's not like we were the Raptors last year and turned it around. Speaking of, if the Raptors coach wins it, I'm shooting someone. The GM is the real genius of that organization.
Wow. Thanks for the read. Regardless of what you might think of Van Gundy as coach of the Rockets, it's hard to argue with this assessment, IMO.
How will JVG haters respond? My guess -- they'll be happy. The last time a Rockets coach won Coach of the Year, we fired him the very next season.
i don't care jvg is coach of the year or the century...if we don't go to the 2nd round ATLEAST...i am going to be furious.
I agree. I don't think JVG will win COY, but I see no valid reason he shouldn't. I could criticize JVG all day about decisions he's made and things he's said, but the bottom line is we're in the perfect spot in the 5th seed to win a playoff series. After that... I think JVG will decide if he wants to coach here, or just wants one more shot. He deserves that, period. Yet I still see us a couple of years away from being a true contender and I believe JVG has impeded progress with the "win now" mandate, and our "window" with T-Mac/Yao keeps shrinking. I felt the team two years ago could beat anyone (I still don't understand why JVG couldn't see Sura, Wesley & Barry breaking down) but this year I see Rafer and Hayes as being key to us even beating Utah. Ugh.
JVG has done an awesome job this year keeping this team together despite injuries and distractions (see Bonzi Wells). I'm not sure he'd win, but he should be right up there with the best right now.
if he wins coach of the year and loses in the 1st round of the playoffs. he will be the 1st COY fired after winning the award. man i cant believe JVG is getting so much credit. I would be psyched if JVG won COY.
I bet my life JVG won't be COY, there are more coaches deserving than JVG. I got to admit, I've never like his style, he is too easy on Rafer while hardass on others like Vspan, Snider, or Bonzi... No fair treatment, I am assure you he'll get fire if you pass the 1st round...
Technically it's the 5th seed since Utah won their division. We still get HCA though if we maintain our lead.
