Who do you see winning Coach of the Year?

[chaimer]

Give your predictions on who will win Coach of the Year award this season.

[Saint_Killa]

Coin toss between Billy Donovan and Taylor Jenkins

[yoyoboy]

My vote would go to Jenkins, Kerr, or Spo.

[Bologna Smasher]

Bickerstaff.

Jenkins is doing just as well, but their roster is a lot better than the Cavs'. Grizzlies already showed they were a team on the rise last year, nobody expected the Cavs to be doing what they're currently doing.

[SoulJah]

Jenkins or Bickerstaff

[JB2]

Kerr, Williams, Bickerstaff, Jenkins, and Donovan seem to be the top 5.

Hard to vote against JB or Taylor.

[BigGargamel]

Should be Monty Williams again, but it won't be.

[rand]

Has to be Monty this time

[cupcakesnake]

Donovan and Jenkins have their teams playing way beyond expectations. That is usually what wins the award (how's Thibs doing lately?)

My vote is for Jenkins. Not just because Memphis is beating expectations but because he built this team and their style over the past 3 years and now that work is bearing fruit. Memphis guys play aggressive and everyone is empowered to attack. On top of that, Memphis focuses on the details and wins the possession battle every night by forcing turnovers, avoiding turnovers of their own, and winning the rebounding battles. Memphis kept playing well even when Jah was out because of these principles. Young players have developed well in Memphis, and plenty of vets have had career breakthroughs there (Valanciunas, Kyle Anderson) That seems like plenty of visible evidence that Jenkins is doing a great job.

Donovan has also been a genius this year in Chicago. He'll likely get less credit since Chicago made so made additions (Demar, Ball, Caruso), but Donovan has really optimized this team on both ends.

Kerr deserves credit for getting Golden State back to their winning ways, but to me this year is more about the front office moves and the health finally improving.

Don't look now, but the Miami Heat are 27-16, are top 10 on both ends, and have done it all with Butler and Bam missing more than half the season so far. Spo is also a consensus top 3 coach now for years.

My ballot would be:
1. Jenkins
2. Spo
3. Donovan
4. Nurse
5. Monty

also considering Lue and Finch. Lue has kept the Clippers in the playoff race without Kawhi (and now George is out too). Finch got this T-Wolves roster to play defense.

[kenwood3333]

Whoever coaching the Grizz.

[Else_where]

i don't even think coaches do care, it's just a silly award.

[Statlanta]

JB Bickerstaff

[yoyoboy]

People are saying Bickerstaff but I’m guessing a lot of you guys haven’t watched the Cavs all that much this season and are saying that mainly because of the surprise factor. I don’t think coach of the year should be as simple as: which team has the biggest difference between expected wins and actual wins? And then whatever team it is has the coach of the year.

JBB gets guys to play hard so he’s no doubt doing a decent job this year, but his X’s and O’s, rotations, and game management leave a lot to be desired. Sure we’re doing a lot better than everyone thought we would, but a lot of factors have played into that. Garland took that next step to All-Star level. Allen is playing the best ball of his career which is All-Star level. Mobley stepped in as an immediate impact player and is leading the ROTY race. Love is actually giving effort now that he’s on a winning team. Sexton getting injured improved team chemistry. Rubio before he went down was awesome for this team. Cedi is doing a lot better now that he can be in a smaller role instead of having to be more of a ballhandler in previous years.

Bickerstaff definitely deserves some credit for the success of this team but there are 4-5 bigger reasons for it. This team still inexcusably sacrifices a possession to a 5 second inbounding violation almost every other game. Bickerstaff still had inconsistent rotations where Windler or Wade will get major minutes one game and then ride the pine for like 3-4 straight nights. Even during games when we could use them. He still puts out very questionable lineups at points that have led to bad stretches which lost us games, usually because he’s in love with his “defensive stoppers” in Okoro and Stevens. This team has no offensive system whatsoever outside of “give the ball to Garland and have him run PnR” and Garland is the only one who really moves without the ball. Rubio manning the backup position allowed this team to play 48 minutes a night with high quality offensive orchestration, and without him, JBB’s weaknesses as an offensive coach show themselves more.

[BadWolf]

A lot of solid candidates

Donovan is the front runner right now, if he wins the east he should win COTY.
Bickerstaff is also a worthy candidate.
The guy in Memphis, Jenkins iirc, also.
Then you have your top teams with great coaches in Phoenix and Golden State.
Spoelstra could make a run too.

[Scalabrine]

You should put a poll in this; Bickerstaff, Jenkins, Donovan should be at the top of this list.

Spo and Nash have led some teams that were projected to be favorites but have dealt with a ton of roster turnover, and injuries, and in Nash's case, drama. If you told me that Butler and Bam would both miss more than half the teams games, Lowry would be averaging his lowest PPG in 12 seasons (back to when he was coming off the bench), I would

Kerr and Williams should be in the discussion too.

[Rockazoids]

I would vote Jenkins with Memphis too.

[Badonkadonk]

I'd guess Jenkins and Donovan are frontrunners.

Spo, Nurse and Monty impress me the most though.

[LivingLegend]

The guy who took a team that was projected to be the worst team in the NBA this year to the 4th-6th seed in EC

[timO]

Grizz coach

[cool007]

If Bulls can somehow stay at the 1st seed then Billy Donovan would have a chance to win it.

If Grizzlies can be a 3rd seed team by the end of the season then Jenkins would have a great chance to win it.

3rd would be Heat if they are at the 1st or 2nd seed at the end of the year.

If all 3 happens then I won't be mad at whoever wins from there.