NBA: Top 10 candidates for Coach of the Year in 2019-20
By Phil Watson
The evolution of the NBA Coach of the Year award in recent years is a fascinating one, as voters have almost exclusively favored the coach of the best team.
The NBA Coach of the Year award hasn’t gone to a coach whose team won fewer than 50 games in more than a decade, as voters have trended recently toward rewarding the coach of the team with the best record.
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The last Coach of the Year from a middle-of-the-pack squad goes back to the 2006-07 season, when Sam Mitchell won the honor for leading the Toronto Raptors to a 20-win improvement, winning the Atlantic Division title (when division titles still, you know, mattered) with a 47-35 mark.
The winners since Mitchell have almost exclusively been with teams that finished no worse than fourth in the NBA in terms of overall record, with the lone exception of Scott Brooks of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2009-10 (his team finished 10th overall at 50-32 after winning just 23 games the previous season).
So when looking for the top contenders for NBA Coach of the Year in 2019-20, the search begins with the teams expected to finish at the top of the NBA heap.
Mike Budenholzer of the Milwaukee Bucks became a two-time Coach of the Year winner after leading the Bucks to their first 60-win campaign since 1981-82 in his first season on the job.
The leading contenders for the award will almost undoubtedly come from the teams expected to battle for the best record in the NBA, but there are some wild-card candidates out there who could emerge if their teams greatly exceed expectations.
Since the award was first handed out in 1962-63, only one coach as won it while coaching his team to a losing record. Red Kerr was named Coach of the Year in 1966-67 after leading the expansion Chicago Bulls to a 33-48 record and a playoff spot in their inaugural season.
There have been two winners from teams that finished at .500 — Hubie Brown with the Atlanta Hawks in 1977-78 and Doc Rivers with the Orlando Magic in 1999-2000.
So it’s likely a gaudy win total will be needed to take the trophy whenever the NBA decides to award it, like three or four months after the regular season has concluded.
Here are six candidates with a puncher’s chance of overachieving their way to the honor and the four likely to be in the elite top-four zone of consideration.