Who will be the new 'king of the slates' of the NBA?
The criteria for awarding the prize to the NBA's best coach depends on situations that change season after season. In general, a selection of journalists vote for young technicians who have given the surprise or taken a team with little expectations to playoffs, no matter what happens later. They also focus on those who are able to keep a team up on the table despite unforeseen events such as injuries or changes to the squad; Stay if one of your stars is also usually a reason to get points and you can not leave aside the coach that makes a quintet the revelation of the year.
Brad Stevens (Boston Celtics) At 41 and with a long career to come and win individual prizes and championships, Stevens is possibly the strongest candidate to take the Coach of the Year. Reasons he has: he has maintained the level of the Boston Celtics and has even taken over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference despite the countless casualties by players outings and injuries (the All-Star Gordon Hayward to early season is perhaps the most talked about); it seems that he makes his team play better the more absences he has. Despite all the forced rotations, the Celtics still aspire to finish as first in their conference, because they are two games away from the Toronto Raptors.
Mike D'Antoni (Houston Rockets) Although he won it last year, the numbers he has achieved this season with the Houston Rockets force him to be eligible for the award. Not only has he made the Texans a team of more than 100 points per game and accurate from the rank of three; In addition, he managed to couple Chris Paul, with James Harden, something that many questioned. He improved the offense of his team and defensive is the second best since the break for the All-Star Game; not to go that far, he knew how to control the explosiveness of the Golden State Warriors, placing his team in the conversation for the title.Follow today's best odds on Tipsbetting.co.uk.
Brett Brown (Philadelphia 76ers) The numbers do not lie, Brown 'lifted' the 76ers from 28 wins to 46 so far and for that the pair Simmons-Embiid (when not injured) has been maximized by the coach. Brown's work can be measured by seeing that they are only half a game away from the Cleveland Cavaliers in the fight for fourth place in the East and that their defense is the third in the NBA rating. Undoubtedly, Brett is showing that he is the one to lead 'The Process' and make the 76ers a successful franchise in the medium term.
Dwane Casey (Toronto Raptors) Another one that emerges as one of the strongest is coach Casey, who has led the Canadians to win, 55 games and be one to improve their record of the previous season, when they won 56. Casey is close to achieving 65% of victories with Raptors, he has them in the lead in the East and although the Celtics are two games back and must face this week, nobody can take away the coach the fact of taking them to be the third best offense and sixth best defense of the NBA.
Terry Stotts (Portland Trail Blazers) With the Blazers, coach Stotts is nowhere to finish in third place in the West, something that seemed far earlier in the season, but with a record of 47-29, which included 13 straight wins (two against Golden State Warriors, 1 against Cavaliers, OKC, Jazz, and T-Wolves), there is no doubt that it should be considered. With fewer reflectors than his colleagues, he has empowered players such as Harkless and Aminu, and brought the Portland players to the top 10 in the NBA in defensive rating, the step they needed to compete in the final and playoffs, to which they arrive for 5 consecutive season.