NBA Awards Watch: Kevin Durant Injury Changes MVP Race
By Phil Watson
Coach of the Year
February did not shuffle the decks in the Coach of the Year race, as the frontrunner maintained a healthy edge over the next two contenders.
What I look for here is over-achievement, coaches of teams that have gone well above what was expected when the season started.
While I realize that bucks the recent trend of “give the trophy to the guy with the most wins” voting, sometimes the best coaching jobs are done out of the glare of first place.
In the conversation: Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs; Mike Budenholzer, Atlanta Hawks; Quin Snyder, Utah Jazz.
3. Scott Brooks, Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards rolled through the All-Star break-shortened month of February with a 7-3 mark and are now 29-12 since their dreadful 6-11 opening act.
Washington Wizards
Scott Brooks has some added weaponry after the trade deadline, with the Wizards adding wing Bojan Bogdanovic from the Brooklyn Nets, and reports circulating on Wednesday that Brandon Jennings with sign with the club to back up John Wall after clearing waivers.
Those additions will bolster a bench unit that has been among the NBA’s worst and lessen a load on a starting five that has answered the call.
Brooks did a terrific job of scrapping the initial rotation plan after Washington got off to such a terrible start, shortening the bench, marginalizing several players the team invested large piles of cash to sign in the offseason and riding his starters to the tune of the most minutes of any starting unit in the NBA.
It worked. With 24 games remaining, the Wizards are third in the Eastern Conference and within striking distance (two games back) of the second-place Boston Celtics.
Brooks is a previous Coach of the Year winning, earning the award in his first full season at the helm with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009-10.
2. David Fizdale, Memphis Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies didn’t make up any ground on the West’s top four in February, going 7-4, but they didn’t lose any, either.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies are locked in an air-tight clump in the middle of the conference, ending the month at 36-25 and in sixth place.
That has them in a middle of a group of four squads–Utah, the Clippers, Memphis and Oklahoma City–that is separated by just two games between fourth and seventh in the West, so there’s a lot on the line as the season winds down.
David Fizdale’s first year as a head coach hasn’t been without challenges. He inherited a slow, aging team that didn’t shoot much from three-point range and didn’t do it well, either.
They’re still old, they’re still slow, but they are not unwilling to launch from deep now. Their attempts are up 40.6 percent from a year ago–from 18.5 to 26.1–and the Grizzlies are making 35.4 percent compared to just 33.1 percent in 2015-16.
And they’ve done it while improving their defensive rating from 107.8 to 106.0. Granted, they’ve been healthier than last season. Then again, that was a very low bar.
Fizdale’s system has turned Marc Gasol into a 20-point-a-game scorer and has Mike Conley on the cusp of being one. Conley is now a 41 percent shooter from long range and Gasol is nearly at 40 percent on 3.7 attempts a game.
Not quite the same old Grit ‘N’ Grind, but it’s getting results. So it’s worth asking yet again, why did it take Fizdale 13 years to get a head-coaching opportunity?
1. Mike D’Antoni, Houston Rockets
The greatest redemption story since Isaac and Abraham is probably overselling the job Mike D’Antoni has done with the Houston Rockets this season, but after being written off following high-profile flops in New York and Los Angeles, D’Antoni is getting the last laugh.
Houston Rockets
The Rockets’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday was the team’s 42nd of the season, exceeding last year’s total in just their 60th game. Not a bad turnaround.
Houston ended February 42-19, third in the West after a 6-3 February. The Rockets are unlikely to catch the second-place San Antonio Spurs, but are likewise unlikely to be caught by any of the teams chasing fourth place.
A season after just eking into the eighth spot under an interim coach, that is a tremendous turnaround and D’Antoni has done it with a turned-over roster that will likely net general manager Daryl Morey serious consideration as Executive of the Year.
D’Antoni is playing the pace he loves to employ, a 99.5 possessions per game clip that is third-fastest in the league, and Houston is on pace to shatter NBA records for three-pointers made and attempted, averaging 14.6 makes and 40.4 takes per game.
The surprising aspect is that the Rockets are doing all that scoring while maintaining a defensive rating in the top half of the NBA (108.2 points per 100 possessions, good for 15th in the league).
Barring a monumental collapse over the final 21 games, that should be enough to net D’Antoni a second Coach of the Year award to go with the one he captured with the Phoenix Suns in 2004-05.