As you know, these rankings are in no way official. They're just the personal opinion of the author. Here are your inaugural Coach of the Year rankings, from five to one: No. 5: Nate McMillan, Portland Trail Blazers, 30-28, 10th in the Western Conference Why he's here: This initial top-five ranking for coach McMillan is a cursory one. If we had started these earlier in the season, McMillan would have been at the top of this list. But injuries to James Jones and now Brandon Roy have stalled the Blazers, who are 4-9 in February. Coach McMillan probably won't be in the top five next week, but we wanted recognize the job he did in the season's first half. No. 4: Rick Adelman, Houston Rockets, 37-20, seventh in the Western Conference Why he's here: My pre-season pick for Coach of the Year, Adelman has had the Rockets on a roll, winning 13 in a row. He survived Tracy McGrady missing his annual 17 games, can Adelman survive losing Yao for the rest of the season and the playoffs, if the Rockets get there? If Houston does make it to the postseason without their 7-6 center, Adelman deserves serious consideration for the Red Auerbach trophy. No. 3: Doc Rivers, Boston Celtics, 44-12, first in the Eastern Conference Why he's here: Could he bring the Auerbach trophy back to Boston for the first time since Bill Fitch did it in 1979-80? Rivers, who won the award in 1999-2000 when he was with the Magic, was the front-runner for the award through the first three months of the season. But the Celtics have cooled from their record pace, and the Pistons are within three games of the No. 1 seed in the East. No. 2: Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers, 41-17, first in the Western Conference Why he's here: To be the top seed in one of the most brutal conference races in NBA history should get some recognition. Jackson started the season with a petulant Kobe Bryant, a green 20-year-old center in Andrew Bynum and plenty of question marks. Since then, Bryant just played, Bynum emerged and the Lakers thrived. Then Bynum went down. The Lakers managed to stay afloat. Enter Pau Gasol via trade. The Lakers are 13-1 since Gasol's arrival, a testament to Gasol's talent and Jackson's ability to put a new player in a position to succeed. This season may be Jackson's finest in a Hall of Fame career. If the Lakers remain the No. 1 seed in the West, then it'll be difficult to deny Jackson his second COTY award . No. 1: Byron Scott, New Orleans Hornets, 38-18, third in the Western Conference Why he's here: OK, who, before the season, thought the Hornets would be in the thick of the race for the Western Conference's top seed?
Hah, Doc Rivers at 3rd. I think a lot of people could do pretty good with KG, Ray Allen, and Paul P. The rest is accurate though.
I have forgot pasting where is this article from. The link: http://my.nba.com/thread.jspa?threadID=300026718
And the award goes to.... RICK "The coach who got the Rockets out of first round without Yao Ming" Adelman!!!!! and the crowd goes loud, red rowdies jump all over Adelman!!!
Why does phil jackson get 2nd? He would be nowhere close if Memphis hadn't basically given them an all-star center (Gasol) for free.
coy can often be a curse. just look at the ones who have won lately. many of them, either his team got hit in some way or himself gets fired the next year or so. so no, don't want adelman to win it (at least not when he's with the rockets). i say give it to phil jackson. it's about time for him and the lakers...
Before Gasol joined his team was still doing decently, with a malcontent Kobe and a bunch of no names. Bynum was injured and was coming alive before that and their team was running better and better, so I guess Lakers would still seed 5-8 in a tough western conference without that trade (or steal, or collusion), so Jackson does deserve so credit. BTW, you need good players to get coach of year anyway.
Any list that fails to include Sam Mitchell, Flip Saunders, Reggie Theus, and Tom Thibodeaux is a joke.
Rick deserve the Trophy he lead a team that only strong on defense to be the best team in both defense and offense. Especially now we still are playing well without one of our super star Yao and we had a perfect month record. I have a feeling that this is our year but Yao got injured that will make it so dificult to fulfill that dream since the playoff is the half court offense for evey team.
You can't give it to Rick Adelman yet. Currently we are the 7th seed. We have not improved within our conference.
don't they give out coach of the year during the 1st round series? if so... i doubt he'll win, unless we go to 1st place in the standing without yao.
