Tag: nba coach of the year

Mark Daigneault finishes No. 2 in Coach of the Year voting

Mark Daigneault finished second in COTY voting.

The NBA announced its 2022-23 regular season Coach of the Year winner on Wednesday. Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown won the award.

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault finished second in the voting with 164 points. Brown had 500 points, and Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla had 77 points in third place.

Daigneault received 48 second-place votes and 20 third-place votes. He led the overachieving Thunder to a 40-42 regular season record and a 1-1 play-in tournament record.

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It’s not too surprising to see Daigneault finish second in voting. He was named one of the three finalists for the award. Daigneault also admitted he had voted for Brown as NBCA’s Coach of the Year.

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2022-23 NBA award finalists: 3 OKC Thunder candidates named

Which of the three do you think has the best shot to win their respective award?

The NBA announced its finalists for the 2022-23 regular season awards and there is a trio of Oklahoma City Thunder candidates named for three separate races.

The league announced finalists for all of its seven awards on TNT prior to the start of the play-in tournament games that will determine the No. 8 seed in each conference.

As a reminder, the seven awards include MVP, Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Clutch Player of the Year.

Let’s look at which the Thunder have a representative of as they prepare to play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the last play-in tournament game of the season.

Mark Daigneault reveals who he voted for Coach of the Year

Mark Daigneault revealed who he voted for in the NBCA’s Coach of the Year award.

Following Monday’s practice, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault revealed who he voted for Coach of the Year.

“I voted for Mike Brown,” Daigneault said.

“That team has not made the playoffs in a long time, and I think because of that, there was an external stigma that existed around that team.

“I really admire the energy he brought to that job when he got the job. Because it wasn’t just a matter of going somewhere and maximizing the personnel. I thought he really brought the swagger and confidence to a group and to an organization that — externally at least —  looks like it needed it because they haven’t made the playoffs in a long time and it’s been kinda a punchline and he’s leaned right into that.

“I have a lot of admiration for kinda the cultural flip that he’s been able to do there because they carry themselves with great confidence and that’s who I voted for. I mean no slight on the other great coaches who’s had great years but I have a particular admiration for the way he’s gone about it this year.”

Just to clarify — Daigneault has a vote for the NBCA Coach of the Year. This is the coaches’ association’s version of the award. The primary Coach of the Year award is voted by the media.

Brown will likely win both versions of the award, however, since he has helped the Sacramento Kings make their first playoff appearance since 2006.

In his first season as head coach, the Kings (47-31) will likely earn the third seed in the Western Conference.

This is pretty high praise for Brown from the probable runner-up for Coach of the Year, who has coached the Thunder (38-41) to a probable play-in berth after being widely predicted to finish with one of the worst records in the league for a third consecutive season.

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NBA awards odds entering the 2022-23 season: Luka Doncic is favored to take home the MVP

Top 10 odds for every award entering the NBA season.

Bookmark this link. It’ll make for a fun exercise at the end of the NBA season to go back and see how wrong (or right?!) bookmakers were about awards in 2022-23.

This is a peek at top 10 odds for MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player and Coach of the Year.

We all think we have a handle on where things are headed, but how many people are willing to put their money on it? These odds from BetMGM show just how much money your opinions are worth.

(Odds are from before the season-opening games Tuesday.)

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Celtics’ Ime Udoka come sin fourth overall in 2022 Coach of the Year award voting

Monty Williams of the Phoenix Suns took home the hardware.

Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka might not have won the 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year (COTY) award in his first season at the helm of the Celtics, but he did not land too far from the top of the voting, which was ultimately won by Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams, who led all candidates with 81 first-place votes and a total of 458 votes.

Udoka came in fourth overall with a single first-place vote and 46 total points, trailing coach Taylor Jenkins of the Memphis Grizzlies (17 first-place votes and 270 total points) and the Miami Heat’s Eric Spoelstra (1 first-place vote, 72 total points) among the other top vote-getters.

With a solid foundation to work with, we suspect this will not be the last time we see the new Celtics coach near or at the top of the COTY voting, Udoka looking like one of the better coaches in the league just months after getting elevated to a head coaching position.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Boston Celtics’ Marcus Smart makes cut as finalist for 2022 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award

The Flower Mound native is one of three candidates for the award.

The NBA has announced the finalists for its end-of-season awards for the 2021-22 season, and veteran Boston Celtics point guard Marcus Smart has officially made the cut as one of the three finalists for its Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award according the league.

Per the NBA, Smart is one of a trio of finalists for the 2022 DPOY award along with perennial Utah Jazz big man candidate Rudy Gobert and Phoenix Suns wing Mikal Bridges. Smart has real momentum to become the first non-frontcourt player to win the award since fellow Celtics alum Gary Payton, Sr. did in 1996, a drought lasting a quarter of a century.

Among the categories listed (DPOY, Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year), no other Celtics were listed.

And while the majority of those awards were rightly outside of the reach of the members of the Boston-based franchise, there was at least a solid case for Celtics head coach Ime Udoka to be in the mix for Coach of the Year.

Instead, that race has been trimmed down to Taylor Jenkins of the Memphis Grizzlies, Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat, and Monty Williams of the Phoenix Suns.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Ime Udoka, Marcus Smart rate well but win no 2022 hardware for Celtics season in new USA TODAY panel projection

The panel of analysts are not so bullish on the Boston duo.

The Boston Celtics saw two members of the organization finish with relatively solid showings in two end-of-season award races in a new projection on NBA awards for the 2021-22 season put together by author Bryan Kalbrosky of our sister site For The Win.

While neither would end up taking home the trophy in their respective award categories, head coach Ime Udoka and veteran point guard Marcus Smart were held in high regard for the 2022 Coach of the Year (COTY) and Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) races by the USA TODAY analyst panel quizzed by Kalbrosky. The FTW author modeled his projection on the actual award process as much as he could and came up with some surprising results.

Let’s take a look at where Udoka and Smart finished.

What other awards might be in the mix for the Boston Celtics besides Defensive Player of the Year?

Several could conceivably be in play.

There are at least four honors handed out at the end of an NBA season that current members of the Boston Celtics organization should realistically at least be in the running for, if not outright favorites to win. Executive of the Year (EOTY) for President of Basketball Operations Brad Stevens, Coach of the Year (COTY) for Celtics head coach Ime Udoka, All-Defense for rising big man Robert Williams III, and All-NBA for superstar forward Jayson Tatum are the four which might just be nabbed by Celtics this year

And that’s not even considering the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) for veteran Boston point guard Marcus Smart, who is currently the odds-on favorite to win the award.

Host of the regular NBC Sports Boston “Forsberg’s Four” segment Chris Forsberg lays out a case for each n a new video put together to stump for the hometown team’s chances to take home some hardware after an amazing midseason turnaround.

Watch the clip embedded above to hear why Boston ought to be considered for All-Defense, All-NBA, EOTY, and COTY on top of Smart’s ironclad case for DPOY.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Should Celtics’ Ime Udoka win coach of the year after guiding improbable turnaround?

Or is the field too strong this season?

While there are certainly as many viable candidates for the award as any season in recent memory, little by little there seems to be a case for Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka to win the NBA’s Coach of the Year award for the 2021-22 season given the magnitude of the Celtics’ mid-season turnaround under his tenure.

From a 17 – 19 start to legitimately challenging to finish with the first seed heading into the 2022 NBA Playoffs, very few coaches have done more in less time than the Portland, Oregon native — but there have also been some very impressive seasons to contend with as well.

The hosts of the NBC Sports Boston podcast “Celtics Talk” Chris Forsberg and Amina Smith debated the merits of Udoka’s case for Coach of the Year in a recent episode, as well as star forward Jayson Tatum’s growth this season and more.

Check out the clip embedded above to hear their take on Udoka’s odds to win the coveted coaching honor along with a number of current topics.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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WATCH: Is Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka a legitimate NBA Coach of the Year candidate?

Or do he and his team both need to accomplish more to be in that elite company?

After Ime Udoka’s brilliant second-half performance adjusting against the Brooklyn Nets with surprise blitzing of star forward Kevin Durant in the Boston Celtics’ impressive 126 – 120 win against the Nets at TD Garden Sunday afternoon, rumbles of whether the rookie head coach might legitimately be an NBA 2022 Coach of the Year candidate have begun to percolate up.

Udoka transformed one of the most maddeningly average squads in the league on both ends of the court into the league’s best defense and a top-10 offense, making the Celtics into credible title contenders in the months of January and February after the team’s rough start to close out 2021.

The hosts of the CLNS Media podcast “Celtics Beat” Adam Kaufman was recently joined by the voice of the Boston Celtics Radio Network, Sean Grande, as a guest and the two discussed Udoka’s coaching job and how it ought to be seen by analysts in the race for that particular piece of league hardware.

Check out the clip embedded above to get their takes on just how good the first-time head coach has been since the arrival of the new year.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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