WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.799 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. Today we are leaving 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:06.120 the court. We're walking past the scorer's table, 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:09.080 stepping over that imaginary line, and taking 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:11.500 a seat on the bench. Or maybe not even the bench. 00:00:11.539 --> 00:00:14.160 We're standing in that little box, that high 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:15.919 -pressure rectangle right in front of the bench. 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:18.339 Exactly. We aren't talking about the guys with 00:00:18.339 --> 00:00:20.600 the signature shoes today. We're talking about 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:23.739 the architects, the people in the, well, the 00:00:23.739 --> 00:00:27.079 expensive suits, or the... Team branded quarter 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:29.739 zips, depending on the era. Right. The ones losing 00:00:29.739 --> 00:00:32.719 sleep, going gray, screaming until they lose 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:35.259 their voices so that we can all enjoy the highlights 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:37.960 on TV. We are doing a deep dive into the NBA 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:41.320 Coach of the Year Award. And it is, I think, 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:43.840 the most fascinating and honestly the most paradoxical 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:46.159 award in all of professional sports. How so? 00:00:46.899 --> 00:00:48.840 Paradoxical in what way? Well, think about it. 00:00:49.130 --> 00:00:51.090 You can count points. You can track shooting 00:00:51.090 --> 00:00:52.890 percentages, rebounds per game. Those are all 00:00:52.890 --> 00:00:55.130 hard numbers. They're objective. But how do you 00:00:55.130 --> 00:00:57.630 quantify leadership? How do you possibly put 00:00:57.630 --> 00:01:00.390 a number on managing a locker room full of, you 00:01:00.390 --> 00:01:04.049 know, multimillionaire egos? Or on the decision 00:01:04.049 --> 00:01:07.170 to call a specific timeout with 1 .8 seconds 00:01:07.170 --> 00:01:09.510 left that changes an entire season? You can't. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:11.560 And that's really the mission today, isn't it? 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:14.159 We're going to try to quantify the unquantifiable. 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:16.040 And we're doing this from our vantage point here 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:18.939 in early 2026, looking back at the whole history 00:01:18.939 --> 00:01:21.540 of this award, including the most recent winner. 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:25.299 Yep, the 2024 -25 season winner, Kenny Atkinson 00:01:25.299 --> 00:01:27.560 of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Which is a great 00:01:27.560 --> 00:01:29.920 place to set the stage. Because Atkinson really 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:34.159 represents one very specific flavor of this award. 00:01:34.299 --> 00:01:37.000 Oh, absolutely. Leading the Cavs to a 64 -18 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.420 record. I mean, that is no small feat. That fits 00:01:39.420 --> 00:01:41.540 the classic profile of what I'd call dominance. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.000 Dominance. It's about taking a roster that's 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:46.659 already talented and just maximizing its potential 00:01:46.659 --> 00:01:48.980 to an extreme degree. But as we're going to find 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:51.140 out, dominance isn't the only way to win this 00:01:51.140 --> 00:01:53.640 trophy. Sometimes it's not even the best way. 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:56.680 64 wins is a juggernaut season, no question. 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:00.260 But before we break down the winners, the weirdos, 00:02:00.260 --> 00:02:03.680 and the absolute legends of this award, we need 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:06.620 to look at the prize itself, the physical object. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.580 The Red Auerbach Trophy. The Red Auerbach Trophy. 00:02:09.580 --> 00:02:11.479 Now, if you're a casual fan, you know the name 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:14.060 Celtics. You probably know the name Red. And 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:16.280 you definitely visualize a cigar. The Victory 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:18.599 Cigar, of course. But I feel like the modern 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:22.009 fan might not totally grasp why this. What specific 00:02:22.009 --> 00:02:24.969 man is the standard bearer for the entire profession? 00:02:25.189 --> 00:02:27.669 I mean, why is his name on the hardware? You 00:02:27.669 --> 00:02:29.949 absolutely cannot tell the story of the NBA without 00:02:29.949 --> 00:02:33.129 Red Auerbach. He's a patriarch. He is the blueprint. 00:02:33.330 --> 00:02:35.889 That's a strong statement. It is. We're talking 00:02:35.889 --> 00:02:38.030 about the man who built the Boston Celtics dynasty. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:42.840 Between 1956 and 1966, he led that team to nine 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:45.960 NBA championships. Say that again. Nine. Nine 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.560 titles in 10 years. That is actually absurd. 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:50.939 In modern sports, we talk about a dynasty. If 00:02:50.939 --> 00:02:53.240 a team wins, what, two in three years? Maybe 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:55.719 three in five. Nine in 10 sounds like a typo. 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.699 It does, doesn't it? It suggests a level of monopoly 00:02:58.699 --> 00:03:02.500 on winning that is just. It's impossible today. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:05.340 But Red wasn't just about winning. He was about 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:08.939 control. He invented the modern archetype of 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:11.280 the NBA coach. What do you mean by that? The 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:13.780 psychological warfare with other teams, the, 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.819 you know, the constant manipulation of the referees, 00:03:16.840 --> 00:03:19.180 lighting up those victory cigars on the bench 00:03:19.180 --> 00:03:21.599 before the game was even technically over. Just 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.319 total alpha dog stuff. And he won this specific 00:03:24.319 --> 00:03:27.620 award himself, right? He did in the 1964 -65 00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:30.259 season. So when a coach like Kenny Atkinson lifts 00:03:30.259 --> 00:03:32.789 that trophy today, they are holding. a piece 00:03:32.789 --> 00:03:35.169 of history that represents the absolute apex 00:03:35.169 --> 00:03:38.409 of the job. It's named after the guy who basically 00:03:38.409 --> 00:03:40.610 invented the job as we know it. It sets a pretty 00:03:40.610 --> 00:03:43.569 high bar. So if red is the gold standard, how 00:03:43.569 --> 00:03:46.289 on earth do we decide who meets that standard 00:03:46.289 --> 00:03:48.550 every year? Because when I was going through 00:03:48.550 --> 00:03:51.270 our source material, the criteria seemed, well, 00:03:51.409 --> 00:03:53.969 slippery. That's a good word for it. It's not 00:03:53.969 --> 00:03:55.629 like the scoring title where you just do the 00:03:55.629 --> 00:03:57.669 math and you have a winner. Who is actually making 00:03:57.669 --> 00:04:00.729 this call? It is entirely subjective. And that's 00:04:00.729 --> 00:04:03.069 where the fun and the controversy usually starts. 00:04:03.330 --> 00:04:06.770 The voting body is made up of a panel of sports 00:04:06.770 --> 00:04:09.870 writers and broadcasters from across the United 00:04:09.870 --> 00:04:13.389 States and Canada. So the media. The media. The 00:04:13.389 --> 00:04:16.589 beat writers, the national columnists, the people 00:04:16.589 --> 00:04:18.709 who are watching the league day in and day out. 00:04:18.910 --> 00:04:20.949 They're the ones who are constructing the narrative 00:04:20.949 --> 00:04:23.230 of the season. And they aren't just picking one 00:04:23.230 --> 00:04:25.410 name off a list, are they? It's a weighted system. 00:04:26.069 --> 00:04:29.170 Correct. It works very similarly to the MVP voting. 00:04:29.470 --> 00:04:32.170 Each voter casts a ballot for first, second, 00:04:32.269 --> 00:04:34.170 and third place. And the points are? A first 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:36.689 place vote is worth five points, second is worth 00:04:36.689 --> 00:04:38.750 three points, and third place gets you one point. 00:04:38.810 --> 00:04:41.250 You tally it all up, and the coach with the highest 00:04:41.250 --> 00:04:44.370 score wins. This is interesting because it introduces 00:04:44.370 --> 00:04:47.689 a kind of strategic element or at least a mathematical 00:04:47.689 --> 00:04:49.949 quirk. I mean, theoretically, you could have 00:04:49.949 --> 00:04:53.529 a coach who is very polarizing, right? Maybe 00:04:53.529 --> 00:04:55.550 half the voters think he's a genius. The other 00:04:55.550 --> 00:04:58.389 half think he just has good players. So he might 00:04:58.389 --> 00:05:00.589 get a lot of first place votes but be left off 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:03.529 other ballots entirely. While a safer pick, who 00:05:03.529 --> 00:05:06.610 everyone agrees did a pretty good job, could 00:05:06.610 --> 00:05:09.290 rack up a ton of second and third place votes 00:05:09.290 --> 00:05:12.019 and sneak out a win. Has that ever happened? 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:14.120 It is mathematically possible, though, to be 00:05:14.120 --> 00:05:16.160 fair. Historically, the person with the most 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:18.199 first place votes usually does end up winning. 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:21.300 But the real friction, the real debate comes 00:05:21.300 --> 00:05:23.560 from the official definition of the award. Let's 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:25.740 hear it. The award is given to the coach deemed, 00:05:25.939 --> 00:05:28.420 and I'm quoting the source material here, most 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:30.740 integral to their team's success in the regular 00:05:30.740 --> 00:05:34.459 season. OK. Integral to success. That is a phrase 00:05:34.459 --> 00:05:36.639 that is doing a massive amount of heavy lifting. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:40.100 A truly heroic amount. Because success as a concept 00:05:40.100 --> 00:05:42.759 means completely different things to different 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:45.600 franchises. Right. And this is the key to understanding 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.160 this whole deep dive today. For a team like, 00:05:48.279 --> 00:05:50.939 say, the Boston Celtics or the Lakers, success 00:05:50.939 --> 00:05:54.699 might mean 60 wins and a number one seed. Anything 00:05:54.699 --> 00:05:57.379 less is a failure. Absolutely. But for a team 00:05:57.379 --> 00:05:59.300 like, I don't know, the Orlando Magic or the 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:02.300 Utah Jazz in a rebuilding year, success might 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:05.040 be winning 42 games and just sneaking into the 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:08.259 playoffs when everyone, all the experts, predicted 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:11.259 they'd only win 20. So the award creates the 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:14.420 sliding scale. It almost feels like it rewards 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:17.339 the overachiever more often than the dominator. 00:06:17.540 --> 00:06:20.060 That is the most common narrative we see year 00:06:20.060 --> 00:06:23.769 after year. We call it the expectation gap. The 00:06:23.769 --> 00:06:26.790 award often goes to the coach who defied the 00:06:26.790 --> 00:06:29.250 preseason betting odds the most. It's a story 00:06:29.250 --> 00:06:31.750 award. It's a story award. If you were supposed 00:06:31.750 --> 00:06:35.350 to be bad and you turned out to be decent, you 00:06:35.350 --> 00:06:38.329 are a genius. If you were supposed to be great 00:06:38.329 --> 00:06:41.129 and you were just great, well, you just did your 00:06:41.129 --> 00:06:44.670 job. The voters love a story of redemption, a 00:06:44.670 --> 00:06:47.060 story of surprise. That seems a little unfair 00:06:47.060 --> 00:06:48.939 to the coaches of the super teams, doesn't it? 00:06:48.980 --> 00:06:51.120 I mean, managing superstars is a job in itself. 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:53.279 Keeping three guys who all think they should 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:55.699 be the MVP happy and playing together, that's 00:06:55.699 --> 00:06:57.680 an art form. It is, and we will definitely get 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.160 to that tension later on. But for now, let's 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:02.720 look at the history. The awards started in the 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.980 1962 -63 season. Harry Gallatin of the St. Louis 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:08.639 Hawks, first winner. That's him. And since then, 00:07:08.660 --> 00:07:11.379 we have had 31 distinct winners. That's a lot 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:13.360 of turnover. It really reflects the volatility 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:15.459 of the job, I think. Yeah. Coaching in the NBA 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:18.139 is not exactly a job with high security. Not 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:21.519 at all. But within that list of 41 names, there 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:24.560 are the Titans, the select few who managed to 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:27.300 win it not once, not twice. But three times. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:29.980 The Mount Rushmore of the sidelines. It's a very, 00:07:30.019 --> 00:07:32.459 very short list. Only three men have done it. 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:34.259 And I want to break them down because they seem 00:07:34.259 --> 00:07:36.639 to represent three totally different styles of 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:38.959 coaching greatness. They really do. First up, 00:07:38.980 --> 00:07:42.980 we have Don Nelson. Nelly, the mad scientist. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:45.319 He won it twice with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:48.139 80s. That's 1983 and 1985. And then again with 00:07:48.139 --> 00:07:50.720 the Golden State Warriors in 1992. Right. When 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:53.000 people hear Don Nelson, especially modern fans, 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:55.980 they usually think of that Warriors era. Run 00:07:55.980 --> 00:07:59.040 TMC. Can you explain what that was for the listener 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:01.100 who might just see it as, you know, a retro t 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:04.160 -shirt design? Run TMC stood for Tim Hardaway, 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:07.439 Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullen. It was a play 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:10.860 on the rap group Run DMC, of course. But on the 00:08:10.860 --> 00:08:13.339 court, it was. It was revolutionary. In what 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:15.560 way? Well, Nelson looked at his roster and he 00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:18.560 realized he didn't have a dominant big man. This 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:20.519 was an era where you had to have a Patrick Ewing 00:08:20.519 --> 00:08:23.019 or a Hakeem Olajuwon to win. You just did. It 00:08:23.019 --> 00:08:26.800 was the law of the land. It was. So Nelly decided 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:29.759 to just flip the script entirely. He decided 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:32.919 to just outrun everyone. He played what came 00:08:32.919 --> 00:08:35.879 to be known as... Nelly ball. It meant playing 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:38.659 with small lineups, a frenetic pace, constantly 00:08:38.659 --> 00:08:41.360 creating mismatches, and shooting really early 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:43.620 in the shot clock. He was essentially playing 00:08:43.620 --> 00:08:46.440 a modern style of basketball 30 years before 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:48.559 the rest of the league caught up. So his wins 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.879 were for innovation. He changed the geometry 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:53.620 of the game. Exactly. He proved that you could 00:08:53.620 --> 00:08:55.659 win without following the traditional unwritten 00:08:55.659 --> 00:08:58.799 rules of basketball. His third win in 92 really 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.820 validated that entire style. He wasn't just managing 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:04.059 talent. He was inventing a new way to play the 00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:06.879 game. He was integral to success because his 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:09.899 system was this success. Without his brain, that 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:12.559 specific roster just doesn't work. Okay, so Nelson 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.519 is the innovator. The next three -time winner 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:18.429 is Pat Riley. To me, he feels more like the motivator 00:09:18.429 --> 00:09:21.509 or maybe the cult of personality. Pat Riley is 00:09:21.509 --> 00:09:23.590 fascinating because he holds a distinction that 00:09:23.590 --> 00:09:26.509 nobody else has. Not Red Auerbach, not Phil Jackson, 00:09:26.669 --> 00:09:29.509 nobody. He is the only coach to win the award 00:09:29.509 --> 00:09:31.710 with three different franchises. Three different 00:09:31.710 --> 00:09:35.029 teams. That suggests a level of adaptability, 00:09:35.110 --> 00:09:38.429 that is. Well, it's pretty rare. Usually a coach 00:09:38.429 --> 00:09:40.850 has a system, right? And if the players fit that 00:09:40.850 --> 00:09:43.129 system, great. If not, the coach gets fired. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.360 But Riley. Riley didn't have a system. He had 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:48.360 a standard. And he could apply that standard 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:50.620 anywhere. Yeah. Look at the timeline. He wins 00:09:50.620 --> 00:09:53.299 in 1990 with the Los Angeles Lakers. Showtime. 00:09:53.399 --> 00:09:55.700 The tail end of Showtime. Yeah. Magic Johnson. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:59.419 Fast breaks. Glitz. Glamour. The Armani suits 00:09:59.419 --> 00:10:01.440 on the sideline. It was Hollywood basketball. 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:04.220 It was all about finesse and speed. And then 00:10:04.220 --> 00:10:05.919 he goes to New York. And he wins it again in 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:08.820 1993 with the New York Knicks. That Knicks team 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:11.480 was the polar opposite of the Lakers. They were 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:14.159 arguably the most physical, bruising, defensive 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:16.600 -minded team in the entire league. The bad boys 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:18.639 of New York. Totally. They didn't run past you. 00:10:18.659 --> 00:10:20.559 They went through you. They would knock you down 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:22.799 and stare you down. He completely traded the 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:24.860 finesse for the fight. He went from a Hollywood 00:10:24.860 --> 00:10:27.379 movie to a street fight. Yeah. And then there 00:10:27.379 --> 00:10:30.899 was a third act. 1997 with the Miami Heat. He 00:10:30.899 --> 00:10:33.629 goes down to Florida. and builds a culture from 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:36.669 absolute scratch. He brings that discipline, 00:10:36.830 --> 00:10:38.889 that heat culture we still talk about today. 00:10:39.129 --> 00:10:41.789 The hardest working, best conditioned, most professional, 00:10:41.929 --> 00:10:45.090 unselfish, toughest, meanest, nastiest team in 00:10:45.090 --> 00:10:47.929 the NBA. That was his mantra. And it proves what 00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:49.870 exactly? It proves he wasn't a product of his 00:10:49.870 --> 00:10:52.029 players. He was the catalyst. He could coach 00:10:52.029 --> 00:10:55.029 any style from Showtime to grind it out as long 00:10:55.029 --> 00:10:57.830 as the end result was winning. So we have the 00:10:57.830 --> 00:11:00.090 innovator in Nelson, the chameleon in Riley, 00:11:00.309 --> 00:11:03.250 and then the third Titan. Greg Popovich. Pop. 00:11:03.690 --> 00:11:07.149 The model of consistency. The G .O. to many people. 00:11:07.330 --> 00:11:09.730 And he won all three of his awards, 2003, 2012, 00:11:09.950 --> 00:11:12.129 and 2014, with the same team. The San Antonio 00:11:12.129 --> 00:11:14.809 Spurs. All of them. Which is an achievement in 00:11:14.809 --> 00:11:17.570 longevity alone. In the modern NBA, staying with 00:11:17.570 --> 00:11:20.110 one team for 20 -plus years is basically unheard 00:11:20.110 --> 00:11:22.649 of. Coaches usually have a shelf life of, what, 00:11:22.690 --> 00:11:24.669 three or four years before the message gets stale 00:11:24.669 --> 00:11:26.529 and the players just tune them out. Popovich 00:11:26.529 --> 00:11:29.850 is unique. He built an entire ecosystem in San 00:11:29.850 --> 00:11:32.679 Antonio. that allowed him to evolve as the game 00:11:32.679 --> 00:11:35.179 evolved. But there's a correlation with him that 00:11:35.179 --> 00:11:37.200 separates him from the others we just mentioned. 00:11:37.460 --> 00:11:41.279 Really important one. Popovich is the only recipient 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:43.759 to win the Coach of the Year award and the NBA 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:47.179 championship in the same season twice. Wait, 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:49.519 hold on. Let's pause on that. You're saying he 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:52.700 did it twice. The way you phrase that implies 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:54.440 that usually the Coach of the Year doesn't win 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:56.320 the championship. You have hit the nail directly 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.659 on the head. That brings us to what's known as 00:11:59.659 --> 00:12:02.710 the curse. or at least the major, major disconnect 00:12:02.710 --> 00:12:06.730 between this award and the actual goal of the 00:12:06.730 --> 00:12:08.909 sport, which is winning a title. I was shocked 00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:10.669 by the stat when I was going through the research. 00:12:10.809 --> 00:12:12.950 You would just assume that the coach of the year 00:12:12.950 --> 00:12:14.690 is the guy holding the Larry O 'Brien trophy 00:12:14.690 --> 00:12:16.289 at the parade, but you're saying that is almost 00:12:16.289 --> 00:12:18.350 never the case. The data is just staggering. 00:12:19.309 --> 00:12:22.669 Since the award began way back in 1963, only 00:12:22.669 --> 00:12:24.570 five coaches have won the coach of the year and 00:12:24.570 --> 00:12:27.740 the championship in the same season. Five. That's 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:31.139 it. In over 60 years of this award. That seems 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:33.879 statistically impossible if the award is actually 00:12:33.879 --> 00:12:36.220 identifying the best coach in the league. Just 00:12:36.220 --> 00:12:38.759 five. It's such an exclusive club, we should 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:41.360 probably list them. Please do. You have Red Auerbach, 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:44.539 of course, in 1965. You have Red Holzman with 00:12:44.539 --> 00:12:47.779 the Knicks in 1970. Bill Sharman with the Lakers 00:12:47.779 --> 00:12:51.009 in 1972. Okay. Then there's a massive drought. 00:12:51.110 --> 00:12:54.029 Nobody does it for 24 years. 24 years. Until 00:12:54.029 --> 00:12:56.889 Phil Jackson with the 72 -win Bulls in 1996. 00:12:57.549 --> 00:12:59.970 And finally, Greg Popagich, who did it twice 00:12:59.970 --> 00:13:04.470 in 03 and 14. That's the entire list. So statistically 00:13:04.470 --> 00:13:07.070 speaking, if your team's coach is named Coach 00:13:07.070 --> 00:13:08.870 of the Year in April, you should probably be 00:13:08.870 --> 00:13:10.509 a little worried about your playoff chances in 00:13:10.509 --> 00:13:12.809 May. It is almost a bad omen. But it makes perfect 00:13:12.809 --> 00:13:14.470 sense when you think back to the criteria we 00:13:14.470 --> 00:13:16.450 discussed earlier. The overachiever narrative. 00:13:17.090 --> 00:13:19.919 Exactly. The award is for the regular season. 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:22.340 It's voted on before the playoffs even conclude. 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:24.899 It rewards the team that surprised everyone. 00:13:25.679 --> 00:13:28.820 But championship teams usually aren't overachievers. 00:13:29.139 --> 00:13:32.340 They're dominant veteran teams who often cruise 00:13:32.340 --> 00:13:34.779 a bit through the regular season to save their 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:36.899 energy for the real fight in the playoffs. That's 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:39.379 a great point. The team that wins 65 games might 00:13:39.379 --> 00:13:42.230 be kind of boring. The story isn't as good. The 00:13:42.230 --> 00:13:44.090 team that wins 48 games when they were projected 00:13:44.090 --> 00:13:46.950 for 30, that's a fantastic story. But the 48 00:13:46.950 --> 00:13:48.990 -win team usually gets crushed in the second 00:13:48.990 --> 00:13:51.509 round of the playoffs because, at the end of 00:13:51.509 --> 00:13:54.250 the day, talent wins out in a seven -game series. 00:13:54.490 --> 00:13:56.830 The award rewards the journey. The championship 00:13:56.830 --> 00:13:59.769 rewards the destination. Perfectly said. The 00:13:59.769 --> 00:14:02.250 voters are seduced by the narrative of the turnaround. 00:14:02.870 --> 00:14:05.750 The playoffs, however, are about raw talent and 00:14:05.750 --> 00:14:09.179 matchups, not nice stories. There's another sort 00:14:09.179 --> 00:14:11.620 of unwritten rule that seems to plague this award. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:14.200 The no repeats rule. It's one of the hardest 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:16.799 facts to believe, but it's true. No coach has 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:18.980 ever won consecutive Coach of the Year awards. 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:21.919 Not once in league history. That can't be right. 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.159 I mean, surely Phil Jackson had two great years 00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:28.799 in a row. Or Steve Kerr with the Warriors. Or 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:32.559 Popovich. Or Eric Spolstra in Miami. They all 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:36.039 had great years. Historic years, even. But they 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:39.070 never, ever. won the award back to back. Why? 00:14:39.289 --> 00:14:41.429 Why does that happen? Is it just voter fatigue? 00:14:41.909 --> 00:14:44.250 It's what I call the hedonic treadmill of expectations. 00:14:44.649 --> 00:14:46.610 Yeah. Let's say you take a really bad team and 00:14:46.610 --> 00:14:48.710 you win 50 games. You win coach of the year. 00:14:48.750 --> 00:14:51.190 Amazing job. Right. The next season, everyone 00:14:51.190 --> 00:14:53.909 expects you to be good. So if you win 55 games, 00:14:54.149 --> 00:14:55.850 the voters just shrug. They say, well, you're 00:14:55.850 --> 00:14:57.409 supposed to do that now. You've raised your own 00:14:57.409 --> 00:14:59.690 bar too high for them. So to win it again, you 00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:02.149 would practically have to go 82 -0 or something. 00:15:02.429 --> 00:15:05.139 Precisely. Unless you make another historic leap 00:15:05.139 --> 00:15:08.279 like going from 50 wins to 73 wins, you are not 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:10.259 getting that trophy two years in a row. Once 00:15:10.259 --> 00:15:12.700 you're established as great, greatness becomes 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:15.120 the new baseline. It becomes boring. The voters 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:17.039 start looking for the new surprise story. You 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:19.340 become a victim of your own success. Consistency 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:21.460 is boring to the voters. That actually explains 00:15:21.460 --> 00:15:24.100 so much about this award. It really does. Speaking 00:15:24.100 --> 00:15:26.679 of historic leaps and weird stats, I want to 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:28.500 move to the section of the deep dive I like to 00:15:28.500 --> 00:15:31.360 call the anomalies. These are the winners that 00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:33.120 make you look at the Wikipedia page and say, 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:35.720 wait, is that a typo? There are some wild ones. 00:15:35.820 --> 00:15:37.980 This is where the internal logic of the award 00:15:37.980 --> 00:15:40.539 really gets stretched to its limits. Let's start 00:15:40.539 --> 00:15:43.399 with the basic idea that you have to be a winner, 00:15:43.580 --> 00:15:45.879 you know, have a winning record to be coach of 00:15:45.879 --> 00:15:48.750 the year. Apparently that is not true. Not always, 00:15:48.789 --> 00:15:52.529 no. We have to go back to the 1966 -67 season. 00:15:52.830 --> 00:15:56.210 The winner was a man named Johnny Kerr. Johnny 00:15:56.210 --> 00:16:00.309 Kerr. And his record that season, 33 wins and 00:16:00.309 --> 00:16:04.570 48 losses. He was 15 games under .500. In any 00:16:04.570 --> 00:16:08.070 modern context, a coach going 33 -48 is probably, 00:16:08.269 --> 00:16:10.460 you know... cleaning out his office at the end 00:16:10.460 --> 00:16:12.639 of the season. He is certainly not writing an 00:16:12.639 --> 00:16:15.299 acceptance speech for a major award. How on earth 00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:17.360 did he win? Context. It's all about the context. 00:16:17.659 --> 00:16:20.220 Johnny Kerr was coaching the Chicago Bulls. But 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:21.980 this was the Bulls' inaugural season. They were 00:16:21.980 --> 00:16:24.879 an expansion team. Ah, okay. That's the key. 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:27.539 And for those who don't follow the business side 00:16:27.539 --> 00:16:30.159 of the league, expansion teams are usually designed 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:32.720 to fail, right? at least in their first year. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.620 Historically, they are doormats. The expansion 00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:37.720 draft gives you all the players that the other 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:40.440 teams didn't want to protect. You get aging veterans, 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:43.360 guys with bad knees, rookies who aren't quite 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:47.059 ready. You're expected to win 10, maybe 15 games. 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:49.870 You are cannon fodder for the real teams. So 00:16:49.870 --> 00:16:52.590 Kerr taking a group of castoffs and winning 33 00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:54.529 games. And making the playoffs. That's the other 00:16:54.529 --> 00:16:56.789 crucial part. He dragged an expansion team, a 00:16:56.789 --> 00:16:58.950 team that didn't exist the year before, into 00:16:58.950 --> 00:17:01.929 the postseason in year one. OK, so in that context, 00:17:02.149 --> 00:17:05.390 the 33 wins felt like 60 wins because the expectation 00:17:05.390 --> 00:17:08.769 was literally zero. Exactly. The voters recognized 00:17:08.769 --> 00:17:11.589 that he was squeezing water from a stone. It 00:17:11.589 --> 00:17:13.349 set this incredible precedent that the award 00:17:13.349 --> 00:17:15.849 is about the job done relative to the resources 00:17:15.849 --> 00:17:18.230 available. He overperformed the model by such 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:21.049 a huge margin that the actual losing record didn't 00:17:21.049 --> 00:17:23.549 matter at all. So that explains winning with 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:25.849 a losing record. But what about the inverse? 00:17:26.349 --> 00:17:28.769 Winning the award with a mediocre record and 00:17:28.769 --> 00:17:30.970 missing the playoffs entirely, is that possible? 00:17:31.309 --> 00:17:34.349 It has happened exactly once. The Doc Rivers 00:17:34.349 --> 00:17:38.049 game. The 1999 -2000 season with the Orlando 00:17:38.049 --> 00:17:40.490 Magic. This is the famous heart and hustle team. 00:17:40.589 --> 00:17:42.529 I remember this. This was a whole thing. It was. 00:17:42.730 --> 00:17:46.670 Doc Rivers coached that team to a 41 -41 record. 00:17:46.809 --> 00:17:50.069 A perfect .500. And his team did not qualify 00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:53.460 for the postseason. He is the only person. to 00:17:53.460 --> 00:17:55.240 ever win coach of the year without making the 00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:57.339 playoffs. How does that happen? We just said 00:17:57.339 --> 00:17:58.960 Johnny Kerr won because he made the playoffs. 00:17:59.099 --> 00:18:01.420 Doc missed them. What's the logic? Again, we 00:18:01.420 --> 00:18:03.000 have to look at the roster and the front office 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:06.039 strategy. The Orlando Magic that year had completely 00:18:06.039 --> 00:18:09.299 and intentionally cleared their books. They traded 00:18:09.299 --> 00:18:11.799 away all their stars. Penny Hardaway was gone. 00:18:12.019 --> 00:18:14.420 They were hoarding salary cap space to make a 00:18:14.420 --> 00:18:16.640 huge run at free agents like Tim Duncan and Grant 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:18.700 Hill the following summer. So the roster they 00:18:18.700 --> 00:18:20.569 put on the floor that year was... It was essentially 00:18:20.569 --> 00:18:23.730 a G League team before the G League really existed. 00:18:24.089 --> 00:18:28.130 The main guys were Daryl Armstrong, Bo Outlaw, 00:18:28.309 --> 00:18:31.210 a very young Ben Wallace, before he was Ben Wallace. 00:18:31.529 --> 00:18:34.210 These were guys who were undrafted, journeymen, 00:18:34.349 --> 00:18:37.329 guys fighting for 10 -day contracts just to stay 00:18:37.329 --> 00:18:39.069 in the league. They were supposed to be tanking. 00:18:39.269 --> 00:18:41.430 They were projected by some magazines to be the 00:18:41.430 --> 00:18:44.029 worst team in NBA history. People honestly thought 00:18:44.029 --> 00:18:46.809 they might win 10 games. The organization probably 00:18:46.809 --> 00:18:48.809 wanted them to lose to get a high draft pick. 00:18:49.099 --> 00:18:51.099 And Doc Rivers messed it all up by winning half 00:18:51.099 --> 00:18:53.500 his games. He had them playing with just unbelievable 00:18:53.500 --> 00:18:56.779 intensity. They pressed full court. They scrapped 00:18:56.779 --> 00:18:58.660 for everything. They dove for every loose ball. 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:02.200 They shocked everyone and finished at .500. And 00:19:02.200 --> 00:19:04.140 they only missed the eighth seed on a tiebreaker. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:07.039 So the voters looked at a .500 record and decided 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.319 that was a more impressive coaching feat than, 00:19:09.380 --> 00:19:12.359 say, Phil Jackson winning 67 games with Shaquille 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:14.440 O 'Neal and Kobe Bryant that exact same year. 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:16.700 Yes. And frankly, it's hard to argue with them. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:19.039 Taking a Ferrari to the finish line is one thing. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.180 That's what Phil Jackson did. But taking a bicycle 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:23.579 with a flat tire and somehow keeping up with 00:19:23.579 --> 00:19:26.660 the Ferraris for 82 games, that is something 00:19:26.660 --> 00:19:29.619 else entirely. It solidified Doc Rivers' reputation 00:19:29.619 --> 00:19:33.420 for decades to come. I love that. It really frames 00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:35.819 coaching as a resource management game. But if 00:19:35.819 --> 00:19:37.920 we're talking about weird anomalies, we have 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.980 to, we just have to talk about the 2015 -16 Golden 00:19:40.980 --> 00:19:45.000 State Warriors. Ah, the controversy. The asterisk 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:47.200 season. This whole situation gives me a headache 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:48.900 just thinking about it. Okay, let's set the scene 00:19:48.900 --> 00:19:52.579 for everyone. It is the 2015 -16 season. The 00:19:52.579 --> 00:19:55.259 Warriors are coming off a championship. They 00:19:55.259 --> 00:19:57.920 are an absolute machine. They go on to win 73 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.480 games, breaking the all -time regular season 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:03.039 record set by the 96 Bulls. So Steve Kerr is 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:04.519 the head coach. He wins coach of the year. On 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:07.140 paper, this is the most obvious slam dunk award 00:20:07.140 --> 00:20:09.380 in the history of sports. Best record ever. You 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:13.470 get the award. Simple. But. But. Steve Kerr wasn't 00:20:13.470 --> 00:20:15.829 there for most of it. He missed the first 43 00:20:15.829 --> 00:20:18.670 games of the season due to complications from 00:20:18.670 --> 00:20:21.329 back surgery. That is more than half the season. 00:20:21.490 --> 00:20:24.309 He was gone. So who was coaching the team? His 00:20:24.309 --> 00:20:26.690 lead assistant, Luke Walton. He stepped in as 00:20:26.690 --> 00:20:28.549 the interim head coach. And how did the team 00:20:28.549 --> 00:20:31.289 do under Walton, the interim coach? They started 00:20:31.289 --> 00:20:36.650 the season 24 -0. 24 -0. It was the best start 00:20:36.650 --> 00:20:39.269 in NBA history. They were just destroying the 00:20:39.269 --> 00:20:41.869 entire league. Okay, so just to be clear, Luke 00:20:41.869 --> 00:20:44.170 Walton is standing on the sideline. He's calling 00:20:44.170 --> 00:20:46.750 the timeouts. He's managing the rotations for 00:20:46.750 --> 00:20:49.789 a team that goes on a historic 24 -0 run to start 00:20:49.789 --> 00:20:52.589 the season. But Steve Kerr gets the trophy. This 00:20:52.589 --> 00:20:55.230 is where the NBA rulebook gets very, very rigid. 00:20:55.650 --> 00:20:59.089 The league has a policy. Wins and losses are 00:20:59.089 --> 00:21:01.089 officially credited to the head coach of record. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:03.819 even if he is not physically present. That seems 00:21:03.819 --> 00:21:06.299 insane. They do not credit interim coaches with 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:08.700 win -loss records unless the head coach is actually 00:21:08.700 --> 00:21:11.619 fired or resigns. Since Kerr was just on medical 00:21:11.619 --> 00:21:14.339 leave, every single win that Luke Walton presided 00:21:14.339 --> 00:21:17.019 over was officially added to Steve Kerr's permanent 00:21:17.019 --> 00:21:19.220 record. So the voters must have revolted, right? 00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:22.279 They were confused. And it showed up on the ballot. 00:21:23.240 --> 00:21:25.740 Luke Walton actually received votes for coach 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:28.180 of the year. He got one second place vote and 00:21:28.180 --> 00:21:30.539 two third place votes, which technically shouldn't 00:21:30.539 --> 00:21:32.140 even have been allowed because he wasn't officially 00:21:32.140 --> 00:21:34.319 a head coach. I love that. That's a silent protest 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:36.460 by the sports writers. They're basically saying, 00:21:36.539 --> 00:21:39.539 we know what we saw. It gets even funnier. The 00:21:39.539 --> 00:21:42.259 NBA Awards Coach of the Month honors throughout 00:21:42.259 --> 00:21:45.279 the season, right? In October, November of that 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:47.720 season, the Western Conference Coach of the Month 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:51.660 was Luke Walton. You're kidding me. So Luke Walton 00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:53.400 was the official coach of the month, but Steve 00:21:53.400 --> 00:21:55.779 Kerr was the coach of the year, based largely 00:21:55.779 --> 00:21:58.359 on the months that Walton coached. That is exactly 00:21:58.359 --> 00:22:00.259 what happened. Steve Kerr even tried to get the 00:22:00.259 --> 00:22:03.079 league to change it. He publicly said, I didn't 00:22:03.079 --> 00:22:05.640 coach those games. Luke did. The record should 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:08.579 be his. But the NBA said, no, rules are rules. 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:11.480 So what's the big takeaway from that whole mess? 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:14.519 Aside from the fact that the NBA loves its bureaucracy. 00:22:14.980 --> 00:22:17.160 I think it highlights two things. One, the weirdness 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:20.960 of the rules, obviously. But two. And maybe more 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:23.480 importantly, it speaks to the power of a system. 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:27.220 Steve Kerr had built such a strong culture and 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:29.859 such a potent offensive system that the team 00:22:29.859 --> 00:22:32.960 could essentially run itself or run with a substitute 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:36.259 teacher and still be historically great. So in 00:22:36.259 --> 00:22:38.640 a strange way, the fact that they won without 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:41.279 him proved how good of a coach he was. That's 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.859 the argument. He built a self -sustaining machine 00:22:43.859 --> 00:22:46.220 that didn't need him on the sideline every night. 00:22:46.509 --> 00:22:48.470 That's a charitable way to look at it. I just 00:22:48.470 --> 00:22:50.430 think poor Luke Walton got robbed of a pretty 00:22:50.430 --> 00:22:52.650 amazing line on his resume. Well, he did get 00:22:52.650 --> 00:22:54.589 a head coaching job with the Lakers shortly after, 00:22:54.650 --> 00:22:56.869 largely off the buzz from that run. So he did 00:22:56.869 --> 00:22:59.950 OK for himself in the end. Fair enough. Let's 00:22:59.950 --> 00:23:01.750 shift gears a little bit to the background of 00:23:01.750 --> 00:23:04.210 these coaches. We've talked about how it's often 00:23:04.210 --> 00:23:06.549 former players who become coaches. It's the standard 00:23:06.549 --> 00:23:09.289 path. I played the game so I can teach the game. 00:23:09.630 --> 00:23:12.190 But very few are truly great at both. It's the 00:23:12.190 --> 00:23:15.779 great player fallacy. We assume that because, 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:18.660 say, Magic Johnson saw the game perfectly as 00:23:18.660 --> 00:23:20.900 a player, he could automatically teach it. But 00:23:20.900 --> 00:23:23.599 often, the all -time great players make terrible 00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:25.960 coaches because they just lack patience. Right. 00:23:26.380 --> 00:23:28.599 They can't understand why a role player can't 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:31.220 just be better. Exactly. Why don't you just see 00:23:31.220 --> 00:23:33.299 the pass and throw it? That's what I would do. 00:23:33.500 --> 00:23:35.799 It's frustrating for them. Just see the floor. 00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:39.000 Well, not everyone has Hall of Fame court vision. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:42.099 But there is a very, very small group of men 00:23:42.099 --> 00:23:44.599 who have mastered both sides of it, the dual 00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:47.180 threats. A very exclusive club. Who are they? 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:49.980 There are only three men who have been inducted 00:23:49.980 --> 00:23:52.420 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of 00:23:52.420 --> 00:23:55.180 Fame as both a player and as a coach. That's 00:23:55.180 --> 00:23:57.059 an incredibly short list. It has to be one of 00:23:57.059 --> 00:23:59.539 the rarest achievements in sports. It is. The 00:23:59.539 --> 00:24:02.450 three are Tom Heinsohn, Bill Sharman. and Lenny 00:24:02.450 --> 00:24:05.210 Wilkins. Heinsohn is Mr. Celtic through and through. 00:24:05.329 --> 00:24:07.269 He bled green. Sharman, we mentioned earlier, 00:24:07.369 --> 00:24:09.890 is one of the few to win COI and a title with 00:24:09.890 --> 00:24:12.670 the Lakers. And Lenny Wilkins was the all -time 00:24:12.670 --> 00:24:15.750 winningest coach for a very long time. And what 00:24:15.750 --> 00:24:18.369 it demonstrates is a complete, you know, 360 00:24:18.369 --> 00:24:21.809 -degree mastery of the sport. To have the physical 00:24:21.809 --> 00:24:23.950 gifts and the basketball instincts to be a Hall 00:24:23.950 --> 00:24:26.750 of Fame player, and then to be able to translate 00:24:26.750 --> 00:24:29.309 all of that into teaching, strategy, and ego 00:24:29.309 --> 00:24:32.400 management as a coach. It's a rare combination 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:35.099 of left brain and right brain. You have to be 00:24:35.099 --> 00:24:36.779 able to do it, and then you have to be able to 00:24:36.779 --> 00:24:39.319 explain how you did it to someone who has half 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:41.440 your talent. That's the hard part. That is the 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:43.519 impossible part for most. But we are seeing a 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.559 shift now, aren't we? The modern coach looks 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:47.440 different. They aren't always former all -stars. 00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:49.920 Sometimes they're guys who barely played in college, 00:24:50.019 --> 00:24:53.059 if at all. Absolutely. The rise of the video 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:56.069 coordinator coach. Yeah. The grinder. the guy 00:24:56.069 --> 00:24:58.130 who worked his way up from the mailroom. But 00:24:58.130 --> 00:25:00.789 specifically, we are seeing the NBA G League 00:25:00.789 --> 00:25:03.809 become a real breeding ground for head coaches, 00:25:03.950 --> 00:25:07.029 not just for players. The G League, which is 00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:10.190 the NBA's official minor league, who's the poster 00:25:10.190 --> 00:25:12.690 child for this new pathway? Without a doubt, 00:25:12.710 --> 00:25:14.609 it's Nick Nurse. He won the coach of the year 00:25:14.609 --> 00:25:17.390 with the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 -20 season, 00:25:17.450 --> 00:25:19.289 the year after they won the title. But before 00:25:19.289 --> 00:25:21.750 that, he was a lifer in the minors. Oh, yeah. 00:25:22.140 --> 00:25:25.019 He was grinding for years in the D League, as 00:25:25.019 --> 00:25:27.359 it was called then, coaching teams like the Iowa 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.640 Energy and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. And 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:32.940 he holds a very unique record. What is it? He 00:25:32.940 --> 00:25:36.160 is the only coach. to win coach of the year in 00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.859 both the NBA and the NBA G League. He won the 00:25:38.859 --> 00:25:41.279 G League award back in 2011. That is really cool. 00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:44.079 It validates the idea that coaching is a craft. 00:25:44.339 --> 00:25:46.920 It's not just about whether you played in the 00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:50.259 NBA finals. It's about logging the hours, drawing 00:25:50.259 --> 00:25:53.460 up plays in empty gyms in Iowa, riding the bus, 00:25:53.579 --> 00:25:56.019 and learning how to manage a group of guys who 00:25:56.019 --> 00:25:57.980 are fighting for their professional lives. And 00:25:57.980 --> 00:26:00.279 NBA front offices have absolutely noticed. They're 00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:02.420 hiring guys like Mark Danio in Oklahoma City, 00:26:02.539 --> 00:26:04.970 another G League alum who just won. award, they 00:26:04.970 --> 00:26:07.049 are realizing that tactical innovation often 00:26:07.049 --> 00:26:09.569 comes from the lower leagues, where coaches have 00:26:09.569 --> 00:26:11.430 to be more creative to win because they don't 00:26:11.430 --> 00:26:13.369 have a LeBron James to just bail them out of 00:26:13.369 --> 00:26:16.589 a bad play. Speaking of Mark Daniel, he represents 00:26:16.589 --> 00:26:20.069 the modern era of winners. We're in the mid 2020s 00:26:20.069 --> 00:26:23.490 now in our timeline. How has the voting changed 00:26:23.490 --> 00:26:26.190 recently? It feels like the power of the narrative 00:26:26.190 --> 00:26:28.609 is stronger than ever. It has, and it's seemingly 00:26:28.609 --> 00:26:31.549 become more consensus driven. We had a truly 00:26:31.549 --> 00:26:34.960 historic moment. In the 2022 -23 season with 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:37.460 Mike Brown of the Sacramento Kings. Light the 00:26:37.460 --> 00:26:40.440 beam. That was such a fun season to watch. I 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:43.180 remember seeing that giant purple laser shooting 00:26:43.180 --> 00:26:45.380 into the night sky after every win. It was a 00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:47.480 whole cultural phenomenon. And the voters were 00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:49.900 swept up, and Mike Brown became the first unanimous 00:26:49.900 --> 00:26:51.900 coach of the year in NBA history. Wait, really? 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:54.599 Unanimous? We just talked about the 73 -win Warriors. 00:26:54.859 --> 00:26:56.880 We talked about the 72 -win Bulls. None of those 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:59.119 coaches were unanimous winners. Nope. In all 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:01.559 those years, there was always at least one writer 00:27:01.559 --> 00:27:04.119 who voted for someone else. Maybe a local writer 00:27:04.119 --> 00:27:06.420 voting for their home coach. Or maybe someone 00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:08.730 just wanted to be a contrarian. But with Mike 00:27:08.730 --> 00:27:11.789 Brown, every single voter put him first on their 00:27:11.789 --> 00:27:14.509 ballot. Why? What was so completely undeniable 00:27:14.509 --> 00:27:16.630 about that Kings season? It was the narrative 00:27:16.630 --> 00:27:19.410 of the drought. The Sacramento Kings had not 00:27:19.410 --> 00:27:23.990 made the playoffs in 16 consecutive years. It 00:27:23.990 --> 00:27:26.789 was the longest active drought in all of North 00:27:26.789 --> 00:27:29.430 American professional sports. It was this dark 00:27:29.430 --> 00:27:32.349 cloud that hung over the entire city. And Mike 00:27:32.349 --> 00:27:34.769 Brown came in. He came in. He installed a historically 00:27:34.769 --> 00:27:37.450 efficient offense. He created that whole light 00:27:37.450 --> 00:27:39.549 the beam tradition, which galvanized the fan 00:27:39.549 --> 00:27:42.569 base. And he broke the curse in his very first 00:27:42.569 --> 00:27:45.430 year. So the story was perfect. It was a perfect, 00:27:45.509 --> 00:27:48.049 undeniable story. And unlike the Warriors or 00:27:48.049 --> 00:27:49.450 the Bulls, where you could always argue, well, 00:27:49.470 --> 00:27:51.109 they have Michael Jordan or they have Steph Curry, 00:27:51.369 --> 00:27:53.890 the Kings were seen as a flawed roster with a 00:27:53.890 --> 00:27:56.910 losing history. Mike Brown got all the credit 00:27:56.910 --> 00:27:59.190 for the cultural transformation. He turned a 00:27:59.190 --> 00:28:01.390 losing culture into a winning one, seemingly 00:28:01.390 --> 00:28:03.150 overnight. And it's interesting that Mike Brown 00:28:03.150 --> 00:28:05.049 had won the award before, too. He won it with 00:28:05.049 --> 00:28:07.990 LeBron the Cavs way back in 2009. So he joins 00:28:07.990 --> 00:28:10.769 that multi -team club. He does. And another recent 00:28:10.769 --> 00:28:13.490 repeat winner is Tom Thibodeau. He won with the 00:28:13.490 --> 00:28:15.950 Bulls in 2011. That was the Derrick Rose MVP 00:28:15.950 --> 00:28:18.250 year. And then he won it again with the New York 00:28:18.250 --> 00:28:21.569 Knicks in 2020 -21. Phipps is a very distinct 00:28:21.569 --> 00:28:24.480 brand of coaching, isn't he? Oh, yeah. Hard -nosed 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:27.359 defense, lots of yelling, playing his starters, 00:28:27.460 --> 00:28:30.059 heavy minutes. It's his signature. And it seems 00:28:30.059 --> 00:28:31.799 to work, at least for turning franchises around. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:34.380 He took a Knicks team that had been a laughingstock 00:28:34.380 --> 00:28:36.980 for years and made them a tough, respectable 00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:40.940 playoff team instantly. Again, the award rewards 00:28:40.940 --> 00:28:43.140 the turnaround. He instilled discipline where 00:28:43.140 --> 00:28:45.420 there was none. The quintessential example of 00:28:45.420 --> 00:28:47.720 the expectation gap at work. So we've covered 00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:50.359 the mechanics, the legends, the curse, the anomalies. 00:28:50.779 --> 00:28:52.940 As we start to wrap up this deep dive, I want 00:28:52.940 --> 00:28:55.220 to just step back for a second. When we look 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:57.599 at this trophy, the Red Auerbach Trophy, what 00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:59.700 does it actually symbolize? Because we've established 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:01.619 it's not always for the best coach in terms of 00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:03.819 wins. It's not usually the guy who wins the title. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.859 What is it really for? I think it symbolizes 00:29:06.859 --> 00:29:12.079 the maximization of potential. to me is the common 00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:14.640 thread that connects the 73 -win Warriors of 00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:18.259 Steve Kerr and the 33 -win Bulls of Johnny Kerr. 00:29:18.299 --> 00:29:20.480 That's a great connection. In both of those very 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:23.599 different cases, the coach took what was on paper 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:26.799 and squeezed every single drop of performance 00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:28.720 out of it. There was nothing left on the table. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:31.339 It's an efficiency award, in a way. I think so, 00:29:31.480 --> 00:29:33.720 yeah. It measures the delta between expectation 00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:37.319 and reality. How much better did you make this 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:39.539 group of 12 guys than they had any right to be? 00:29:40.059 --> 00:29:42.559 It also seems to measure the human element, the 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:46.339 pure ability to get 12 different people, 12 different 00:29:46.339 --> 00:29:49.759 egos to pull in the exact same direction for 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:53.140 six months. Oh, absolutely. In this era of advanced 00:29:53.140 --> 00:29:55.599 analytics and spreadsheets, the Coach of the 00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:57.720 Year award is often a nod to the psychological 00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:00.579 aspect of the game. It's about buy -in. You can 00:30:00.579 --> 00:30:02.240 have the best plays in the world drawn up on 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:03.819 your clipboard, but if the players don't believe 00:30:03.819 --> 00:30:05.519 in you, you're going to lose. I want to leave 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:07.359 our listeners with a final thought that has been 00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:09.460 nagging me since we discussed Doc Rivers and 00:30:09.460 --> 00:30:12.359 Johnny Kerr. We tend to glorify the coaches who 00:30:12.359 --> 00:30:14.440 win rings. We call them the greats, the legends, 00:30:14.740 --> 00:30:18.000 Pop, Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach. But hearing 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:20.759 all these stories... Is it possible that the 00:30:20.759 --> 00:30:22.960 hardest coaching job and therefore maybe the 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:25.880 best coaching job is actually done on the bad 00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:28.420 teams? That is the provocative question, isn't 00:30:28.420 --> 00:30:31.059 it? Is it harder to steer a Ferrari that is designed 00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:34.039 to go 200 miles per hour? Or is it harder to 00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:36.519 take a beat up old sedan with a leaking radiator 00:30:36.519 --> 00:30:39.579 and somehow coax it to go 60 miles per hour on 00:30:39.579 --> 00:30:41.420 the highway without breaking down? Doc Rivers 00:30:41.420 --> 00:30:44.640 dragging that magic team to a .500 record suggests 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:46.900 that sometimes just finishing the race is the 00:30:46.900 --> 00:30:49.460 miracle, not winning it. If the definition of 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:52.339 the award is most integral to success, you could 00:30:52.339 --> 00:30:54.220 make a very strong argument that the coach of 00:30:54.220 --> 00:30:56.759 the bad team is more integral. If you took Phil 00:30:56.759 --> 00:30:58.980 Jackson off the 72 -win bowls, they might still 00:30:58.980 --> 00:31:01.859 win 60 games on talent alone. If you took Doc 00:31:01.859 --> 00:31:03.460 Rivers off that magic team, they might have won 00:31:03.460 --> 00:31:06.119 five. That is something to chew on the next time 00:31:06.119 --> 00:31:08.039 you're watching a game and you see a coach screaming 00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:10.339 on the sideline of a team that's 10 games under 00:31:10.339 --> 00:31:13.319 .500 -0. He might actually be doing the best 00:31:13.319 --> 00:31:15.380 job in the entire league, even if he never gets 00:31:15.380 --> 00:31:18.490 a trophy for it. He just might be. Well, we hope 00:31:18.490 --> 00:31:20.869 this deep dive gave you a new perspective on 00:31:20.869 --> 00:31:23.569 the people pacing the sidelines. Look past the 00:31:23.569 --> 00:31:26.470 box score, watch the timeouts, watch the body 00:31:26.470 --> 00:31:29.049 language between the players and the coach. That's 00:31:29.049 --> 00:31:31.630 where the real game is being played. Until the 00:31:31.630 --> 00:31:33.750 next deep dive. Take care, everyone.