ESPN has Lawrence Frank as the frontrunner for COTY

[Adam1221]

Mike Brown has done an excellent job but with a roster that's clearly capable of doing an excellent job, I dont think that's COTY material.
Lawrence Frank on the other hand THIS YEAR has done an absulotley amazing job, no one gave his team a chance and yet here we are 20 games into the season and the Nets look great (and a big part of it is the new Memphis offense Frank introduced to take advantage of his excellent slashers in Devin and Vince) he took a young team with clear rebuilding plans into a very respectable position.

[Mahoney_jr]

Lawrence Frank on the other hand THIS YEAR has done an absulotley amazing job, no one gave his team a chance and yet here we are 20 games into the season and the Nets look great (and a big part of it is the new Memphis offense Frank introduced to take advantage of his excellent slashers in Devin and Vince) he took a young team with clear rebuilding plans into a very respectable position.

There are teams like the Nets of 08/09 every year. I think the step from good to great is more challenging than from the bottom to the lower playoff rankings as you can benefit more from turmoils of other teams.

[tsherkin]

Mike Brown has done an excellent job but with a roster that's clearly capable of doing an excellent job, I dont think that's COTY material.
Lawrence Frank on the other hand THIS YEAR has done an absulotley amazing job, no one gave his team a chance and yet here we are 20 games into the season and the Nets look great (and a big part of it is the new Memphis offense Frank introduced to take advantage of his excellent slashers in Devin and Vince) he took a young team with clear rebuilding plans into a very respectable position.

I don't think that rewarding a coach for making a horrible-to-mediocre team into a solid playoff team is really a COY-worthy event; but, like so many of the other awards in the NBA, it's ill-defined.

More importantly, though, if you look at how it was historically awarded versus now, the award (again, like others) has gone from rewarding excellence to recognizing inspired mediocrity, which is a shame.

[HarlemHeat37]

Mike Brown actually calls Pop on a monthly(maybe more frequent, actually) basis for advice..he did it all the time last season..obviously getting advice from the best coach in the NBA helps..just a little..

[tsherkin]

Brown definitely benefits in that regard, but still, it makes him a better coach. Pops certainly doesn't do Brown's in-game coaching for him. I must reiterate that I (who was very critical of this flaw earlier in his career) am EXTREMELY impressed with Brown's development as a coach on the offensive end of the floor. He's made leaps and bounds of improvement there.

[Kefa461]

Doc Rivers.....Won the Title last year....Best record so far this year.....Coach of the Month both months so far.......Who has coached better????

http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/press12 ... coach.html



So Rivers wins the Award for the 1st 2 months over Franks but Franks is the front runner for COTY. That's Espn for ya

[Hydroponic3385]

Mike Brown deserves credit for more than just the Cavs' record.

1) Unlike previous years, he has found a set rotation that has been working and he's stuck to it.
2) He's shown that when he has an actual PG to work with, his offensive coaching is actually good.
3) What I view as most important for Brown, he's finally ended the Cavs' HORRIBLE 3rd quarters (we'd ALWAYS get beaten in 3rd quarters in the past) and we've been dominating teams in the 3rd. I really believe that he's improved a ton with making changes during the course of the game. And making other teams play at the Cavs' pace.

Having said that, it's far too early to make realistic guesses at COTY.