Coach of the Year
George Karl, Denver Nuggets
Karl
The Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year races were such gimmes that I feel guilty launching into my usual whiny lament about how complicated the Coach of the Year equation is.
Not that the guilt stopped me from whining away Thursday via my Twitter feed.
It's as true in 2012-13 as it's ever been: There are several potential outcomes here that you'd totally embrace with when reigning COY Gregg Popovich has had three best players together for only 45 games and is still threatening to usher San Antonio to the top seed out West. And when Mike Woodson is getting more out of Melo and the enigmatic J.R. Smith than any coach before him and has thus managed to steer the Knicks, through countless injuries, to their first division title since 1994. And when Mark Jackson has helped change the culture in Golden State, even without projected defensive anchor Andrew Bogut and key reserve Brandon Rush for much or all of the season, to guide the Warriors back to the playoffs for just the third time in the past two decades.
All Erik Spoelstra did in Miami, meanwhile, is oversee a 27-game winning streak and play his part in keeping a bunch of big-time personalities in Miami connected, selfless and locked in at a time of the season when the defending champs were widely presumed to have absolutely nothing to play for.
We could go on and on but don't really have the room. There just isn't the time or space to dig deeply into the good work in the face of various health crises submitted by Indiana's Frank Vogel, Chicago's Tom Thibodeau or Boston's Doc Rivers in the East ... or the withering team D coming from all three of those teams. Ditto for four more good coaching jobs going well under the radar out West: Oklahoma City's Scotty Brooks, Memphis' Lionel Hollins, Houston's Kevin McHale and Dallas' Rick Carlisle.
But that's because the focus, from here, rightly shifts to Karl, who has the Nuggets in prime position to snag the West's No. 3 seed despite the fact that Denver has no All-Star -- let alone a superstar -- and has seen its two top scoring threats (Ty Lawson andDanilo Gallinari) go down with serious injuries.
By dragging Denver through an outrageously difficult early schedule and then turning a group of mostly good-but-not-great players into legit contenders fueled by their boundless energy and good chemistry, Karl has established himself as the Nuggets' star, alongside the young front-office whiz Masai Ujiri who put this team together.
Lawson's health, as much as anything, figures to determine what sort of playoff team Denver can be, but the best regular season in the Nuggets' NBA history has enabled Karl, by the slimmest of margins, to prevent Pop from a COY repeat.
Stein's ballot: 1. George Karl; 2. Gregg Popovich; 3. Woodson
http://espn.go.com/n...3/awards-ballot
(emphasis added)
Overall, I think I agree. I think George Karl is a great coach, and in the past, he's always suffered from the 'being in the middle' syndrome where his team's weren't so good that they were dominating the conference, but not so bad that he could 'coach them up' to seem better, if you will. But I think DEN has done exceptionally well this yr, and it almost feels like George Karl is owe his due as he has never won once! lol.
But this is definitely a tougher award to decide than say league MVP or ROY.