NBA Awards Watch: Jimmy Butler Grabs Headlines

Coach of the Year

1. Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors – It’s a simple recipe. The Warriors have the best record (24-5) in the league and the best net rating (+10.5 points per 100 possessions) in the league. That doesn’t ensure Coach of the Year honors in itself, but Steve Kerr has navigated this group through several injury concerns, and with preseason expectations that did not include “best team in the league”, he takes a positive bump. Kerr has managed to separate himself from his predecessor on the offensive end while keeping the team’s defensive mindset, and that is a tightrope that he has navigated beautifully.
2. Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors – Much like Kerr, Casey has sustained big-time success despite challenges. The Raptors have been operating without their best wing player, DeMar DeRozan, for the past 15 games, but the team has arguably improved in his absence, and their 24-7 overall mark shows that. Casey isn’t a household name, but he has visibly joined the elite group of coaches in this league, and he has Toronto in the driver’s seat of the Eastern Conference.
3. Terry Stotts, Portland Trail Blazers – All Terry Stotts does is win. His two previous stops, Atlanta and Milwaukee, weren’t exactly littered with quality, but Stotts has developed quite nicely, and Portland is quietly the hottest team in the West, having won 8 of 10 to ascend to the number two spot behind Golden State. This season, the Blazers have done it defensively, allowing only 98.7 points per 100 possessions, and that is a testament to Stotts, especially after a season where they shot the lights out in 2013-2014.

Next: Most Improved Player